A FORMER Cookstown High School pupil has set up the first ever news forecasting website.
If you thought Facebook or MySpace was addictive and time-comsuming, then be prepared to be sucked into the world of hubdub.com.
The idea (www.hubdub.com) was the brainchild of Nigel Eccles, originally from the Stewartstown area, and his wife Lesl
ey who are both keen followers of current affairs.
Founded in November last year it provides an interesting twist on real stories, giving news junkies the opportunity to stake virtual dollars to place bets on possible outcomes of over 2000 live events. How much is won or lost depends on not only how the news story turns out, but how others have predicted the outcome too.
The website was launched in the USA nine months ago and on Monday it enjoyed its UK launch. Based in Edinburgh, Hubdub, which covers news, politics, entertainment and sport, currently has 200,000 unique visitors a month.
“It was quite busy last week with the US election and we had a lot of people on making their predictions,” explained Nigel. “We hope to continue to expand the site and also to put the technology on other sites. Since it launched in the USA, it has become really popular and it provides people with a means of entertainment.”
So far there have been 800,000 predictions to date with over two million Hubdub dollars being staked every day.
Co-founder Lesley Eccles added that it was great to be launching in the UK, despite the recession.
“People are going to be looking for free entertainment and will turn to the web to find it. Hubdub is free, exciting and keeps you informed. In addition, news sites are looking to engage and interact further with their readers and Hubdub gives them a fantastic means to do so.”
Having secured partnerships with leading media news sites including Reuters and The Independent, Hubdub is taking prediction markets more mainstream and making them easier for casual browsers to appreciate. Sitting beside high quality news content, Hubdub provides sites with additional ways to engage their readers, keeping them online longer and returning on a regular basis.
* While testing out the website, this reporter predicted that Russell Brand will get a job with Channel Five, and that the next breach of confidential data in the UK will happen in December (you read it in the MAIL first!)
