First Ever Worldwide Fan Vote Debuts for the 60th Annual MISS UNIVERSE® Pageant

NEW YORK, Aug. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time ever, the Miss Universe Organization will offer a fan vote and an on-screen interactive technology to increase fan engagement worldwide during the 2011 MISS UNIVERSE® Competition. The pageant will air LIVE from Sao Paulo, Brazil on Monday, September 12th at  9 p.m. ET on NBC. Launching today is a pre-pageant fan vote built by CommerceTel (OTCBB: MFON) that will grant one of the 89 contestants automatic advancement to the semifinals, which will be announced during the LIVE telecast.  On the night of the show, the iPowow "In The Now" technology will enable the home audience to 'gamify' their viewing experience by voting in real-time for their favorite contestant during the live telecast.

"CommerceTEL and IPOWOW technologies are two ways that we are incorporating our fans into our show and having them play an active role in the competition," says Colin Hornett, Director of Digital Multimedia at the Miss Universe Organization. "We are constantly searching for new ways to involve our fans, and hope that we can continue to be at the forefront of fan engagement with our incredible global reach of approximately 1 billion followers from all over the world during the Miss Universe competition."

Fans Vote Their Favorite Contestant Into the Semifinals

Leading up to the 2011 MISS UNIVERSE® Competition, fans in represented countries will be able to vote online for their favorite contestant to automatically reach the semifinals using CommerceTel's voting interface. Fans can vote online at www.missuniverse.com or www.NBC.com through Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 6 p.m. ET.  Fans may rank the contestants a total of 10 times per day. The contestant with the highest average score will advance to the semifinals.

Fans Can Play Along As "Virtual Judges" During the Telecast

The collaboration with iPowow takes fan involvement to the next level by allowing viewers to play the role of 'virtual judge', while watching at home. The free web application will be available at www.scoremissuniverse.com or www.nbc.com/missuniverse as soon as the show starts on September 12 at   9 p.m. ET on NBC. Viewers can score each contestant on iPowow's 'Second Screen' voting system from their smartphone, tablet or PC. While the fans are ranking each contestant during the live pageant, they can also share their responses via Twitter and Facebook. Meanwhile, the "fan voting meter" on the home audience's television screen will instantly reveal which contestant is most favored by the fans. The show's celebrity judges will ultimately decide who will be crowned the next Miss Universe. The iPowow technology captivated audiences of the 2011 MISS USA® Pageant with more than 12.6 million total votes and an average of 30,000 votes per second.

The MISS UNIVERSE® Competition is in its 60th year of production. The delegate crowned Miss Universe 2011 will take home the coveted crown and spend her reign supporting charitable alliances worldwide!

MISS UNIVERSE:

The Miss Universe Organization, a Donald J. Trump and NBCUniversal joint venture, is a global community empowering role models of beauty, health and leadership for young women of today. The organization is dedicated to partnering with charities around the world, and to increasing HIV/AIDS awareness by focusing on women's health and reproductive issues. For more information, visit: www.missuniverse.com.

Follow Miss Universe:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/OfficialMissUniverse

YouTube: www.youtube.com/OfficialMissUniverse

Twitter: TheRealMissU

IPOWOW:

The iPowow platform gives broadcasters, TV producers and advertisers the power to create a new breed of participation television using compelling engagement: Live-and-in-the-Now. Best of all, it generates significant advertising and sponsorship revenue streams from mobile browsers. For more information on how the mobile web and participation television is changing the way we watch TV, visit: www.ipowow.com.

CommerceTel:

CommerceTel is an award-winning provider of proprietary mobile marketing technologies and the inventor of C4, a unique, enterprise-grade platform empowering brands to engage mobile consumers via multiple channels. The only system of its kind, C4 is a cloud-based solution providing broad mobile communications and extensive CRM features. It is integrated with multiple tier-one PSTN/ IP carriers and micropayment processing facilities as well as with carrier premium SMS billing systems.  Customers include CNN, Miss Universe Organization, Disney, Sony Pictures, AT&T, Verizon, USA Network, numerous professional sports franchises, the Golf Channel, and NBC Universal.  

SOURCE Miss Universe Organization