As the college football regular season winds down and the college basketball season gears up, the Pac-12 Conference continues to notch up its lineup of partnerships, unveiling a slate of expanded alliances (with Audi and Dr Pepper) as well as a new sponsor (Jack in the Box) for the Pac-12 Football Championship Game. Other partners of the 2018 contest also include Gatorade, GEICO, Maui Jim, Opus Bank, PrimeSport, Shoowin and Unifi.
Meanwhile, the Pac-12 Conference also announced that tech and telecommunications companies Comcast and Cox Communications, both of whom are distribution partners of the Pac-12 Networks, have agreed to expand their relationships as sponsors of the conference. Comcast’s residential services brand, Xfinity, will become the official multichannel video programming distributor sponsor of each of the Pac-12 universities in its footprint: Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Washington, Washington State University, University of Oregon, Oregon State University, University of Colorado and Utah University. Meanwhile, Cox will become the official MVPD partner of the University of Arizona and Arizona State University.
Cynopsis caught up with Mark Shuken, President of Pac-12 Networks, to discuss the state of the conference and its networks, as well as how they are working with sponsors.
Shuken on the appeal of the Pac-12: Strong interest from sponsor and advertiser partners in developing an association with the Pac-12 starts with the incredible strength of our member school brands and the power of the affinity and engagement of the fans of those schools for their universities. Beyond that, the Pac-12 has a very strong brand positioning that encompasses excellence across academics and athletics, innovation and the best of the West Coast. This is encapsulated in our Conference of Champions brand positioning as the winningest conference in college sports, and one that is a real thought leader on important issues such as student-athlete health and well-being, promotion of women’s sports, sustainability, globalization of sports and many others. Add to that the fact that we own our own media company and have the ability to deliver innovative multi-platform partnerships to sponsor and advertiser partners, including digital, social, linear and on-site assets, and you have a really impactful platform for sponsors.
On conversations with sponsors: We are pleased with how the market has been responding to our Pac-12 sponsor and advertiser opportunities, and the value that leading brands are seeing in the Pac-12. In just the past week we announced renewals with Dr Pepper and Audi, a new deal with Jack in the Box, and sponsorship deals with Comcast and Cox, each of whom is expanding their existing distribution relationship with the Pac-12. And we anticipate announcing some further deals in the coming days and weeks.
On activating: With an evolved content strategy and multi-platform approach for Pac-12 Networks this season we have been able to further extend our ability to develop compelling branded content throughout our programming. A great example of this is that as we have taken our show on the road to all 12 campuses with “The Pregame,” there was great interest from partners in being involved and branded content has found its way into this programming that spreads throughout our linear, digital and social media channels.
On the evolution of Pac-12 Networks: I’m incredibly excited about the growth and future of our Pac-12 Networks, in particular because we own it and have the ability to experiment and innovate. This year we unveiled a new multi-platform content strategy that will ensure that our fans are able to consume the very best of the Pac-12 wherever they are and whenever they want, on any and all devices. This includes both our 850 live events along with a myriad of highlights, compelling storytelling, original programming and short form content of all kinds. We are focused on delivering the best quality content to our fans, particularly younger fans who consume sports mostly on mobile and social platforms. We are taking our Pac-12 Networks shows on the road to our campuses more than ever before to bring to life the energy and excitement of college sports. And we are experimenting and partnering with leading technology companies such as Google, Facebook, and others on ways to create and deliver the very best and most relevant content, all in the name of better connecting our fans to the universities and sports they love.
On viewership: We have seen strong growth in viewership across all of our platforms. I am continuously amazed by the “stickiness” of college sports content, and the levels of passion and engagement that our fans have for Pac-12 sports. From a trend perspective, we are absolutely continuing to see the evolution of consumption towards non-linear platforms and we are adapting to ensure we continue to meet consumer needs.
