(by David Eckoff, guest blogger): Evan Kamer, Senior Director of New Media at the NFL, made a solo presentation to the audience on the NFL’s online subscription business.
Kamer said key factors that prompted NFL.com to launch an online subscription service this season were 1) a large and passionate audience and 2) a critical mass of broadband users. Kamer shared data with the audience: by January 2003, NFL.com had built an audience of 15 million unique users; and research sized the broadband audience at 40 million broadband users (Nielsen), with 40-50% saying they would pay for content.
The NFL decided to launch an online subscription service to further diversify their revenues while still maintaining a significant amount of free content on the site.
There are currently two products on the NFL’s roster: NFL Field Pass (includes live game audio) and NFL Fantasy Extra (a fantasy sports game).
Results according to Kamer: approx 100,000 sign ups to-date; half annual subscription and hald monthly subscriptions.
Next up for NFL.com, according to Kamer: bundling and packaging of multiple services, more team involvement, new products and wireless.
In my next report, I’ll have an exclusive one-on-one interview with Bobby Burton, Executive Vice President at Rivals.com.
(David Eckoff is senior director, marketing and business development for RealOne Sports at RealNetworks and is a guest blogger reporting from the Sports Media & Technology Conference in New York City. Mr. Eckoff negotiates licensing agreements and directs marketing campaigns that grow the company’s subscriber base for streaming game broadcasts. Programming partners for live broadcasts include MLB, NBA, NASCAR, college sports through OCSN, PBA, PGA Tour, UEFA and more. You can reach David Eckoff at RealNetworks by e-mailing deckoff …at… real.com)
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