DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ALPS Advisors Inc., a provider of innovative investment products that help financial professionals construct high-performance portfolios, today announced the launch of the Sprott BUZZ Social Media Insights ETF (NYSE Arca: BUZ), a new exchange traded fund designed to deliver exposure to the BUZZ Social Media Insights Index (the “BUZZ Index”).

“This new fund provides investors with access to an investment strategy that is increasingly being adopted by institutional money managers, all within an accessible ETF.

The BUZZ Index seeks to identify U.S. stocks that rank highest in terms positive insight, which includes bullish investor perception, brand value perceptions, and breadth of discussion from mentions on social media and other online media. Each month, the Index identifies the 100 most-mentioned stocks and ranks them using a proprietary scoring model, selecting the 25 stocks with the most positive insight scores to be included in the Index.

ALPS Advisors, a pioneer in developing new products and techniques that enhance portfolio construction, will serve as the Fund’s Investment Advisor.

“The Sprott BUZZ Social Media Insights ETF brings together a powerful combination of social media and big data analytics,” says Michael Akins, Senior Vice President, Head of ETF Strategy for ALPS Advisors. “Not only does the BUZZ Index measure investor sentiment, it also identifies key influencers and scores which social media members have historically been the most successful in their forecasting accuracy. We believe that investors will quickly recognize the value in this new ETF and its potential to optimize portfolio returns.”

Sprott Asset Management leverages its expertise as an alternative asset manager to develop innovative exchange traded offerings.

“We are very excited to offer investors another industry first with the launch of the Sprott BUZZ Social Media Insights ETF,” said John Ciampaglia, Head of ETFs at Sprott. “This new fund provides investors with access to an investment strategy that is increasingly being adopted by institutional money managers, all within an accessible ETF.”

Additional information on the Sprott BUZZ Social Media Insights ETF is available at alpsfunds.com.

About ALPS Advisors Inc.

ALPS Advisors is a leading provider of innovative investment products that enable advisors and institutional investors to raise assets and construct high-performance portfolios. A subsidiary of DST Systems, Inc., Denver-based ALPS is a pioneer in developing core and specialty strategies within cost-effective structures that help investors and advisors build better portfolios. With a focus on non-traditional assets, ALPS’ products and techniques are designed to complement core holdings and provide unique access, diversification, and more opportunities to generate alpha. For more information on ALPS Advisors, visit alpsfunds.com.

About Sprott Asset Management

Sprott Asset Management is a leading alternative asset manager headquartered in Toronto, Canada. The company manages the Sprott family of alternative investment strategies, exchange-listed products and discretionary managed accounts. Please visit www.sprott.com to learn more.

About BUZZ Indexes Inc.

BUZZ Indexes creates and maintains proprietary quantitative portfolio strategies based on Big Data analytics models. Buzz employs state-of-the art Natural Language Processing Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence Frameworks to derive true and actionable investment insights from the Social Media data set. This revolutionary process can be used to create indices that can be licensed to product sponsors and serve as the basis of investment products such as exchange-traded funds. Please visit www.buzzindexes.com.

About DST

DST Systems, Inc. (NYSE: DST) is a leading provider of specialized technology, strategic advisory, and business operations outsourcing to the financial and healthcare industries. Combining unmatched industry knowledge, critical infrastructure and service excellence, DST helps companies master complexity in the world’s most demanding industries to ensure they continually stay ahead of and capitalize on ever-changing customer, business and regulatory requirements. For more information, visit the DST website at www.dstsystems.com.