The promotion is designed to spur baseball fans’ enthusiasm when a no-hitter game is in progress while also helping Domino’s drive online and mobile ordering. Mobile is the fastest growing ordering platform for Domino’s and online ordering as a whole makes up one-third of total orders in the United States.

“We see on average where there is one near no-hitter every week,” said Matt Gould, vice president of communications at MLBAM. “That frequency is in line with how people consume our app – we see probably 60 percent of our fans open our app every day.

“So having them engage with this is key, especially when you get that alert says Yu Darvish has a no-hitter in six innings,” he said.

“Now in addition to the historical significance of a no-hitter, you’ve got an additional role for this great partnership with Domino’s, if the pitcher achieves this, the first 10,000 Mlb.tv subscribers will get a free pizza the following day.”

Baseball and pizza
Because no one knows when a no-hitter is going to happen, being able to leverage alerts within the MLB At Bat app to let users know when a no-hitter is in progress is a key element of the program.

The offer of a free pizza is another way to drive excitement around no-hitters.

With the Domino’s DomiNoNo promotion, subscribers of MLB.TV, an Internet-based live video offering, will have a chance to receive free pizza following each of the first two no-hitters of the 2013 Major League Baseball season.

MLB.TV enables subscribers to watch every out-of-market game live online on their smartphone, tablet or other connected devices.

On average, there is one MLB game per week that is a no-hitter through the sixth inning of the game. Since 1901, there have been 231 no-hitters thrown – a little more than two per season – making it likely there will be two no-hitters during the 2013 baseball season, per Domino’s.

Whenever a no-hitter reaches the sixth inning, #DominoNoNo hash tags will drive users to watch the live video on MLB.com and up-to-the-moment game alerts on the MLB.com At Bat 13 mobile app.

Beginning on Opening Day, the first 10,000 MLB.TV subscribers who visit MLB.com/dominos the next business day after a no-hitter is thrown and register will receive a code for a free, two-topping medium carryout Handmade Pan Pizza when they order online from Dominos.com.

The DomiNoNo offer will be available for five consecutive days starting at 12:00 p.m. PDT the next business day following a no-hitter or until 10,000 codes are given away.

Mobile viewers
The MLB.com At Bat app recently surpassed the four million download mark just five days into the 2013 MLB regular season. Last year, At Bat reached that mark 45 days after opening day.

Collectively, all of the MLBAM-developed mobile apps, including At Bat, At The Ballpark and Beat The Streak Presented by Dunkin’ Donuts, have already accumulated five million downloads – a total more than double last year’s comparative first week.

The promotion is part of a larger media package between Domino’s and MLBAM that will see the pizza company’s ads featured on several MLBAM digital media properties.

 There are commercial insertions in between breaks on MLB.TV and Domino’s ads will be running in those breaks, including in the MLB At Bat app.

Additionally, the redemption flow for the free pizza offer has been optimized for mobile.

“Mobile is no longer an inclusion – it is a must have in everything we do,” Mr. Gould said. “It is just part of the conversation now.

“Mobile makes up in terms of mlb.com traffic, probably between 50 and  60 percent of our traffic and that is growing,” he said. “It is not that it makes sense it is that it is a must have to reach our fans.

“Our  mobile application is off to an incredible start this year. We did six million app starts on opening day alone.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York