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Case Study

underline-05-05

How UFC Ultimate Sound app connects leading sports brand UFC and their fans by using athletes personal taste in music

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What is UFC Ultimate Sound?

UFC Ultimate Sound is the first ever music and media app connecting UFC athletes to their fans through music and video content. It aims to motivate and inspire fans of UFC and MMA for all of their lifestyle needs, from workouts and cool downs to celebrations.

UFC® is the world’s premier mixed martial arts organisation (MMA), with more than 600 million fans and 102 million social media followers. The organisation produces more than 40 live events, and broadcasts to nearly one billion TV households around the world.

The UFC Ultimate Sound platform was made possible by the creative tech company ACX Music and their vision to connect the world through music. ACX Music serves global sports brands to capitalise on the great opportunity of music streaming by building entertainment platforms for fans. With over 30 years of experience in music and tech, their international team specialises in creating the right digital platforms for any brand, event and audience.

Challenges

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Access to digital music resources and expertise

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Turnkey streaming tech platform

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Time-sensitive clientele and market

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Cost-optimised solution
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ACX Music sought to develop a new entertainment streaming app for MMA powerhouse UFC. UFC Ultimate Sound would act as an extended communication arm and a centralised location for UFC’s millions of fans worldwide to follow the sport and its athletes through the lens of music.

Given their technical specifications in a time-sensitive industry, ACX Music needed a team that was ready to hit the ground running from day one. They were looking for a solution that offered full programming, a comprehensive streaming app and back end capabilities, industry expertise and a clearly communicated journey. Catering to the sport’s vast fanbase, the app needed content that was fresh and easily accessible, with zero down time.

 

Solution

Drawing on our industry expertise, we were able to successfully implement our existing music management and streaming platform to power the UFC Ultimate Sound app. The team at ACX Music took advantage of Tuned Global's full turnkey streaming solution which includes the app front end, content delivery, cloud-based infrastructure, licensor reporting, billing and app marketing tools.
Tuned Global's whitelabel streaming app powers UFC Ultimate Sound with the following capabilities:

  • All the market main streaming features for a semi-interactive music streaming service (DMCA compliant)
  • Music, Audio (podcast) and Video capabilities out-of-the-box
  • Content organised and curated by UFC athletes
  • CMS (Content Management System) to manage the app editorial
  • Playlisting tool
  • Fully customisable front end
  • Streamlined process for labels providing music

ACX Music brought its magic to the product in terms of strategy, branding, content creation and marketing. The CMS allows them to publish:

  • Exclusive music mixes curated by UFC athletes.
  • Original content and unique behind-the-scenes footage.
  • Insights into the life of UFC athletes and UFC-related artists.

"What they [Tuned Global] delivered for us was a white label app with a very good CMS in the backbone. We need easy access to all the music we work with. We need to know that labels can send in their music to a provider who puts it into the system where we can pick it up and curate the playlist."

Svein Sørgård
CEO & Founder - ACX Music
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Their results

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A rapid 7-month turnaround from brief to launch

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Easy catalogue & content management

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Multiple content types to enhance the user experience

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Access to athletes’ exclusive content

From the initial brief to market launch, Tuned Global were able to help ACX Music deliver UFC Ultimate Sound in just seven months. Based on ACX Music research it could have taken more than 18 months to develop the service from scratch with a non-streaming specialised developers and could have cost 3 times more.

A comprehensive content management system allowed multiple content types to be distributed into the app. UFC’s fans can access world class, exclusive content including podcasts, interviews, video series and playlists that are carefully curated for the sport and its athletes.

ACX Music were extremely pleased with the rapid turnaround time, excellent communication and the high level of expertise demonstrated by Tuned Global. They are also pleased to constantly be offered new features such as Live video, which is the next piece that will be added to the service soon.

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