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BTN.com relaunch / 2019 / Planning, content audit, UX, UI, Design, Development, Content Migration / Launch project
Big Ten Network (BTN) is a sports network covering collegiate sports in the US. Since its original launch in 2007, BTN has grown to an estimated 60 million US subscribers and their sports coverage is carried by most major TV service providers.
Waypoint redesigned and relaunched btn.com partly as a response to the growth and popularity of social media as well as other new technologies that changed how sports fans reach their favourite content.
When originally concepted, BTN.com was a traditional editorial site, covering the Big Ten Conference and other potentially breaking news. It was a 24/7 operation. Over the years, the sites’ focus shifted more towards linking to content that was being put out on other platforms. Btn.com was becoming a hub, so the relaunch needed to reflect that.
First things first - sports fans love their teams so the relaunch made btn.com the best place to find any news about their favorite Big Ten team.
Each team got their own dedicated page which draws content from all the social networks as well as links to game and TV schedules, merch shops, ticket vendors and official team sites.
btn.com retains the ability publish some editorial content so this was adapted to support modern devices.
Visitors often went to btn.com to look up the TV schedule, so the relaunch made this feature more easily accessible.
Finally, we've integrated a simple tool for finding TV providers who carry Big Ten Network broadcasts for new or moving sports fans.
Since the BTN team was already acquainted with WordPress, it was a natural choice for the new BTN.com platform.
Waypoint designed a fully custom WordPress theme with a focus on simplicity and ease of use. This, for example, allows the BTN team to create and edit school landing pages without the need for a developer.
The site's core functionality is divided into custom components or plugins that can be individually enabled or disabled. This future-proofs the site, as it allows for potential major changes to be made without having to rebuild the entire content system.
Waypoint designed a fully custom WordPress theme with a focus on simplicity and ease of use. This, for example, allows the BTN team to create and edit school landing pages without the need for a developer.
The site's core functionality is divided into custom components or plugins that can be individually enabled or disabled. This future-proofs the site, as it allows for potential major changes to be made without having to rebuild the entire content system.