Ortsbo to broadcast live from Long Beach
The live Q&A will be hosted by James Hinchcliffe – @Hinchtown, IZOD IndyCar Series 2011 Sunoco Rookie of the Year and GoDaddy.com driver. Using Ortsbo's proprietary, instant live subtitling technology on the Live & Global platform, viewers around the world can watch the Q&A in real-time through an online broadcast video stream with multi-lingual closed captioning in any one of Ortsbo's 53 languages.
Additionally, fans and media alike will be able to submit written questions directly to Barrichello and Kanaan and follow along with the answers, all in their native language. The entire hour-long Q&A and conversation will be translated live into the subtitled display in the language of the viewer's choice. Fans and media can register for the chat in advance or join live at www.liveandglobal.com/indycar to interact with Barrichello and Kanaan. Full details include:
With more than two million combined followers on Twitter, Barrichello, the Formula One star who transitioned to the IZOD IndyCar Series this year, and Kanaan, the 2004 IndyCar Champion, are two of the best-known and the most followed IndyCar racers, both in their home country of Brazil, and around the globe.
"The 'Ortsbo Live & Global: IZOD IndyCar Series' will instantly turn the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach into an international event, letting the racers take live questions from fans anywhere in the world and have the questions, answers, and full conversation instantly translated using Ortsbo's subtitling technology," said David Lucatch, CEO of Ortsbo. "This allows racing fans to experience the excitement of the race day directly from the drivers themselves, no matter where they may be in the world."
"I'm thrilled to be this year's host of the Ortsbo Live & Global real-time conversations between IndyCar drivers and their fans," said Hinchcliffe. "The ability to extend the reach of IndyCar racing by being able to engage with fans in 53 different languages means that people everywhere in the world can participate – and that's a win for everyone."
Kanaan agrees. "It's definitely important to me to keep in touch with my fans. Without the fan's love of INDYCAR, I might not be able to do what I love – race cars. Ortsbo's Live and Global event will be a great way to interact with my fans and with it being broadcast to so many different countries; it will feel more personal being able to answer their questions in their language."
"The fans and media have been very welcoming and supportive of me through the first two races of the season," said Barrichello. "I'm looking forward to this opportunity to answer their questions." This "Live & Global" event is the first in a series of 2012 events with Ortsbo, the Official Online Translation Partner for the IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights. Ortsbo's Guinness World Record-setting Live & Global event software has been used for previous events that featured the legendary Andretti racing family, rock legends Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS, two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash, and on the Red Carpet at the Orange British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), which attracted participants from 161 countries.
"Ortsbo Live & Global: IZOD IndyCar Series" will be broadcast in front of a live audience at the NBC Sports Network pre-race stage at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. On-site fans and media are able to participate also. For more information about Ortsbo, visit: http://www.facebook.com/Ortsbo and follow the company on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ortsbo.