Aquistion of Rokt calendar platform sees ECAL grow audience to 25 million

Leading calendar marketing and communications company ECAL has announced its acquisition of US-based Rokt Calendar, adding more than 20 tier-one brands to its growing client portfolio.

A pioneer of the segment, ECAL is known for its dynamic ‘sync to calendar’ technology, allowing sports and entertainment fans to sync their favourite events directly to their personal digital calendar, so they stay up-to-date and connected.

With over 70% of adults relying on a digital calendar to manage their lives, ECAL continues to grow in popularity, increasing its global audience to over 25 million.

The NBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, Indycar, EuroLeague, Fox Sports, The Skimm, and SiriusXM number among leading brands moving to the ECAL platform following the acquisition.

The move secures ECAL’s position as the global leader in calendar marketing, with the acquisition adding an increased presence in the US to an already dominant position in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Europe.

Advising that the consolidation presents limitless potential for ECAL in the calendar marketing segment, ECAL founder and Chief Executive, Patrick Barrett stated “this is a really exciting deal for us, and we are very appreciative of the team at Rokt who believed that ECAL was the best future home for their important calendar clients.

“ECAL as a business has invested heavily in developing the most sophisticated and modernised solution of its type, and through this acquisition, we are able to set a high benchmark standard for smart, personalised communications into calendar for over 400 major brands globally and growing.”

Barrett (pictured) added “we’re always innovating.

“In (recent) months we’ve launched two breakthrough features - a ‘Native Language Translations AI’ that delivers events content in the preferred native language of the user; and a ‘Super Calendar Display’ that has re-imagined what’s possible in an embeddable calendar widget for a website.

“ECAL works because it is the most effective communications channel for events across any industry, without exception, and actively works to drive engagement, tune-in and sales. It is also a highly effective data acquisition and insights tool for these brands, who want to better understand who and how their audiences interact with their content, so they can better deliver on their CRM and personalisation objectives.”

With 100% delivery rates, 100% content relevancy, and click-through rates of up to 10% for in-demand promotions and over 15% for livestream and ticket on-sale, ECAL’s direct-to-calendar approach avoids the inbox chaos while also commanding consumer attention.

Barrett concluded “with the ever-increasing fragmentation of communications and the need for brands to ‘cut-through’ the noise and counter a shrinking attention span, the calendar is one of the last remaining sacred spaces, and a ‘single source of truth’ for most people.”