CYNOPSISSPORTS
11.17.14 Good morning. It’s Monday, November 17, 2014, and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.
As high school football season wraps up, NFHS Network has found that its second season is clicking thanks to its ground game. Using word-of-mouth instead of relying on traditional marketing tactics, the platform – operated and managed by PlayOn! Sports – now boasts over 11,000 high schools contributing content to the network with sports content from 27 different sports (most popular: football, basketball and wrestling). The company recently announced its first sponsor in Under Armour, in a new multi-year partnership that makes the brand the first Anchor Partner of the Network.
Cynopsis Sports spoke with David Rudolph, CEO of PlayOn! Sports, about the growth of the network, the state of high school sports and the road ahead.
Rudolph on launching the network: The biggest development over the last 18 months has been the creation of the NHFS Network, which was a significant change not only for the business but for high school sports in general. Given how fragmented the overall market is, that was a critical first step to aggregating the eyes to do it and bringing all the partners into it, such as the state associations and the NHFS. Since that timeframe, once we put that deal together, the first school year was really a massive scramble on our end. We obviously took our old product and slapped a new coat of paint on it and, from our end, it was a jump from 23 or 24 states up to 40 overnight. We played catch-up all last year but it was a very successful first year for the network against any metric that you want to judge it.
On year two: We wanted to have a stronger second year and we had a little bit more time to plan for that. The biggest push for year two was a complete overhaul of the product and the consumer experience. That was something that you don’t do overnight, and that launched in mid-August. There are a couple of key focuses of that. We had grown so much and had so much content that discoverability was becoming an issue. We needed some version of personalization where fans could follow certain teams and sports and states. That was a big push. We also wanted to add an interactive component to it that would allow you to clip content and share it to increase the viral nature of our programming.
On sponsors: We utilize a dual revenue stream of subscription and advertising. Frankly, we are more in the phase of identifying and securing corporate partners. The first one we announced so far in Under Armour. We really couldn’t have even had that conversation before the network was created as there wasn’t any destination that was scalable and efficient for something like that. This created the first one. So, Under Armour was one of the ones who got it from day one, as high school sports are at the core of what they do.
On the state of high school sports: High school sports in general are under attack on a couple of different fronts. Under attack may be too strong a phrase but revenue sources are drying up so the teams and schools are looking for alternative ways to raise money just to field teams. I think more and more schools are looking for alternative ways beyond just charging parents and selling wrapping paper to find ways to fund their teams. The second thing is that players today are specializing more and more. You are playing baseball year-round or volleyball year-round or golf. That’s different from when we were growing up when we were playing one sport per season. Some sports are actually seeing some shrinkage.
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE
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Marco Parente, Sr. Dir., Digital Ratings Product Leadership, Nielsen Moderator: Jessica Reese, Associate Editor, Cynopsis Digital
ON THE AIR
Alabama’s win over Mississippi State proved powerful for viewers as the contest ranked as the Saturday’s highest-rated game, delivering a 6.6/14 for CBS and peaking at an 8.2/16 at the 6:30p quarter hour. That marks the second highest number so far this season. Meanwhile, ABC’s battle between Ohio State and Minnesota notched a 4.3 in the overnights, drawing the highest score for a noon telecast this season.
Major League Baseball delivered its plans for its regular season opener in 2015, scheduling Cardinals/Cubs on Opening Night. The game will take place on April 5 at 8p on ESPN2, with Dan Shulman locked in to offer commentary with analysts Curt Schilling and John Kruk and reporter Buster Olney. In addition, Baseball Tonight will take its show on the road for an on-site pregame telecast at 7p.
Speaking of ESPN, the company has retained Taylor Twellman, ESPN’s lead soccer match analyst for Major League Soccer and the U.S. Men’s National Team, via an extension that runs through 2022. He will also work studio and games during ESPN’s presentation of the UEFA European Football Championship 2016 in France as well as remain a primary analyst for ESPN FC on TV. Twellman joined ESPN in November 2011.
The NCAA laid out its Final Four plans through 2021, and will include its first stop in the west since 1995. Plans will see the action hit Glendale in 2017, followed by San Antonio in 2018, Minneapolis in 2019, Atlanta in 2020, and returns to Indianapolis in 2021. Other finalists included New Orleans, North Texas and St. Louis.
New sessions added to the Cynopsis Sports Social Media Summit on Dec. 8! Don’t miss keynotes from Facebook’s Dan Reed and Bleacher Report’s Dorth Raphaely as well as a special Q&A with Google’s Frank Golding from former IMG Sports and Entertainment President George Pyne. This is shaping up to be a terrific event so make sure to register at sportssocialmediasummit.com.
ESPN bid farewell to its live NASCAR race coverage yesterday. ESPN President John Skipper vowed to continue the company’s long-running ties to the sport. “It’s been exciting for us to bring the races in the new format of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup to our viewers, and we’re especially looking forward to history being made in Sunday’s championship race as the entire season comes down to the wire in one race,” said Skipper told ESPN.com, adding “While we won’t be televising NASCAR races after this season, the only thing ending in our relationship with NASCAR is the live racing. NASCAR is a very important part of our history and coverage of the sport will continue to live on all ESPN platforms going into the future.”
NBA TV is slating the Pelicans/Kings to anchor its NBA TV Fan Night tomorrow night at 10p. The game selection was based on fan voting via NBA.com, the NBA.com mobile web, NBA Game Time App, and via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Armed Forces Classic is set to be played at the Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler in Okinawa, Japan in 2015 and Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu in 2016, according to ESPN. The 2015 Classic on Friday, Nov.13, will pit Gonzaga/Pittsburgh, while the 2016 event on Veteran’s Day on Friday, Nov. 11 will see Indiana/Kansas and Arizona/Michigan State.
Bellator delivered its early plans for 2015, starting with Bellator 132 on Jan. 16 and headlined by Patricio Pitbull, who defends his Bellator Featherweight World Title against Daniel Straus. Bellator 133 then hits the screen on Feb. 27 will take place on February 27 with Douglas Lima puts his title on the line against Paul Daley, while Emanuel Newton will defend his strap against rising light heavyweight star Liam McGeary. Bellator 134 runs March 27, and includes Joe Warren and marcos Galvao in a Bantamweight Title Fight.
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE
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The NHL expanded its partnership with Honda, in a multi-year deal that will now see Honda Canada Inc. as a league sponsor in the automotive category in North America. The partnership will see the brand sustain its support on NBC in the US and Rogers in Canada. In addition, Honda will further support its NHL relationship through a “significant media commitment including promotions across the NHL’s media platforms such as NHL.com, NHL Social and NHL Mobile.” At the 2015 NHL All-Star Weekend, Honda will serve as title sponsor for the 2015 Honda NHL All-Star Skills Competition on Jan. 24.
ESPN.com is celebrating 20 years with a facelift. At the Disney Mobile Showcase in Burbank, John Kosner, Executive Vice President, ESPN Digital and Print Media, and Ryan Spoon, Senior Vice President, ESPN Digital Product Management, announced that the company will officially launch the new ESPN.com in the US and UK. The new site, currently in beta, will include a “fully responsive design, new levels of personalization, and dynamic social elements for sharing content,” according to the company. In addition, 2015 will see the SportsCenter app change its name to ESPN, so that the company’s No. 1 website, No. 1 mobile website and No. 1 mobile app will all have the same name. In time for the Super Bowl, ESPN will combine its native application and web development into one personalized experience.
Fantasy sports platform FanDuel locked in an integrated marketing agreement with the Washington Redskins. The deal will see the team showcase FanDuel at FedEx Field and across the team’s digital and social media platforms. Chris Cooley will also participate in the initiative.
FOX Sports South unveiled its new state-of-the-art production studio, with the 1,800 square foot studio utilizing Viz Multiplay from Vizrt which provides the production team with a, flexible way to control content across multiple studio screens from a single interface. “With the studio renovation, our intention was to create a sense of ‘place’ for the fan,” said FOX Sports Media Group EVP and Creative Director Gary Hartley, who is responsible for designing the NFL on FOX studio set and the FOX Sports robot, ‘Cleatus’. “We hope they feel that this is their home – for their teams – and that the studio feels comfortable and approachable.”
Goal.com announced the first five inductees to its Hall of Fame with Zinedine Zidane of France, Hungarian great Ferenc Puskas and Argentina’s Diego Maradona joined by the Brazilian duo of Pele and Ronaldo. More than 100,000 of the site’s users worldwide decided on who would be the initial five entrants into the Hall of Fame, from an initial shortlist of 15.
Bulls/Clippers at 10:30p on NBA TV.
ON THIS DAY in 1969: The Packers become the first NFL team to travel by plane.
In The Know: Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon set a new record for rushing yards in a game over the weekend, breaking the record of what famed athlete? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: Only the second four correct answers from each time zone will be mentioned; and once you’ve been mentioned in any of the Cynopsis editions, you can’t be mentioned again that calendar week.)
Answer to Yesterday’s Question: : What school has the most combined men’s and women’s Final Four appearances in college basketball? Answer: 90% of the responses I received were UConn at 20, but the answer is actually North Carolina with 21. Kudos: Matthew Luisi-NBCU Digital Ad Sales/NY; Ron Salcedo-Zimmerman/Nashville; Kevin Wicker-Kansas City Chiefs Radio Network/Mission; David Hauptman/Denver; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA
Later — Chris
Chris Pursell for Cynopsis | Sports @VegasandVine
11.17.14
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