@ Sports Media & Tech: Future Of Sports Media; One Example: MLBAM Bets On Figure Skating

imageOur veteran guest blogger David Eckoff is in New York this week for the Eighth Annual Sports Media & Technology Conference and will keep us posted. To open the conference, Bob Bowman, president & CEO, MLB Advanced Media; Ed Goren, president, Fox Sports; and David Levy, president, Turner Sports, discussed the future of sports media. (Disclosure: Levy and I work for the same company.)

On online sports programming: Levy: We don’t want to just air video and be done with it. For example, what we do with NASCAR.com. We just did a recent deal with PGATour.com , where we have no video package. You don’t have to have video to have a digital product. Goren: Major events will still attract the largest audiences on television, short of something like American Idol. We may see the smaller events that currently you have to do a time buy to get on TV, those events might migrate to other areas. Levy: We’ve been testing in R&D something called PlayON. We did a deal with the ACC. We’re now producing their programming for broadband and selling it to fans on a subscription basis or as a single event. We’re testing whether we think that can role up to a big enough number. We’re doing a two-year test. The quality of the product is very high and you can produce it for far cheaper than you expect, the costs are minuscule vs. the costs to produce TV. Goren: Bob might want comment on the figure skating deal MLBAM recently did. A surprised Bowman sheepishly responded, shaking his head, “Bob doesn’t want to talk about that, no.” [More on that in a moment.]

On the multi-screen experience: Bowman: Increasingly, we’ve become a two-screen world. 40 percent of baseball fans have another screen on when watching a baseball game on TV. We can give them programming that feeds their need. Levy: 80 percent of people who use TrackPass online area also watching the television screen at the same time. The linear channel will still produce the event, what you do online at the same time is what will be the difference in the future.

MLBAM launches IceNetwork.com: Bowman: We’re getting into figure skating, as was leaked a few minutes ago [by Goren]. IceNetwork.com is launched. Well, up until 15 minutes ago we had soft launched it. Figure skating is one of the highest rated events on the Olympics. We can find a huge audience for this. Because of YouTube, Google, etc., people know to go to the Internet to find video. Consumers know they can watch video online now. There will be a mix of some free and some paid.

On fantasy sports: Goren: Fantasy does increase our ratings. These people have a lot of time, 7 or 8 hours a week to do whatever they want. It’s a loyal audience. A lot of people who play fantasy buy the sports broadcast packages. Bowman: Fantasy sports is huge. Football is probably four times the size and I envy their simplicity. We’re trying to invent other games that are easier to play.

On the health of the marketplace: Levy: The U.S. auto market is up 11 percent because Toyota is kicking ass. Toyota is advertising a lot. Pharmaceutical, movies, games businesses are spending a lot. It is a strong marketplace. Goren: My sense is, through the fourth quarter, the sports marketplace is healthier than the rest of the market.

David Eckoff is vice president, new products at Turner Broadcasting. The opinions expressed in his guest blogging are his own and not those of Turner Broadcasting. You can contact David via his blog at www.davideckoff.com

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