While the year 2011 has already been designated as “The Year of the Tablet Computer” by many, it may ultimately be looked back upon as the “Year of the Newspaper Paywall.”
The few newspapers that have already taken the bold step of putting their content behind paywalls, meaning it is only accessible via subscription, will have a lot of company by the end of the year.
Many large newspapers in major markets, most notably The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Boston Globe, will all rollout paywalls during the next few months as newspaper publishers desperately try to recapture revenues they lost by erroneously giving their content away for years.
This venture is doomed for failure for all but a few of the elite brands as content is unfortunately becoming commoditized and these publishers have conditioned readers not to pay for content on the web. However, this drastic shift in philosophy for newspaper publishers presents a tremendous opportunity for sports franchises and their web properties.
Newspapers are putting themselves on an Internet island because they need to generate a return from their content. Sports teams aren’t faced with the same situation– at least not directly. Sports franchises should be using content as a way to deepen their bonds with sports fans, which in turn become ticket sales, sold merchandise or TV ratings. This differentiation should serve as the impetus for sports franchises to put greater emphasis on generating original and compelling content for their web sites.
While newspapers cut off their content to the rest of the world, those millions of readers will go elsewhere for their information. If sports franchises don’t create the content to capture this readership, then ESPN, Comcast and Yahoo! will gladly do so.
Ron Matejko is the President of Phoenix, Arizona-based MVP Media, an award winning digital publishing company. Visit the MVP website at www.mvptoday.com. Contact Ron by email at [email protected] Let’s connect on LinkedIn or on Twitter @mvp_media.
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photo by Kaloozer
(This is a guest post by Josh Nason)
If you’re a sports fan, I’m fairly certainly that you’ve heard the letters “UFC” uttered at some point over the past several years — especially if you watch ESPN.
But to understand the world’s biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) organization is to truly appreciate what UFC President Dana White and majority owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta have been able to do since purchasing the defunct group for $2 million back in 2001 — marketing a combat sport and turning it into a worldwide pop culture phenomenon in today’s p.c. culture.
The UFC helped fill a void that both boxing and pro wrestling has managed to nearly completely disinterest by going to an age-old simple formula: putting two people in a fight, shining a light on why you should want to watch them fight and then, over-delivering.
Need convincing that the UFC has staying power? Here’s five points to consider that should change your mind: [click to continue…]
In sports marketing, no matter how great an idea is, the question of cost will always come up. The digital space is no exception to this rule.
Up to this point, a sports team’s marketing and business development budget in the digital space has for the most part been limited to a team’s main website and media ad buys. While there have been instances where sports teams have been willing to pay for creative services on Facebook, most sports teams have been wary when it comes to spending on a platform that is not their own. With a growing number of social media agencies touting “impressive’”social media tools, it’s important to remember that no matter how many fans a sports team might have on Facebook, at the end of the day Facebook owns the data and the page, not the team. Given the number of changes that Facebook has gone through, both in appearance and functionality, and the unknown future for Fan Pages and brand involvement, it’s important for sports teams to understand what the ROI could potentially be from Facebook if a financial investment is involved.
Does it Work?
Before digging into the financial side of Facebook marketing and campaigns, we focus first on answering the question about whether or not Facebook marketing is effective. A recent article published on ReadWriteWeb entitled “Why Most Facebook Marketing Doesn’t Work“, written by an unspecified individual who has worked with top brands since the Facebook platform launched, highlights observations and lessons learned from working with brands who have spent upwards of $100K on Facebook campaigns with poor ROI.
Among the many areas that the author digs into, the key points that are of interest to sports teams and brands in general are as follows: [click to continue…]
Joseph is the Social Media & Marketing Solutions Manger at GAGA Sports & Entertainment where he works with professional sports teams, including the Lakers, Clippers, and San Francisco 49ers, where he develops engaging content as well as social media and digital strategies to help teams better understand and engage their fans.
Read more from Joseph and follow him on Twitter.
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A study conducted in 2010 by America’s Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) found that rugby (union) is now the third fastest growing sport in the United States, following softball and ice hockey. In a previous study, which used data collected between 2007 and 2009, the SGMA had also revealed that rugby was actually the fastest growing team sport in the country.
The game, which, according to legend, was invented by William Webb Ellis in the English public school of Rugby in 1823, is now played by 750,000 Americans – a 20% increase on the number of participants playing in 2007.
The sport’s national governing body, USA Rugby, is aiming to increase rugby’s profile and “grow the game from the grassroots to elite level.” If you look at its official website, you’ll see the ‘Rugby For All – Development Pathway’ – a rugby continuum where the next generation of players are being groomed from a young age. From the age of 6, players participate in a non-contact form of the game called ‘Rookie Rugby’. In 2010, almost 360,000 children took part in this form of the game. These young player’s skills are then developed as they progress through elementary to middle school playing ‘Rookie 7s’ and then ‘Rugby 10s’ (7 and 10 players a side, respectively). At the age of 15, they are then ready to play full contact, 15-a-side rugby – rugby as we know it. [click to continue…]
Chris is a strategic programs analyst at the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) focusing on, amongst other things, sponsorship research, analytics and acquisition. He holds a MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Business (AGSM). Chris took part in the school’s exchange program by completing a semester at Stern business school, NYU where he studied sports marketing and sports economics. Connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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