If they don't watch live, they can't answer questions about the event, which means they can't win points toward cheap tickets for next week's game, for example, or discounted merchandise.

WayIn has signed three partners to begin with and says it will name 20 more in the coming weeks. The first are the LA Kings hockey team, the Republican National Committee and Playboy.

"I predict Playboy's Frisky Friday voting is going to be huge," McNealy quipped, adding hastily that it will be the "PG-13" version.

Brands are struggling to get value from their followers on Facebook and Twitter, he argued. "There's 10 million people following Obama on Twitter. But how many people love him and how many people hate him? Twitter doesn't know that," he said. "We can post a picture and ask 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down."

Players can provide their location data, so WayIn can sell "geographic heat maps" showing how opinions are dispersed across the country. That could help the Republicans, for example, to decide where to campaign hardest before an election.