The challenge of social media for major league sports is how to engage fans without disengaging them from the game by interrupting those all-important moments of play. After all, sports are probably the last redoubt against time-shifting. The moment is everything in sports. Participants at Friday's "Sports Meets Social" panel at Bloomberg, part of Social Media Week, talked about integration without interruption, its challenges and opportunities. Don Sperling, VP of entertainment for the Super Bowl-winning New York Giants, concedes that keeping fans focused on the game while engaging them in social media requires a back-and-forth approach. "We frankly compete against ourselves," Sperling said. "When you promote a game in a stadium like MetLife, the real goal is to keep fans loud when the other team has the ball. But at the same time we are trying to create platforms and take care of our business partners with replays and tweeting, etc. But it's a distraction. At one point we want fans loud; on the other hand, we are giving them reasons to look down at their iPads and smartphones. It comes down to weighing priorities and goals." Major League Soccer has the same issue, according to Chris Schlosser, the league's director of digital strategy. He said that if anything, soccer requires even more of fans' undivided attention, as the action tends to be nonstop. "We have supporter groups cheering for the whole 90 minutes of a game,” Schlosser said. “We don't want to take away from that passion. But social media and technology can amplify it, whether it's sharing with photos or unique experiences." He said engaging fans via social media is worth the trouble because it doesn't so much create a culture that didn't exist before as much as support one that has already been central to the experience. "Fan groups are by nature social," he said. "They come together on Saturday night to watch games, and they are already using digital tools to talk to each other." He said his job is to give them tools to do what they are already doing, and find ways of rewarding them for doing it -- such as a fee-ticket program around the MLS team Sporting Kansas City. Both Schlosser and Sperling said that stadium infrastructure is table-stakes, which would seem obvious -- except that a lot of stadiums aren't even wired. "It's about giving fans the ability to control their experience and access information where and when they want it. So if they miss seeing a goal while they're at the stadium, they can see it [on a mobile device.] We are working with clubs to make sure they are wiring their stadiums." The NFL is engaged in a similar league-wide initiative to put more technology into stadiums, which Sperling said will actually help fill stadiums -- a problem the Giants don't have, but many teams do. But he said that although the Giants have a brand-new stadium at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, at the end of the day, the best game presentation is a winning team. The sports leagues also use social to keep momentum going during the off-season, especially when events like the lockout threaten to disconnect fans. The Giants conducted a social media program last year during the off-season and lockout in which fans could vie to have their faces appear on game tickets. And the team also ran a social media night around the Super Bowl game, via a partnership with Google+. The program involved four Giants engaging fans on social media. And Schlosser said that for MLS, Twitter is the world's best customer service tool. "We use it constantly on game night to answer fans' questions," he said. "We spend lots of time with our social media people on what to say and how, and on who to go to for approved responses. We have done lots of work to inform executives that it's important. It may be Saturday night, but we can't wait until Sunday or Monday to get them an answer."
Viggle, a company supporting mobile loyalty rewards programs, acquired tech company Loyalize, which enables brands to engage with live TV audiences on mobile devices. The two began putting the deal in place after creating a platform that attracted a high number of viewers during the Super Bowl to answer sports trivia questions and vote for their favorite commercials. Participation during the 54th Annual Grammy Awards also confirmed the decision, according to Chris Stephenson, Viggle president, who admits being in conversations with some big-name networks. About 78% of active Viggle users checked into the Grammy Awards Sunday night, and 64% of this group played along with the mobile game Viggle Live, answering real-time questions, voting and responding to polls related to the awards ceremony. TV brands and broadcasters wanting more attention from consumers must get them to interact with the content as it airs. Viewers used Viggle to check into the awards show, and then relied on Bing to find information about the artists and the event. Stephenson boasts about 150,000 downloads since its Jan. 25 launch. The company defines users as those who actively check in on an average five TV shows daily and remain on the platform for about 70 minutes per session each time. The top key performance indicator for marketers -- tune in -– drives "share of voice," according to Stephenson. "Mix that with bonus opportunities and loyalty rewards, and it becomes quite contagious," he said. "'Gossip Girls' gained "a six-x share of voice uptick factor relative to Nielsen ratings, and 'Fear Factor' gained a four-x uptick share factor." For Stephenson, the acquisition represents a "development strategy" that goes beyond directly supporting networks. The plan to broaden the business model through the Loyalize acquisition puts the company in the white label business, where brands, along with networks, will have an option to license the technology. The strategy also will support loyalty for games, music, movies, social and other Internet-type entertainment, such as connected television shows on Hulu and YouTube. Aside from Viggle, Loyalize has recorded success through Fango, a partnership with Yahoo!7 in Australia. The platform allows TV fans to have real-time interactive experiences with other viewers before, during and after a show. It gives them access to a guide that illustrates viewing trends; the ability to earn awards in the app for participating in activities; and access to videos, blogs and videos related to the show.
TV advertising dollars aren't enough when it comes to streaming games of the high-profile NCAA College Basketball Tournament online. For those who are not already getting Turner Broadcasting's array of cable networks, including TNT and TBS via cable, satellite, and telco providers, consumers will have to pay a $3.99 charge for viewing the games on laptops. CBS and Turner Sports are partners in the big event -- a 14-year, $10.8 billion deal signed in 2010 -- which started with the 2011 "March Madness" event. Both will also start up a $3.99 charge for mobile device access to the tournament. NCAA Games will still be available for free on CBSSports.com. Turner will stream irs games online -- on TBS.com, TNT.tv and truTV.com -- through the TV Everywhere authentication model, where current traditional TV customers can only access the games if they already subscribe to cable, satellite, or telco companies. Some estimates are that an estimated 85% to 90% of all U.S. TV homes subscribed to one of these types of TV program distributors. About 77 million households will be able to watch the Turner channels for free online under TV Everywhere -- out of the 100 million that get TBS and TNT. Overall, Turner networks are available in around 87% of U.S. TV homes. CBS and Turner will take separate paths when it comes to non-mobile devices like laptops. Richard Greenfield, media analyst for BTIG Research, believes a $3.99 price tag might be too low -- and that CBS should be participating. Writing in his blog, he says: “While this is a step in the right direction, we still do not like that CBS is streaming their games for free... We would like to have seen CBS/Turner offer a much higher fee for non-authenticated subscribers ($20 or more) who want the full March Madness on Demand with the authenticated price at $3.99." He adds: "The concept being, Turner/CBS should want to enhance the value perception of a multichannel video subscription in consumers’ minds and at the same time put extreme pressure on MVPDs [multi-video programming distributors] like Time Warner Cable who are not yet authenticating." CBS says its advertising dollars dropped with the start of the new NCAA deal with Turner this year -- due to sharing tournament games. But CBS said profitability from running the tournament was now higher. In 2003, CBS -- which was the lone network to air the NCAA Tournament -- started up March Madness on Demand, requiring a subscription, with a price of $15. In 2006, it converted to a free, ad-supported service -- and grew rapid big online viewership. Now, the new service will be called March Madness Live. There was also a fee for access to the games on iPhone, which changed to free last year. This year, mobile access will be available on Android phones for the first time.
Cupid’s arrow struck the heart of mobile commerce last week, at pretty much the same spot softened up by the previous holiday shopping season. According to IBM Benchmark, the patterns of mobile shopping we saw emerge in late 2011 around the big shopping season actually indicate a shift in behaviors. “Mobile shopping remains a staple of the retail landscape whether through iPhone, iPad or Android device,” says IBM’s Director of Marketing and Analytics John Squire at the company’s Smarter Planet blog. Just as researchers found last holiday that somewhere between 12% and 15% of retail site traffic was coming from devices, the week leading up to Valentine’s Day showed 14.5% of traffic initiated by devices. Shopping by mobile is still more robust than actual buying, but 10.1% of online sales for the week were coming from mobile devices. It is in the comparison between last year’s Valentine’s Day and this one within specific e-commerce verticals that we see the sheer velocity of this mobilization of the shopping experience. In the health and beauty category, mobile site traffic escalated from 6.92% of overall activity last year to 17.82% this year. In jewelry, it rose from 9.51% to 21.65%. And in intimate apparel, it leaped from 8.29% to an incredible 24.06%. “What this tells us is that the mobile shopping habits witnessed over the November and December holidays are not fleeting,” writes Squire. “They’re actually quite the opposite. A permanent change is in effect with the empowered consumer turning to mobile devices not just for blockbuster shopping days but for all holidays and shopping occasions in between.” That is right. Nearly a quarter of traffic to intimate apparel came from handsets and tablets. We are guessing Victoria’s Secret’s mobile site was going ballistic last week. And that speaks to the role of mobile in impulse (or panic) purchasing. Mobile sales of jewelry rose to 28.8% of the e-commerce pie this year, with mobile accounting for 17.7% of intimate apparel online purchases. Overall, mobile sales tripled over the Valentine’s Week last year. Also following holiday patterns, iOS devices accounted for over 10% of traffic, with iPhones responsible for 5.5% and iPads for 4.9%. The disproportionate power of the iPad (in terms of relative penetration) to m-commerce (now dubbed "T-Commerce") is the story to watch this year. Last year we talked about the new influence of mobile in retail and how it gave the savvy marketer a chance to influence and inform purchasing closer to the point of sale. As m-commerce picks up steam this year -- perhaps faster than many expected -- the new reality is that mobile makes “point of sale” anywhere, anytime and from any place. Those are not numbers to be trifled with. Just as we saw last year mobile shopping help alter the ways in which people booked hotel rooms (increasingly close to the time and place of immediate need), mobile may also be the venue for that last-second shopper -- the eleventh hour, 59th-minute Cupid.
The fledgling mobile transactions market, which some experts expect to reach $1 trillion globally by 2015, is about to get a hyper-boost from Facebook, Twitter, Square and other social media players that consider e-sales the new end game. Despite discrepancies among forecasters, mobile transactions are clearly morphing into a critical revenue stream for retailers and products and service providers. The 15% leap in online holiday spending to more than $35 billion, and the overall retail e-commerce grew 13% to $161.5 billion in 2011, according to comScore, were driven by consumers’ accelerated use of mobile price comparison and payment apps. This activity has been fueled by Square, which progressively facilitates mobile consumer transactions by acting as a medium between merchants and payment networks (credit-card companies and banks) across all smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. In addition to securing consumers’ personal information and providing effective user discount incentives, Square creatively uses hyper-local and social media app components--all of which are driving a flood of competing mobile payment solutions. The mobile transaction opportunity is huge, according to Wedbush Securities, which estimates the transaction volume across Square’s four payment networks (Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover) was more than $6 trillion in 2010. Little wonder that Facebook and Twitter are positioned for a bigger piece of the action by way of an aggressive mobile ad grab, which the social networks consider a means to a transactional end. Facebook is leveraging off of its “like” and “own” buttons and new Timelines by inserting featured stories (or relevant marketing-inspired posts) into mobile feeds that are squarely aimed at its 425 million active mobile users. Facebook recently announced a partnership with UK mobile billing and analytics provider Bango, considered a step toward monetizing expanding browser-based mobile platform beyond its Facebook credits program. While the domestic mobile ad market is an estimated $2 billion, it is a sure stepping stone to the larger mobile transaction market, which can be incrementally shared by all players. Facebook is playing off its competitive share of online display ad revenues in the U.S. and the UK and reliance on small businesses. It must make a major play for mobile transactions to justify its proposed $100 billion public valuation. Competition for the mobile transaction market is coming from many corners, including Twitter, which announced an expansion of its self-serve advertising program with American Express as a partner. The goal is to attract the small-to-medium local businesses where mobile transactions and marketing can be a big win-win for all concerned. The program opens up to anyone with a credit card later this year. Location-based interactivity will transform advertising and marketing into precursors to secured, single-click sales. Social networks are serious contenders for mobile advertising and commerce dollars; they account for one in every five minutes online globally and reaching 82% of the world’s Internet users (or 1.2 billion users), according to comScore. With transactions being the ultimate objective for all marketers, it is likely that by decade’s end, Facebook and Twitter will be vying for more of the television’s $9 billion upfront ad pie alongside Google and Hulu, which are aggressively positioning themselves this spring with the Big Four TV networks. The direct line to consumers adeptly secured and mined by Facebook will give it an edge as marketers increasingly realize transactional revenues as a measured ROI. A recent Yankee Group survey revealed that consumers value banking and transaction apps second only to social networking apps as the most important on their smartphones, a simple but impressive indication of just how comfortable they have become with using mobile devices for secured personal transactions. It is a sure sign of the next phase of connected growth. What we’ve seen so far has been all about consumers learning to “navigate their lives,” according to LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. What we’re about to see unfold is how consumers use connectivity to monetizetheir lives. The race is on for a piece of that new economy.
OK, in this case the displays themselves aren’t digital, but there’s a digital component involving mobile interaction -- and the model employed by transit advertising company Titan and Internet emporium Peapod, enabling commuters to do on-the-go grocery shopping, is neat enough to bear a closer look. Billboards along Philadelphia transit corridors -- including signage in stations and on train platforms -- are carrying Peapod ads that invite passers-by to scan a mobile QR code and download the Peapod app. In addition to the QR codes, the signs also feature images of frequently purchased grocery items, which can also be scanned with a mobile device to add them to virtual shopping cart. Once the app has been downloaded, users can also browse the Peapod store for thousands of other groceries for purchase. To sweeten the deal, Peapod is inviting users to text “PHILLYRAIL” as a promo code to get $20 off their first order and 60 days of free delivery. The ads highlight brands that partnered with Peapod to create the ads, including Coca-Cola, Stroehmann and P&G. Titan has been the official out-of-home advertising partner for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority -- which serves Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties -- since 2005. No word yet on whether Titan and Peapod will be bringing similar shop-while-you-commute promotions to other cities. However it’s worth noting that in December Titan won the right to sell media along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, connecting New York City to Washington, D.C., including Washington’s Union Station, Penn Station in Baltimore, the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, and Penn Station in New York, as well as over 40 other stations. Titan also has advertising sales partnerships with the Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO) and New Jersey Transit.