CYNOPSISSPORTS
03.21.16
Good morning. It’s Monday March 21, 2016, and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.
Amid Yahoo’s recent announcement of a strategic shift toward its core consumer products, its sports brands continue to shore up their content and partnerships. Following last October’s live stream of an NFL game, Yahoo Sports has since announced a partnership with the NHL to deliver free, live games to fans, along with on-demand, premium content; made a move into eSports complete with dedicated coverage and a partnership with ESL; and debuted of The Vertical with Woj, the basketball-centric site run by our Yahoo NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, as well as an exclusive distribution deal with Paul Heyman.
Cynopsis Sports spoke with Bob Condor, VP of Yahoo Sports Media, about the slate of initiatives, Yahoo’s role in the sports media spectrum and measuring success.
Condor on the mantra at Yahoo: Our CEO made a point that our strategy moving forward will play on our strengths, which includes sports. Clearly the partnerships we are entering into and the spaces we are entering into are a part of that. We are matching our initiatives with what we do well: great reporting, video offerings, and, of course, fantasy. We’ve been in the sports space for more than a decade and we have always done it as a user first experience. We are basically, day in and day out, trying to answer the questions in the minds of sports fans, and now eSports fans. Just as a great writer will anticipate the questions, we try to do that in sports in that we are trying to hit on the topics that people are talking and wondering about as well as have some fun with the unscripted moments. That philosophy and some great writers have helped Yahoo Sports become what it is today.
On streaming: I think everybody agrees that the NFL game in October was a success for us, particularly the technology behind the stream itself. It was a spectacular effort by our video products group. What we saw was an opportunity to develop that technology and be a destination that people look at and realize that we can drive that quality of video at scale. Along with that, on the content side, we want to be known as a place where you can find live sports action, certainly as much as possible with at least one live game a day, hence the relationship with the NHL and MLB. We are also streaming PGA right now, including a featured holes segment on Thursday and Friday. In eSports, we have done one live event already and with that event, we debuted what we are calling the Cheer Bar, which basically gives fans the opportunity to choose whichever team they are rooting for and identify themselves to their team’s commenters and we see that as something that, as we go, will move over to the pro and college sports that we are streaming live.
On measuring success: For us, we look at user engagement. Of course, the next question is, “What does that mean?” In 2016, we want to be really smart about how we look at user engagement and how it relates to daily average users and content. These days, we also want to take a look at our social media impressions and where else it is being talked about, shared and consumed. Clearly with all these initiative, you want to feel good coming out of the game and everything we’ve seen so far has shown a strong start.
On moving into eSports: It was a natural fit for us and for sports, it was a natural extension. In addition to our live stream capabilities and our reporting that make this an area we could naturally move into, we saw it as a growth area. It is something audiences are excited about. There are no pretentions on my part of us moving into gaming and being the top space in three weeks or anything. We want to be responsive and we want to understand the kind of content that people are looking for. We have many more chapters to write, but if we stay responsive to the eSports audience, I think we can bring our brand of reporting and content creation to the space that we are known for. Of course, it is no secret that we want to be involved with live events when we can and use our technology to grow the sport.
On verticals and The Vertical: There is nobody like Woj out there in any sports space. We thought it was time to bring that our in a more visible fashion and it was very important to Adrian and myself to have a team that works with Woj to help break news and analysis. We really feel good about the strength and breadth of that team. We feel The Vertical has a lot of depth and people are responding to that. He was a natural place for us to start. We are definitely open to other ideals for that format, and we’ll be doing another Olympic vertical, but we want to make sure they would be a natural fit.
ON THE AIR
Tennis grabbed headlines yesterday for all the wrong reasons when Raymond Moore, CEO of Indian Wells Tennis Garden, told media that the WTA and the sport’s female pros "are very, very lucky" as the women’s game was "riding on the coattails" of the men’s successes. Among the comments was that "If I was a lady player, I’d go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport. They really have." While Moore quickly released an apology, players and pundits unleashed a volley of criticism over the remarks, with some calling for his immediate resignation. "I just feel like in order to make a comment you have to have history and you have to have facts and you have to know things," said Serena Williams, adding that the comments took away from the successes of players like Billie Jean King. "That is such a disservice to her and every female, not only a female athlete but every woman on this planet, that has ever tried to stand up for what they believed in and being proud to be a woman."
Friday saw the NFL’s reaction to Georgia’s controversial “religious liberty” bill, as the league told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that if the bill becomes law, the city may lose out on hosting a Super Bowl. With Georgia House Bill 757 on the governor’s desk awaiting signature, league spokesman Brian McCarthy told the publication that “NFL policies emphasize tolerance and inclusiveness, and prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other improper standard. Whether the laws and regulations of a state and local community are consistent with these policies would be one of many factors NFL owners may use to evaluate potential Super Bowl host sites.”
Magic Johnson is getting back into the talk show game, with ASPiRE Network, owned by Johnson, announcing that the former Laker will star in Magic in the Making beginning March 28 at 9p. The sit-down interview show will open with Under Armour athlete and American Ballet Company principle dancer Misty Copeland as its first guest. "It is with great pleasure that we present this special presentation of ‘Magic in the Making,’ a show that allows me to sit down and have candid, honest and heartfelt conversations with prominent, successful, extraordinary African-Americans,” Johnson stated, according to The Inquisitor.
USA Network is entering new waters, announcing that, for the first time ever, the channel will offer expanded access to WrestleMania. Between March 31 and April 7, the network will showcase multiple events, including a live, one-hour broadcast of the official WrestleMania Kickoff Show, as well as a special episode of Smackdown and the one-hour WWE Hall of Fame Induction ceremony, along with a movie marathon featuring The Rock. The Kickoff Show debuts on April 3 at 6p and include the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, featuring 20 WWE Superstars.
Across the pond, Sky is launching a brand new sports channel, dubbed Sky Sports Mix, which will offer “a range of great moments from some of the world’s biggest sporting events to all its TV customers in the UK and Ireland at no extra cost.” The channel will feature a blend of soccer, golf, cricket and more and part of the basic package, with a launch set for the summer.
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE
Social Good Awards Breakfast
Thursday, April 7 – 8:15-10:30 a.m. | Yale Club NYC
The event will feature a case study on the “Save The Park” initiative, a social good partnership between Games of Change and American Express. Also, this year’s presenters are set to include:
-Jennifer Button, Sr Director of Corporate Relations & CSR – Discovery Communications
-Mary Ellen Curran, VP of Community Relations – WWE
-Steve Pacheco, Director of Sponsorship – FedEx
VIEW FINALISTS & REGISTER NOW!
SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION
FIFA lined up The Wanda Group as the organization’s first Chinese company to sign on as a Partner, with the deal set to include sponsorship rights across the next four editions of the World Cup through 2030. The Wanda Group will now engage in numerous initiatives with a strong focus towards grassroots football development in China PR and the Asian region.
NASCAR may be flirting with some new car manufacturers. Chairman and CEO Brian France told SiriusXM Radio that multiple manufacturers have expressed interested in entering the sport. "There is some interest by a couple of different manufacturers and we would be open to that in the right conditions," France said. "I think a lot of the car companies are understandably looking at the terrific job that Toyota has done by partnering with NASCAR and the success and all the things that comes along with that.
Golf Channel’s East Lake Cup collegiate match play championship presented a charitable donation of $475,000 to the East Lake Foundation on behalf of the event’s presenting sponsor, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, as well as associate sponsors BMW, CSX and Rolex. "The East Lake Foundation’s work in revitalizing the East Lake community serves as the gold standard for public-private partnership and community redevelopment in America,” said Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBC Sports Group. “Not only does the East Lake Cup help shine a light on the success of East Lake but also introduces the importance of giving back to the collegiate golfers who qualify to play in the event and encourages them to share in the spirit of philanthropy as they grow into future leaders."
Major League Lacrosse locked in a partnership with Source One Digital for the upcoming 2016 season, with the company now serving as its Official Signage Provider. “Our partnership with Source One Digital is one that affords us some great synergies,” said Major League Lacrosse Marketing Manager Kevin Murphy. “Having an official signage partner allows us to produce consistent, premium signage that will only make our in-stadium and television product look that much more professional. We look forward to collaborating with the folks at Source One Digital on delivering an even better MLL visible experience.”
SOCIAL MEDIA
March Madness and the First Four helped boost truTV’s outreach, with the new branding campaign #truTVisAThing, tied to its exclusive airings of the First Four games last week, generating over 235.3 million impressions from fans during the two days. In addition, the number of unique participants grew 38% over last year.
DIGITAL & STREAMING
Speaking of the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, Turner Sports and CBS Sports report that, in addition to delivering the third most-viewed coverage of the event since 1991, NCAA March Madness Live, managed by Turner Sports, reeled in 47.9 million live video starts and 10.9 million live hours of video consumption, with both setting all-time records through the first Saturday of the tournament. The tournament has also delivered an all-time record for individual game delivery with Thursday’s Duke/ UNC Wilmington matchup netting 5.5 million live video streams.
GAMING/ESPORTS
Shaquille O’Neal, Alex Rodriguez and Jimmy Rollins are now the latest celebrities to claim a piece of the eSports pie, investing in NRG eSports, which features Counter-Strike and League of Legends teams. According to The Daily Dot, NRG’s chairman, Andy Miller, the three athletes contacted NRG directly with interest in investing. “We think they will help legitimize the space. They all come from the traditional sports world,” he said. “They were all unbelievably young when they became professionals, like our guys.”
Electric racing series Formula E is launching a month-long eSports tournament, set to start this week. Microsoft unveiled the event, which will consist of five online rounds serve as the preview to on-track action happening in Long Beach, Paris, Berlin, Moscow and London. The project is a result of a partnership between Formula E, Xbox, the ESL gaming network, and Forza developer Turn 10 Studios. Meanwhile, Xbox also announced a separate Forza 6 tournament with MLG.
ROSTER MOVES
ESPN named Wanda Young to the newly created position of Senior Vice President, Marketing and Consumer Engagement where she will oversee its marketing, media, research and analytics, and marketing solutions efforts. Young joins ESPN from Walmart, where she served as VP Media and Digital Marketing.
Entertainment brand consultancy and marketing innovations agency Troika is tapping Meredith Levine to serve as Senior Analyst for the company. Levine specializes in fandom and media and will become part of the team conducting a yearlong study of fandom at Troika.
THE MAIN EVENT
Flyers/Islanders on NBCSN at 7:30p.
ON THIS DAY in 1964: The UCLA Bruins win the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship and complete at perfect 30-0 season.
In The Know:
What movie features a Troy Aikman acting cameo? (Email Chris-Sports@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)
Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Which school was the last to win back-to-back NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships? Answer: Florida. Kudos: Alexander Khilnani-NBC Sports/NY; Lew Blaustein-GreenSportsBlog/NY; Bob Dudelson-Leverage Agency/NY; Jason Robert-Columbia University/NY; Brianne Maciejowski-Miles/Sarasota; G. David Brown-FOX Sports/Charlotte; Tom Wetzel-MMSI/Warwick; Dan Remin-ESPN/Bristol; Will Allmendinger-Clear Channel Outdoor/Chicago; Steve McNair0KUBE TV/Houston; Lance Phegley-Texas Runner and Triathlete magazine/Houston; Steve Hirsen-Director/Sherman Oaks; Larry Hutchings/Retired; Doug Kelly-Foster Farms Bowl/South San Francisco; Shawn Kopelakis-FOX Sports West/LA.
Later — Chris
Chris Pursell for Cynopsis | Sports @VegasandVine
03.21.16
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