Commentary

Who Wants To Build The Next Great Sports Property?

by Tod Sacerdoti , June 3, 2010

The dirty little secret in the online video business is that almost no one has been able to crack the code when it comes to creating successful, recurring online shows. Yes, there are a few shows with millions of "followers" on YouTube and the occasional mini online celebrity. There are even some shows that have moved on to TV, but these have largely been failures. Essentially there have been no online-only shows that have been sustainable, multimillion-dollar successes.

What about branded video content, you ask? Not faring much better. With this model, you're essentially trading analog GRPs (gross rating points) for sub-par digital placements. Ask anyone who's not in the business of selling these shows to name a single show created by a publisher or an ad network on behalf of a brand. You will hear the crickets.

Why? Well, there are many reasons. In short, these shows lack real marketing budgets, massive distribution and access to embedded lead-in/crossover audiences, and the content is often weak or simply made for the sole purpose of extracting ad dollars from advertisers. As many have learned, creating a new show that builds a real audience from scratch is very difficult. Even the best in the TV business fail often in the process of launching a new show.

I believe there is a better path. Instead of creating new concept shows from scratch, why not simply copy the most successful, easily imitable and profitable show concepts in television history?

Let's start with "SportsCenter."

The truth is that "SportsCenter" is really two mini shows extended into an hour of television. The first show is a summary of the prior day's games, scores and key stories. The second show is the "Top Ten Plays." The only reason this show isn't available online yet is because most viewers would just skip through to these two segments.

Let's call our new online version of "Sportscenter," "SportsNow." All we'd need is an editor, a voiceover artist, and a video distribution network, and we could easily reach millions of adult males every day. By building this show purely for syndication rather than as a destination in and of itself, we could deliver a massive audience, while using the best of online targeting to reach demographic, daypart and frequency targets. The show would be supported by advertisers -- at pennies on the dollar relative to TV -- and could recur 365 days a year.

All we need now is the rights to the clips....

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7 comments about "Who Wants To Build The Next Great Sports Property?".

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K Luttermoser from Adrenaline Games Alliance (AGA), June 3, 2010 at 1:22 p.m.
great article...we are building on a platform similar for our action sports property www.aganation.com
Reply

Ari Rosenberg from Performance Pricing Holdings, LLC, June 3, 2010 at 1:36 p.m.

Ironically you validate what I wrote and you ripped a few weeks back in regards to a lack of quality content in online video -- nonetheless I LOVE your idea and I like you so no hard feelings -- ever -- thanks for sharing your insight -- makes us all smarter.

So when are you launching this :)

Ari

Cine Sport from CineSport, June 3, 2010 at 1:56 p.m.

Cinesport is the answer (cinesport.com). Check it out:

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/Sports_Video_FLYERS.html

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/?p1=SportsNav_Celtics

http://www.nypost.com/sports

Peter Schankowitz from Joe Digital, Inc., June 3, 2010 at 2:01 p.m.

Yep. The failure is primarily about quality and distribution. Nothing shocking there frankly. Drilling down a bit, the answer to both is establishing the evasive, genuine collaboration between brands, creatives, and portals. I'm sure I am not the only one harping on this. Tod's right. Most of the time the "content" is merely shoehorned nonsense that pimps the brand but doesn't bother to address audience desires or portal editorial needs. Here's a crazy idea---how about each of the prongs doing what they do best, leaving the specialization to the respective expertise and--here's where I really go nuts--actually collaborating and doing so from moment one? You might see a difference in quality and audience. As for the Sports Center notion...hmmm not sure. I wonder if it would just fall into the tried and failed netherworld of all highlight / wrap up shows to date (e.g., movies, TV, internet). You know. The shows that everyone does and doesn't bother to do well. :)

Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, June 3, 2010 at 3:15 p.m.

Knock yourself out......

Mary Spio from Next Galaxy, June 5, 2010 at 9:47 a.m.

Goes to show you that not everyone can create great content. Great production is an art form that requires—TALENT! Gen2Media is an online video network that has an ACTUAL full service production team, not ad sales people trying to create content to grab ad dollars. Our award winning production team which creates content for HBO, MTV, Microsoft XBOX, Star Wars in Concert etc is the same team that creates content for distribution on our online video network which reaches 10 million viewers monthly.
We created all the content for the Black Eyed Peas Tour, The Wizards which was created for www.hot97.com is now on MTV2. We are currently working with John Mayer, Nelly Furtado and much more.
For example Secret Sessions - Our shows on www.1019rxp.com features live in studio sessions with James Taylor, Elvis Costello, Kings etc, no different than what you would see on VH1 or elsewhere– we create TV-for-Web that goes everywhere and our audiences are engaged.
Saying all that to say, that it works when done right!

You may view some of our branded content, such as Will Smith for Wal Mart TV here --http://www.gen2media.com/advertisers-brands.php

Alex Rowland from AlphaBird, June 5, 2010 at 12:23 p.m.

I think the lack of memorable online 'hits' is partly due to the early state of the biz. The current slate of shows come in smaller, 'snackable' formats and they have corresponding production and marketing budgets. I would say most web users have watched one of these shows somewhere at this point, and I would assume that most have shared at least one of these shows with friends over the past few years. But for a show to become part of the cultural lexicon it needs to scale to a level that most of these shows have not yet reached. This is simply a matter of time, money and imagination.

I think that borrowing on the equity of existing TV properties is obviously a no-brainer as you get to leverage dollars across both platforms. Every production executive out there would find it far easier to do their job if they could simply take an existing popular TV property and either extend it or immitate it. Most of the time the issue here is framed as a licensing issue, but the truth is that TV still dominates the revenues game and nobody is going to risk one of those assets for a low seven figure web show yet. I'm pretty sure licensing would be worked out if the dollars were there.

But, more importantly, I'm not sure the idea that simply retrofitting an existing property like SportsCenter is all that earth shattering (or unique). The hit shows of the future are going to be those that fully utilize the medium and achieve things that aren't yet possible on TV. It will likely be something that results in interplays between multiple platforms (mobile app and web), utilizes new dimensions of storytelling (location and audience interaction), and other factors to deliver an experience that is nothing like what we watch today. (And it's probably not going to get delivered as pre-roll or in-banner.)

I think it's better for distribution guys to stick to what they do best and let the production guys manage the creative.