By Alyssa Boyle
Sports Illustrated launched a free ad-supported TV (FAST) channel this month, SI TV, which is now available to watch on TV distributors including DirecTV, Plex and Amazon’s Fire TV, with more distributors such as Roku to join that list soon.
Cynopsis caught up with Steve Cannella, the publication’s editor-in-chief, about why this move makes sense for the historic sports brand – and what is next on its roadmap.
What spurred the company’s decision to launch a FAST channel this year?
Audiences are flocking to the FAST space, so this is an opportunity to expand our core, sports-focused content into premium video environments to build our audiences. We don’t have linear channels we can simply readapt for a streaming environment, so for us, SI TV is an opportunity to produce longer-form videos that can tell more in-depth stories compared to what’s possible on social media, YouTube or our owned-and-operated channels.
With audiences consuming content across an array of digital platforms, we ultimately want the Sports Illustrated brand to be visible in as many digital touchpoints as possible.
The FAST space is very saturated. How does Sports Illustrated expect SI TV to stand out?
Our core differentiator is the scope of our content and the sports talent in our network who help establish the brand as an authoritative source on sports history and happenings.
Sports Illustrated content spans news-based analysis and documentary-style storytelling in addition to classic sports programming. For example, we launched a weekly show over the summer with extensive coverage of the WNBA season [now available on SI TV, “Around the W” first ran on YouTube and SI’s website], and we can now expand that content across our FAST distributors as well. We have similar ideas for some of the content we have in our archives, dating back to the 70s.
But we don’t plan to rely only on already-existing content. The perception of FAST channels has been shifting across the industry, especially over the past year. Now, FAST is considered not only as a place for evergreen content, but as a place where live programming can thrive by drawing in new viewers and brand partners. Distributors nowadays take care to ask prospective content partners about the breadth of their live programming slates.
How does the outlet’s expansion into FAST translate into how Sports Illustrated plans to engage brand partners?
Perhaps most exciting for us in terms of advertiser partnerships is the opportunity to integrate branding within the programming we’ll be producing. We will also have more opportunities to offer brands more diversified sales opportunities. If a brand wants to pair a title sponsorship or brand integration with pre-roll video ads on our owned-and-operated channels, for example, we can make that happen – and it would likely help brands expand their audience reach to include FAST viewers.
As for newer or less endemic brand clients, we believe the audience variety and scale across FAST environments will help us attract more advertiser interest. FAST tends to be a stickier environment that can retain viewership.
Can you elaborate on how Sports Illustrated expects its FAST channel to expand audience reach for itself and its advertiser clients?
For us, FAST viewers can range from intentional sports fans to casual viewers who are flipping through programming and happen to land on our channel. For example, we expect some of our FAST viewers to be consumers who may have been tuning into a news channel just seconds prior. We also expect the reputation backing the Sports Illustrated brand to help attract or retain viewers who recognize our name. If I were a brand, I’d be interested in the audience diversification that opportunity represents.
What’s next for Sports Illustrated as it develops its SI TV offering?
In the short term, our focus is expanding our reach across FAST distributors to widen our audience reach and scale.
Longer term, we’ll focus more on premium video production. While our current offering is strong and exciting, we have to continue evolving and adapting to marketplace needs – like any good media property.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
