Citing third-party data from Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) and mDialog, NBC says 2,105,441 unique users in the U.S. streamed the game on either NBCSports.com, NFL.com or through the NFL Mobile channel that’s available to Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) subscribers.
NBC also said that 78.6 million total minutes of game coverage were streamed and that 1.83 million game clips and Super Bowl ads were viewed digitally. CBS’ coverage of the NCAA’s “March Madness” men’s basketball tournament actually recorded more than 3 million digital viewers for individual-day of coverage last spring. But no single game came close to the 2.1 million mark.
Although it was the first time the Super Bowl has been streamed, NBC routinely streams its Sunday Night regular-season NFL coverage, which averages around 300,000 unique viewers, the network said.
Prior to the game, sports buyers for several large media agencies told us they were reluctant to spend a mid-six-figure sums for Super Bowl digital advertising time, noting that they were concerned that the game wouldn’t attract a big viewership number. This is appointment viewing, they noted, the kind of game for which fans go to viewing parties and watch the game on a big-screen TV.
Sunday’s numbers might cause them to reconsider future digital buys for big sports events.
Related
]]>Prosecutors timed the seizures to coincide with a major marketing event, Superbowl XLVI. Similar enforcement actions occurred before last year’s Superbowl and before cyber-Monday last November when the feds bagged 150 illicit sites.
Today’s haul included streaming sites with names like sports95.com and firstrowtv.com. Prosecutors are also charging 28-year-old Michigan man Yonjo Quiroa with criminal copyright for operating the sites from his house.
Meanwhile, Reuters (NYSE: TRI) reports that New England quarterback Tom Brady admitted he used an unauthorized stream to watch last year’s Super Bowl while he was in Costa Rica nursing a sore foot.
The theatrics of the enforcement action resembled previous ones. As on other occasions, today’s news featured a swarm of federal agencies, led by Homeland Security, who displayed fake merchandise and gave triumphant statements.
The website seizures are based on a legal process created in the 1970’s to let federal agents confiscate the property of drug dealers. Once seized, the sites display federal law enforcement badges.
After a number of months, the names are forfeited and become the property of the federal government. The government, in a tactic of dubious legality, has also been using some of the forfeited sites to display anti-piracy messages from Hollywood.
Las Vegas odds makers are favoring the New England Patriots to win the big game by three points over the New York Giants.
Related
]]>In a blog post from Friday afternoon—the traditional time that many companies like to break bad news—Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) announced that it would stop developing and supporting 10 apps that it offers across various mobile platforms. They are Yahoo! Meme (iPad and iPhone); Yahoo! Mim (iPad); Yahoo! Answers (Android); Yahoo! AppSpot (Android and iPhone); Yahoo! Deals (iPhone); Yahoo! Finance (BlackBerry); Yahoo! Movies (Android); Yahoo! News (Android); Yahoo! Shopping (iPhone) and Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search (iPad and iPhone).
As you can see, the list is a mix of some of Yahoo’s more popular online brands and some services it created especially for mobile users, but all have one thing in common: they weren’t being used much by consumers. In the words of Yahoo itself, it is removing the apps as part of its effort “to continuously measure and scrutinize what’s working and what isn’t” as part of a new “mobile first” strategy.
What isn’t working? Yahoo has for years now been steadily falling behind Google in terms of how it has tackled the mobile opportunity.
This latest move seems like a particularly damning admission in the case of popular online brands such as Yahoo’s news and finance portals: it is yet another demonstration that Yahoo has failed to find mobile traction with consumers in some more obvious areas.
Meanwhile, others like Meme (Yahoo’s microblogging network), Deals and Shopping (mobile commerce initiatives) are signs that Yahoo’s attempts at creating me-too services to mimic those from more popular brands—like Twitter in the case of microblogging, or Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN) in the case of deals—have not come to much, either, at least on some platforms.
As for what is working, Yahoo says that it will continue to support a number of other apps: for now, News and Finance will continue, for example, on iOS; as will Sports, Mail, Messenger and Flickr. Yahoo is also pressing on with two new apps it launched last year, IntoNow, a GetGlue-like ‘check-in’ app for TV and other entertainment viewing; and Livestand, a Flipboard-like aggregated magazine (pictured).
But given that it’s easy enough to describe these apps in terms of popular competing services, one has to wonder if their days will also be numbered if take-up doesn’t take off.
Yahoo also notes that some of the technology in the de-commissioned apps, meanwhile, will be making its way into some of the apps that are staying online.
In his plans for building up Yahoo’s audience, usefulness and credibility once again, Thompson has made a point of talking up Yahoo’s culture of innovation—he mentioned it on his first conference call after taking the job; and again last week during his first quarterly earnings call. This should be the company’s way of making space to be able to execute on some of those ideas, and indeed Yahoo says it will be releasing new mobile products this year.
In that sense, it’s probably a step in the right direction. Thompson still has a very big task ahead, though, to convince an increasingly more distracted consumer base that this slightly tired Internet brand is one worth watching for the future.
Related
]]>—Yahoo: MaryBeth Malcolm has been promoted to senior director, Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) category development and marketing solutions. The company also announced two new category leads: Debbie Menin to lead entertainment and travel, and Karina Montgomery heading up CPG/FMCG and health. Menin and Montgomery report to Malcolm, who reports to Elizabeth Ritzcovan, VP, marketing solutions. Throughout her tenure at Yahoo, Malcolm has overseen development of advertising programs on the Yahoo Homepage, Mail, Messenger, Mobile, Finance and Flickr. Previously, Montgomery was VP, sales development at SocialVibe, while Menin was entertainment practice head at AOL.
—Wikia: Hilary Goldstein joins as gaming category manager and Eric Moro is now entertainment category manager. They’ll lead Wikia’s community by curating and creating content as well as industry partnerships. Goldstein was previously editor-in-chief of IGN Games, while Moro was editor-in-chief of IGN’s movies, TV and Blu-ray/DVD site.
—AdoTube: Thomas MacLean has been hired to lead the new Detroit office as VP of sales. He previously was strategic accounts manager at Kontera. AdoTube also has new account executives, Bia Parente and Carter Wall.
]]>“The question that remains to us is: what’s the actual value of the Super Bowl in comparison to other things that are streamed?” said a sports media buyer for a top agency, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he’s involved in negotiations for NBC’s live stream. “What are the usual viewing tendencies for the audience? Streaming is probably something less significant for the Super Bowl than it might be for other sports or other properties.”
NBC has taken in an average of around $3.5 million for a 30-second spot for the traditional television broadcast of the Super Bowl, typically the year’s highest rated TV event. Last year’s game averaged 111 million viewers in the U.S. alone. NBC, which had been streaming its Sunday night regular season and post-season NFL games since 2008, notified a half-dozen of the league’s premiere sponsors before the playoffs that it would stream the Super Bowl for the first time this year, too.
These advertisers – which include Nike, Visa and Anheuser-Busch—were offered the ability to purchase digital packages that include impressions not only in the big game, but in NBC’s Wild Card playoff and Pro Bowl coverage as well. In fact, the majority of the impressions are actually served in post-season football coverage other than the live Super Bowl stream.
With 11 days to go before the big game, there’s still lots of digital inventory left for the Super Bowl, buyers tell paidContent. (NBC wouldn’t comment on the status of its digital sales effort for the Super Bowl, but a source close to the network insisted its sales were “at capacity.”) So with ad time for the traditional Super Bowl telecast in typically short supply, why are media buyers insisting there’s plenty of digital inventory left?
Despite the huge popularity of the game, media buyers don’t believe NBC’s Super Bowl stream will draw a digital audience that much greater than the 200,000 to 300,000 unique viewers that NBC says typically watch its regular season contests online or through mobile devices. Buyers theorize that the typical NFL fan might not interrupt his Sunday activities for, say, an early-January Wild Card matchup between the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons, and will catch up on the game on a tablet or smart phone while he’s out and about.
However, the Super Bowl is, in the words of one media buyer, “destination viewing in its highest form,” with viewers striving to watch the game with friends and family in front of large high-definition TV screens. The same dynamic applies to CBS’ and Turner Networks’ digital sales of the NCAA’s “March Madness” men’s basketball tournament: Even though the championship game draws the biggest TV ratings, it’s the early-round playoff games that show the highest spikes in internet and mobile usage.
NBC will stream the match-up between the Giants and the New England Patriots on NBCSports.com and NFL.com, offering HD resolution, DVR-style controls, multiple camera angles, in-game highlights, and live statistics and interactive features. This stream will be accessible through PCs and tablet devices; Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), which has an exclusive mobile deal with the NFL, will broadcast NBC’s live stream to its Android-equipped subscribers, just as it does for regular-season Sunday night games.
So how many football fans will watch the live stream of the Super Bowl? Neither NBC or media buyers seem exactly sure – it’s not easy to gauge based on previous NFL live streams, because the Super Bowl tends to attract a much broader viewership. There is a feeling among all parties, however, that rather than cannibalizing the game’s TV audience, the digital broadcast will actually enhance it.
“What we found with March Madness is that it didn’t take away from the broadcast ratings – in fact, it increased them by creating more engaged viewers,” the sports media buyer said.
“We’re still shaking out the monetization of this, but I don’t see it diluting the broadcast in any way,” added Neal Pilson, a former CBS (NYSE: CBS) Sports president who now serves as a sports broadcast consultant.
As for NBC’s asking price for its digital packages, Pilson noted, “That’s a lot to ask for.”
Related
]]>Gannett did not disclose the purchase price for Fantasy Sports Ventures, a property in which it acquired a minority share in 2008. But a 2010 report valued the company’s flagship site, The Big Lead, in the “low seven figures.”
Sports properties are hot items these days as a series of upstarts have emerged to challenge the 800-pound gorillas in the vertical, ESPN (NYSE: DIS) and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Sports. The most successful new players include SB Nation and Bleacher Report, sites that rely heavily on local, often-unpaid contributors who are obsessed with individual teams and topics. The popularity of the sites suggests that sports readers are not put off by amateur or opinion-based reporting.
On its website, Big Lead Sports claims it was fourth in comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) sports rankings in July of 2010 with 17 million unique visitors. In its announcement, Gannett claims that all of the Fantasy League Ventures blogs—which cut across all major sports—received 19 million unique visitors.
Gannett says the combined property will place it into the top five of digital sports properties. The claim appears reliable based on this recent AdAge report which list USA Today’s Sports Media Group as the ninth most popular property with about 11 million unique views.
The acquisition is also a shrewd play for Gannett because it gives the company a big toehold into fantasy sports. The new property reportedly has 500,000 subscribers in a growing market that fantasy business site Rotobiz claims has 32 million participants.
More details about the acquisition can be found in the company’s press release.
Related
]]>The announcement was made today by Twitter’s UK head, Tony Wang—fittingly enough, on Twitter—who described it as part of a team-building strategy at the social networking site.
Wiltshire will be starting his new job in March and, according to him (via Twitter), will “certainly be focusing on sport in the UK.”
Other details have yet to be made public, but the hire is coming just in time for London’s hosting of the Olympics this year. That is something that Wiltshire has already been focusing on from a social media standpoint for the BBC, so if any kind of Olympics strategy falls into his remit, he will have a head start on that.
We will be speaking with Tony Wang later today, to ask more questions. We will hopefully have more to add after that on the details of what Twitter plans to do around the Olympics and sports; and how/if this represents a new chapter in how the company plans to do more curation of information that passes through its network every day. That, at least, is certainly where an opportunity lies in hiring someone like this.
Meanwhile it is unclear right now who will be replacing Wiltshire at the BBC in his double-role of sports social media and Olympics platform coverage. We have reached out to the company and will update the post as we learn more.
Update: Wang had no comment on the 2012 Olympics but did tell me that Wiltshire’s hire is the first in an expansion of the company’s partner program in the UK; up to now hiring, he said, was focused not on this division but on ramping up sales and marketing people working in the company’s Sponsored Tweet service.
While Sponsored Tweets work more like ads, the partner group gets Twitter people to work with external businesses to get more out of Twitter—and for Twitter to subsequently have a stronger and more committed user base. “It’s all about helping partners in areas where we see a lot of twitter engagement already,” he said. Broadcastis one of those—when a popular show is on TV it trends on the social network. “So we work with our broadcast partners with creative integration and using twitter to drive viewership.”
Hiring someone with sports expertise is an obvious move for Twitter; sports is one of the most popular categories on the site, with several sporting events ranking among some of the most-trafficked of all events. Last week’s milestone effort from Tim Tebow for the Denver Broncos set a record for the most tweets per second: 9,420.
]]>Sky’s newest edition of the app, still free to pay TV subscribers, now includes a £4.99 monthly fee for those who are not—another example of how broadcasters are looking to use their apps not just as complements to their core TV services, but as revenue generators in their own right.
The new app, currently only available in the UK (sorry, overseas British sports fans), offers a significantly expanded list of services on top of those from the earlier version. Users can now get a live feed of the channel (before there were on-demand clips from the live feed as well as a link to Sky Sports News Radio, which are still available, too).
David Gibbs, director of mobile for Sky, also notes that they have added in some new features that were in response to requests from existing users. One of these is a more extensive graphic interfaces with up-to-the-minute match data as it happens. Match data, he says, probably the most-used part of its existing sports news app.
The app is a signal of how broadcasters are looking to apps as a way of growing revenues beyond those that they are getting from pay-TV services and advertising. Those who subscribe to Sky’s sports bundle via satellite TV, which includes Sky Sports channels as well as Sky Sports News, will continue to get the app for free, which works as a kind of perk for those who are paying for the TV content.
Those who do not get Sky Sports by satellite—and that includes those who might pay for Sky Sports but via cable or IPTV services—can now pay £4.99 ($7.80) per month to get the app. That payment goes through Apple’s in-app payment system, meaning that Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) will get a 30 percent cut on the fee.
“If you look at comScore/GSMA data, we have four of our apps in the top 20, and two of them are sports apps, Football Centre and Sky Sports News,” Gibbs noted.
As before, the app will also offer a selection of content to users that integrates text posts from the channel’s web site (still free), as well as video from the TV channel. While the app still gives users full lists of the day’s games, it still does not offer direct links to Sky’s video coverage of those games—but it does have links to Sky Go, the company’s separate video app that lets users watch that content. Down the line, it sounds like that move from fixture info to actual game will be more seamless in later iterations of the app.
As cool as all this sounds, it looks like the full whack of bells and whistles will be something for iPad eyes only for now. An Android version is “coming soon,” says Gibbs. “It’s easier to build for iOS but we are pushing ahead.” Ditto a web-based app: “Video at the moment is always built in the native application environment,” he explains. “It’s the ony way we can really protect our premium video content.”
]]>The sprawling deal covers 70 services, including cable networks, retransmission consent for seven ABC O&Os, the launch of Disney Junior on Comcast and more. The Disney, Disney XD and ABC Family licnesing deal expired at the end of last year; the two companies decided to roll that up into a bigger deal.
So what does it mean for consumers? Those who already pay for Comcast will get access to more programming in more ways (depending on the subscription level)—and, they probably will pay more over the life of the deal to get it. Those who don’t want to pay for cable and the kind of expanded exclusive digital access now being included in deals will face the kind of situation I outlined a few days ago: more access for paid users means less for those relying on the free part of freemium.
They’ll have more options through the set-top as well as online or mobile devices and tablets. At this point, more ABC content has been available on demand through Hulu.com or ABC.com then on TV. ABC, ABC Family and Disney all will have expanded on demand access, including full seasons for some shows—the kind of move that can keep fans interested and engaged.
On another note, it also means that Comcast subscribers in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Raleigh-Durham and Fresno get to skip the public posturing over retrans and threats of ABC going dark on their system into the next decade.
Some more details in the release:
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) and The Walt Disney Company today announced a long-term, comprehensive distribution agreement that will deliver Disney’s top quality sports, news and entertainment content to Comcast’s Xfinity TV customers into the next decade on television, online, on tablets and handheld devices. The new agreement enhances the multichannel business model and supports the companies’ mutual goal to deliver the best video content to customers across multiple platforms using the latest technology and cloud innovation. For the first time ever, Comcast’s Xfinity TV customers will be able to watch ESPN, ABC or Disney shows live or on demand and across multiple screens. The companies also agreed to collaborate over the term of the deal to create new, innovative viewing experiences for Xfinity TV customers.
The networks and services covered by the agreement include: ABC, ABC Family, Disney Channel, Disney XD, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN 3D, ESPN GamePlan, ESPN FullCourt and ESPN3; retransmission consent for seven ABC-owned broadcast television stations (WABC-TV New York, WLS-TV Chicago, WPVI-TV Philadelphia, KGO-TV San Francisco, KTRK-TV Houston, KTVD-TV Raleigh-Durham, and KFSN-TV Fresno) as well as more than 10 high-definition networks. Additionally, Comcast will launch Disney Junior, a new 24-hour basic channel for preschool-age children, parents and caregivers. Comcast will also provide its Xfinity TV customers with broad access to a suite of live Disney networks on an authenticated basis and expanded Xfinity On Demand content through Disney’s comprehensive TV+ initiative. In total, 70 services are covered by the broad scope of this new agreement. License fee schedules for different services under the deal will be phased in over time.
“Comcast was the first video provider to create technology that enabled us to deliver content to customers where and when they want it across any viewing experience,” said Neil Smit, President and Chief Executive Officer, Comcast Cable. “We are very pleased to have reached this unprecedented and innovative, long-term agreement with Disney which embraces the future of entertainment and allows Comcast to continue to bring our vision of TV Everywhere to Xfinity customers whether at home or on the go.”
Anne Sweeney, Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks and President, Disney/ABC Television Group, added, “This landmark deal is a great example of what can be achieved when programmers and distributors collaborate and innovate together to meet the ever-evolving needs of consumers and enhance the viewing experience. By combining the best news, sports and entertainment content available today with cutting-edge technologies, we’re able to fully realize our comprehensive TV+ initiative, and introduce a brand new suite of authenticated services to Comcast subscribers.”
Added George Bodenheimer, Executive Chairman, ESPN, Inc., “Given the scope of assets Comcast and Disney/ABC/ESPN are making available to consumers, this agreement is unprecedented in our industry. It reinforces the value of the multichannel subscription and takes full advantage of new technologies, which serve all of our viewers.”
The extensive and expanded rights package for Comcast’s Xfinity TV customers includes rights across multiple platforms for:
—Comcast’s Xfinity TV customers will receive more ABC, ABC Family, Disney and ESPN content through their set-top-box and, at this time, Disney and ESPN content online, including:
—ABC On Demand, ABC’s fast-forward-disabled On Demand service, which currently features a selection of top-rated primetime entertainment programming, including episodes of such popular current ABC shows as Castle, Grey’s Anatomy, Once Upon A Time (NYSE: TWX), Private Practice and Revenge. Full current seasons will be made available on a number of shows. Additionally, Xfinity TV customers will have access to a variety of ABC News programming as well as some local ABC owned-station content.
—ABC Family On Demand, which features a variety of top-rated full episodes, refreshed monthly, from such popular millennial favorites as The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Switched at Birth, and Melissa & Joey. Full current seasons will be made available on a number of shows. ABC Family original movies like “12 Dates of Christmas” will also be available.
—Disney-branded On Demand offerings, including Disney Channel On Demand, Disney Junior On Demand, and Disney XD On Demand. Refreshed each month, the Disney Channel On Demand offering will include episodes from such series as Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Jake and the Never Land Pirates for preschoolers, as well as variety of episodes from A.N.T. Farm, Good Luck Charlie, Wizards of Waverly Place, and other popular series for older kids. Select episodes featured on Disney Channel On Demand will be available in innovative new offerings, such as playlists and monthly programming blocks, in addition to a number of episodes available in multiple languages. Disney Channel Original Movies such as Lemonade Mouth, Geek Charming and Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension will also be available. Disney XD On Demand features a variety of episodes from such series as the Emmy Award-winning animated hit Phineas and Ferb.
—Disney Channel’s subscription Video On Demand service, which offers on demand access to select episodes before they air, will now be available to Xfinity TV customers who receive Disney Channel, a service that Comcast will offer to these customers for no additional fee.
—Expanded on demand content from ESPN, including content from ESPN Deportes and ESPN’s award-winning original content from ESPN Films.
—The subscription On Demand service “Disney Family Movies,” which features a selection of classic and contemporary feature films and animated shorts from The Walt Disney Studios.
—Xfinity TV customers will receive broad access to existing authenticated products like WatchESPN, as well as upcoming authenticated products, including WatchDisneyChannel, WatchDisneyXD and WatchDisneyJunior. These services will give Comcast’s Xfinity TV customers more opportunities to access live and video on demand content, both in-home and out-of-home, on their computers, smartphones, tablets and gaming consoles.
Xfinity TV customers will also receive the recently announced Disney Junior, a new 24-hour basic channel for children ages 2-7, parents and caregivers. Upon its debut in 2012, the new channel will feature animated and live action programming that blends Disney’s unparalleled storytelling and beloved characters with learning, including early math, language skills, healthy eating and lifestyles, and social skills.
Comcast also obtained rights to air certain content from ESPN3, ESPN FullCourt and ESPN GamePlan on Comcast’s Xfinity Sports Entertainment Package.
Related
]]>Although the pair retail, rent and show a growing array of content like music, TV and movies, it is all either uploaded by or licensed from actual content owners. Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) are technology companies, providing only access to and distribution of content; owning that content would be expensive, unnecessary and out of character.
Premier League’s 2013-16 broadcast negotiations are expected to start this summer. Here’s who currently owns rights for the 2010/11, 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons…
| Package | Rights | Holder |
|---|---|---|
UK Live A, B, C, E, F | 5 x 23 live matches | BSkyB |
UK Live D | 1 x 23 live matches | ESPN |
UK Near-Live | (1) Full replay of a 3pm game (rightsholder choice) | BSkyB |
UK Highlights | Up to 30 mins per game | BBC |
UK Online Highlights | Clips | Yahoo |
UK Mobile Highlights | Clips from all 380 matches, minutes after live action | ESPN |
Overseas | All 380 matches live, on-demand, all platforms. See all. | US: Fox Sports, sub-let to ESPN |
So what could happen next?
YouTube has already snapped up rights to live-stream India’s IPL cricket tournament outside the U.S. and delayed Major League Baseball games in Japan. But these were unexploited or fringe rights. Google is unlikely to want to go up against major western broadcasters for top-tier domestic packages in a tournament as prestigious and cash-intensive as the Premier League.
Fear that goliaths like Apple and Google want to own content is growing in an entertainment business watching them plan their own smart TV systems. Even a Wall Street analyst, Bernstein Research’s Claudio Aspesi, echoed the sentiment in a recent research note…
“Apple’s popularity and attractiveness as a distribution channel may well drive rights owners to seek deals with it, or use the threat to strike agreements with Apple to drive up the price of exclusivity. Moreover, as European regulators are turning increasingly hostile to exclusive contracts, it may prove impossible for Pay TV companies to keep key premium content away from Apple.
“Google could fund the cumulative losses for BSkyB (made earlier on in its operating history, from 1999 to 2002, before breaking even) in 125 days.”
Such speculation that Apple wants to do some kind of deal with U.S. cable companies. But the TV companies are by far in a dominant position - BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) boxes are installed in 10 million UK homes, for example. That’s not something the current Apple TV box can say; an integrated Apple TV set will likely be a product so premium it may command a niche market.
In the DNA of both Google and Apple is access, not ownership.
ESPN tells paidContent: “The Premier League is a world-class sports property and cornerstone programming for our business in the UK. We would clearly like to continue delivering Premier League content to UK sports fans.”
]]>FilmOn says it will be offering the content in partnership with XOS Digital, a company that provides digital asset management services to college sports organizations. It already offers its own sports on-demand service, XOS Sports, in which it offers paid rentals and full downloads of college games.
FilmOn’s channels, already live, offer viewers live games as well as archived fixtures. Users also have the option of recording programs to watch later either over TV, Internet or mobile devices using iOS or Android apps, or to subscribe to HD versions of the channels for a monthly fee. FilmOn offers a combination of free channels and those that require a subscription to watch.
It’s not clear just how extensive FilmOn’s coverage of NCAA fixtures will be—will it include the championships and all divisions?—or how FilmOn’s services work in conjunction with other rights deals between the NCAA and other media outlets: ESPN (NYSE: DIS), for example, extended its rights for NCAA Basketball in the U.S. and internationally earlier this month. That deal included both broadcast and streaming rights.
We have contacted FilmOn for further clarification and will update this post as we learn more.
At the very least, the equal content offering seems to be something that FilmOn is trying to exploit for its own marketing purposes: “We are going head to head with the industry’s top sports programmers,” the company’s outspoken founder Alki David boasts in the news release announcing the deal.
Frankfurt-based, UK/Beverly Hills-operated FilmOn has steadily been building up its catalog of premium sports content: earlier this year the company launched an international soccer channel with the UK Premiership and the Football Association, which will kick off (pun!) with football games from the Russian Premier League.
Last year, it came under some controversy when it was accused by the four major broadcasters in the U.S. of violating copyright by showing their programs. It was served at the time with a temporary restraining order. It then fought back against CBS and CNET with suits of its own (later dropped “put on hold” until November, David tells us.)
While it is a milestone of sorts for online video, in reality because the Super Bowl is the biggest appointment television event of the year, there isn’t much new value to viewers from making it available online too. It’s important to remember that those billions of views online video racks up each month occur because of the incremental - or in come cases transformational - value that it provides. Look at the success of some of the biggest video players today - YouTube (NSDQ: GOOG), Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX), Hulu, VEVO, Facebook, etc. What they and others all have in common is that they deliver thing(s) not currently possible on TV - massive choice, convenience, control, community, sharing and interactivity.
It’s true that the streaming Super Bowl will offer some of the engaging features that NBC’s Sunday Night Football Extra’s streaming experience does, but it’s hard to imagine all of them, even combined, will be so compelling as to draw viewers away from the TV. That’s been the case with SNF, which gets only 200,000-300,000 viewers compared to the average 21 million who tune in on TV. This is where I think the NFL and NBC partially missed the boat yesterday. By not identifying anything new or truly distinctive for Super Bowl streaming, they didn’t create a call to action for viewers to try it out, in addition to or instead of TV. As a result, most average viewers’ reaction is probably along the lines of “why do I need that?”
Other sports events like the Olympics, March Madness, PGA golf have all benefitted because they are partially played during weekday or non primetime hours. The Super Bowl on the other hand, has been well-crafted to be the biggest TV event of the year. If the NFL and its broadcast partners want to make it an online success as well, they will need to be much more creative in the future.
Related
]]>Perform, which listed on the stock exchange earlier this year and counts US billionaire Leonard Blavatnik as its largest shareholder, has exercised its option to buy the 49% of Global Sport Media it does not already own.
Sports statistics company GSM, which was founded in 2000, owns the Soccerway.com football information website and live score portal Scoresway.com.
Perform, which is perhaps best known for delivering the online-only broadcast of the England v Ukraine football World Cup qualifier in 2009, has paid €4.3 ($5.62/£3.61)m (£3.6 ($5.59)m) in cash to acquire GSM. Perform acquired a 51% interest in GSM in January 2009 for €500,000. ($653,200/£420,275)
Perform also struck a deal worth up to £5.85 ($9.09)m to buy the 40% stake in WatchandTrade, which delivers live sports video content to sportsbooks, that it does not already control. The company took a 60% stake in January 2010 for £60,000. ($93253.22)
Perform will pay an initial cash payment of £550,000 ($854821.25) with a maximum payout of £5.85 ($9.09)m “based on an agreed multiple calculation of the full-year ebitda [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation] results of the business for the years ending 31 December 2011, 2012 and 2013”.
Analysts Credit Suisse noted that Perform contols 67% in Sportal Australia with a contractual obligation to acquire the last 22% in two 11% tranches this year and in 2012.
Credit Suisse has forecast that Perform will have £70 ($108.8)m in cash after the two deals were announced on Friday and believes investors were “waiting for them to put the cash to work”.
“Today’s announcements will be a minor relief that this is beginning to happen (albeit relatively small as already acknowledged) but we believe larger-scale acquisitions will likely take place in 2012 given the group’s statement at IPO that they had highlighted multiple potential targets,” it said in an analyst note.
]]>Perform is building an app in-house for Goal.com, the soccer website it acquired earlier this year, which already has iPhone and Android apps, built by Handmark.
This flips the usual economic model for apps, in which brands fund their own development and consider app stores a welcome shopfront. And it comes despite Perform having raised £72.5 million by going public this year.
Perform is pitching the app as being “integrated” in to Symbian and Windows Phone. Microsoft and Nokia are also investing in promoting the app, which includes advertising.
“They are funding the apps build and we are building specific Windows Phone 7 features for the app, whilst they are committing to marketing spend to promote the app in multiple markets,” Perform tells paidContent.
“Then, we are looking at rolling out on to other Nokia platforms with their support – for example, in Nigeria, where Goal is huge, we will work with them on local marketing.
“We are very much integrating our content into both operating platforms – it is a mutually beneficial relationship where they are offering their customers a lot of Goal-branded football content for free and, upon building the user base, we then have a very exciting mobile ad platform.
“As a content business, we are, of course, keen to discuss other options that would mean further integrating our content into their operating platforms and developing a wider sports content related partnership.”
In 2010, Nokia bought Ovi platform exclusivity for The X Factor’s UK mobile app as part of a £1 million sponsorship deal with the ITV (LSE: ITV) show, whilst playing catch-up to iPhone.
Nokia’s Windows-powered Lumia handsets already include a version of the ESPN Sports Hub app.
Related
]]>]]>
The Angels’ ability to pull off the Pujols mega-contact falls right in right in line with my post earlier this year, “Not a Sports Fan, Then You’re Getting Sacked for At Least $2 Billion Per Year,” where I explained that massive player contracts and sports rights programming fees are being subsidized in large part by non sports fans. Because sports networks like ESPN (NYSE: DIS), TNT and regional sports networks (“RSNs”) are included in the most popular tiers of digital programming, all subscribers to those tiers—whether they are rabid fans or couldn’t care less about sports—are paying for them. Between their broad subscription bases and high monthly carriage fees, these networks have attained huge financial firepower.
In the Pujols situation, the Angels appear to have leveraged a new 20-year, $3 billion rights deal with Fox Sports West to afford Pujols, as well as star pitcher C.J. Wilson, who also nabbed a 5-year, $77.5 million deal last week. As the LA Times reported, Major League Baseball apparently allowed Angels owner Arte Moreno to opt out of his prior carriage deal with Fox (NSDQ: NWS) last year, just halfway into its 10-year term, allowing him to renegotiate dramatically higher fees. Moreno capitalized on Fox’s anxiety that Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC)—which earlier this year poached the Lakers’ TV rights from Fox and broadcaster KCAL beginning in 2012—might alter the balance of power in the LA market especially if it also gets the Dodgers’ TV rights.
This turn of events are great for Moreno as the Fox deal and the addition of Pujols and Wilson clearly increase the value of the Angels (though it remains to be seen how these high-priced new players will translate to the Angels winning on the field; here in Boston we know the correlation between expensive free agents and winning ball games is tenuous at best). The problem of course is that Fox will now be going back to pay-TV operators in the LA area asking for higher carriage fees. Most operators will acquiesce and in turn raise their rates to cover their increased costs. In unrelated remarks last week Liberty Media’s CEO Greg Maffei complained about this dynamic, saying it was “a tax on every American household,” which drew a swift reply from News Corp.‘s COO Chase Carey who said the industry should “respect the business models we built.”
And that brings us back to why the OTT crowd is cheering, again. As the cost of basic digital service has soared to $60 or $70 per month, amid the financial squeeze many Americans face, it’s no secret that pay-TV has created an affordability problem for itself. This is particularly true for the post-college cohort that had already shifted its viewing behavior online. These “cord-nevers,” facing uncertain employment prospects, are simply being priced out of the market. They, and plenty of others - particularly non sports fans - will increasingly consider whether they can get by without pay-TV, simply by relying on lower-cost OTT alternatives.
In fairness, it’s not just sports fees that have soared; as the LA Times also pointed out last week that programming costs at many entertainment-oriented networks have also increased rapidly, which in turn drives these networks to also demand higher carriage fees too. Then there are the broadcast networks’ successful efforts to collect retransmission fees from pay-TV operators. All of this is contributing to pay-TV getting more expensive all the time. But the sports networks in particular are a pain point, because they are so much more expensive on a per channel basis, and because essentially all subscribers are asked to foot the bill. Pujols is obviously not literally OTT’s best friend; rather he’s just the latest face of a far larger trend in sports and the pay-TV industry.
Even as all this is happening, the choices available online, and the ability to watch them via connected devices, is improving. It’s a situation that OTT providers will almost certainly capitalize on.
Will Richmond is president and founder of Broadband Directions LLC, a market intelligence, publishing and consulting firm specializing in broadband-delivered video, which he established in 2003. Will edits and publishes VideoNuze, a daily online publication widely read by broadband video decision-makers.
Related
]]>The partnership between HBO and Time Inc.‘s SI has been a long one, but this one is a bit different. The annual SI “Swimsuit Issue” has been accompanied by an HBO special for years. SI also contributes segments from time to time to HBO’s Real Sports series.
As the website gets kicked off, HBO and SI, along with the program’s producers Endgame Entertainment, in association with Playground, will also be working on social media connections to both outlets’ respective sites.
The direction will largely come from SI, as Terry McDonell, Time Inc. Sports Group Editor, is one of the show’s producers.
Related
]]>MMAJunkie will be part of USAT’s Sports Media Group, which was created in January and encompasses all sports offerings across, as well as Gannett’s 81 community newspaper properties, 23 broadcast television stations.
The purchase comes amid wider activity by USAT and Gannett in general to remake itself into a more digital-centric media and marketing entity. In Gannett’s Q3 earnings report last month, USAT posted healthy increase in technology ad spending, but those gains were offset by declines in the entertainment, automotive and financial categories. Along with financial coverage, sports is an area that online publications can more easily differentiate themselves and attract devoted readers, especially young males, and, in turn, ad dollars that follow them.
It’s been a while since USAT bought a sports site. The purchases of BNQT and HighSchoolSports were done about three years ago. But the company says it is always looking to add new sites to its holdings. Earlier this year, USAT bought the product tech reviews site Reviewed.com, a group of 12 product-review websites.
That doesn’t mean that USAT has only been fixated on tech or sports. Over the summer, for example, USAT unveiled its new books site, books.usatoday.com, which included links to purchase featured books.
Over a year ago, USAT went began a major overhaul, as that brand was being redirected to be more focused around mobile and digital and less around print. The changes at USAT initially resulted in 130 job cuts last August. More furloughs are expected at Gannett’s properties in the face of the weak economy.
MMAJunkie claims more than one million unique visitors per month and already serves as a content partner for several print, online and TV outlets. It also produces the daily podcast/radio show “MMAjunkie.com Radio,” with a TV simulcast syndicated through Fight Now TV.
MMAjunkie.com will retain its unique URL, and will also be rolled in to the USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s online coverage at MMA.USATODAY.com by mid-December 2011. MMAjunkie.com was represented by Founders Investment Banking in its deal with USAT. Release
Related
]]>Still, 19 percent is a big chunk, especially since ESPN’s strong performance helped Disney beat analysts’ expectations in FYQ4. In any event, while recent reports have suggested that both sides of the NBA lockout have made progress, Iger expressed little worry that even if the NBA season were to be completely canceled, ESPN would be able to run enough college basketball and football game to retain most advertisers’ commitments. Still, that seems like a stretch, and media buyers would probably demand give-backs.
“We deliver the male demographic that advertisers desperately want to reach,” Iger said.
Turning to the uncertain economy, Iger insisted that the scatter market looks strong. However, advertising activity has been slowing in the last few weeks, he acknowledged.
Iger’s confidence was also on display in discussing how video on demand, either online or through cable set-top boxes, have helped driver greater interest in the company’s programming.
“A few years ago, we were all worried about the effects of DVRs on advertising and ratings,” Iger said. “But with 42 percent penetration of DVR households in the U.S., the actual increase in ratings is remarkable. We can now sell against C3 ratings and maybe one day, we’ll sell against C7 ratings. It’s not detrimental, if anything, it’s enhancing ratings.”
When asked what inning the industry is in when it comes to broadband video, Iger laughed and said he still considers this “the pre-season.” “You’re going to see a lot more forms of SVOD and other devices for watching filmed entertainment and TV programming,” he said. Still, he doesn’t expect the broadband video business to provide anything more than incremental revenues for some time. “It will continue to grow, but it won’t approach 50 percent for many years, because the traditional business is still so strong.”
Instead, he sees e-commerce as the main source of Disney’s main digital growth, certainly by the time Iger’s contract as CEO ends in 2016. “When you talk about growth in digital platforms, it’s not just from Netflix,” Iger told the analysts on the call. “Our total digital revenue is around $1 billion. And that comes from a lot of different areas, not just video.”
Gaming and social are the other areas Disney has put enormous investment behind. But the company has lately taken a more cautious approach to social gaming since acquiring social game developer Playdom in the latter half of 2010.
“We purposely dialed back the number of game releases for a variety reasons,” Iger said. “We wanted to monitor the social games space more closely, and make sure our infrastructure was sound. The other reason was looking at the intellectual property implications” and how the mix of in-house and outside gaming development should look.
Disney will launch eight new social games in the next year, some which will come from existing Disney and Marvel brands and others that are represented by “original intellectual property.”
]]>Facebook as the platform for consumer relationships: No one denied the value of establishing a Facebook fan base. But Dan Pelson, EVP, global “direct to consumer” operations, Sony (NYSE: SNE) Music Entertainment and Jay Samit, CEO, SocialVibe clashed with regards to how valuable it ultimately is. Samit said, “Once you have a fan page, you have the ability to reach out forever unless they un-like you. It becomes stale over time but the likelihood anyone will leave Facebook soon is slim.” But Pelson says, “At the end of the day, it’s Facebook who owns that customer.”
The importance of being honest: Courtney Holt, COO, Maker Studios says the more consumer data you have, the better. But it needs to be a direct relationship with your consumers—the more intermediaries you have, the less authentic your relationship becomes. As a result, anything based on social distribution needs to be authentic. Bryan Perez, president, digital and ticketing, Media, AEG adds that it ultimately boils down to trust; it’s not about the phone, e-mail, Twitter, etc.”
Referring to social media, Pelson said having a team of community managers works, but for brands. It’s more difficult to tweet on behalf of another human being, which is why it’s so rarely done, if ever. “A lot of the younger artists who are becoming very famous do it themselves because they don’t want anyone else touching it.”
How do you establish the relationship? Samit raved about the value of reaching your exact audience, citing a study Disney (NYSE: DIS) recently did on its ticket sales as they were advertised across various platforms. It found 64 percent of people who saw the particular ad bought tickets. Thus, he said, “You don’t have to own the specific vehicles as long as you know which ones they are.” When asked how to latch onto those specific vehicles, which ones are key, Pelson said, “In terms of being able to monetize a tweet, it’s lower on the food chain than Facebook.” Holt says connecting those dots are difficult because people can be lazy. A challenge is finding the passionate fans, the ones so gung-ho about a product, they record themselves un-boxing it.
Why the concert ticket business still sucks: “The whole ticket thing is so screwed up,” Perez put it bluntly. “It’s 2011 and it’s essentially the same buying process as in the 1970s. You line up at the record store—but at least back then it was like a party. Now, everyone shows up at the store at 10 a.m. on a Saturday; there’s no party. We need to change that. The second we announce the show, people already know whether they’re interested. Why not package this in a better way?”
Perez also proposed an interesting idea: the digital shoebox. “No one’s cracked the code on the post-event experience. Where is the digital shoebox that has ticket stubs, photos, and connects you with the people you were with?”
Possible lessons from the upcoming election: Samit says the upcoming presidential campaign will prove an interesting lesson for social media and marketing. “I think we’re going to learn a lot about what brands should be doing. They won’t have 10 years to make it as a rockstar, or 100 years to make it as a cola. You have 11 months or you don’t get the job.”
Related
]]>It raised £72.5 ($116.26) million when it floated in London in April.
The firm issued on-track interim Q3 earnings with revenue up 55 percent from last year to £27.4 ($43.94) million, 17 percent higher than the previous quarter.
Much of the growth is coming from additional business for Watch&Bet, the live video service Perform supplies to online bookmakers.
Direct subscription income from Perform’s Livesport.tv consumer offering grew 15 percent to £2.5 ($4) million from 358,000 subscribers.
U.S. and UK streams grew to 254 million, but audiences fell in Southern Europe. In the quarter, Perform launched its Total College Sports show on the U.S. version of its ePlayer product.
Perform, led by joint CEOs Oliver Slipper and Simon Denyer, already bought soccer site Goal.com this year, inflating its advertising revenue by 81 percent to £1.9 ($3.05) million.
]]>