Zach Leonsis<\/strong> sees the direct-to-consumer movement as the way to gather data about who the consumers are, as well as where and how they are consuming content. With a limited number of seats available in venues and an increasing number of fans cutting the cord (or never connecting in the first place), Zach Leonsis stressed the opportunity of Monumental Sports Network to be the \u201ctouchpoint\u201d between teams and fans.<\/p>\n\u201cWhen we looked at working towards a new regional-sports-network partnership, particularly focused on our Capitals and Wizards live-game rights, we came to the conclusion that the RSNs are in an incredibly enviable position in the world of cable,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you look at each of the individual markets and how the channels rank, the RSN is almost always No. 1.\u201d<\/p>\n
In New England, NESN launched its NESN GO offering earlier this year in cooperation with MLBAM. Although the OTT product has been a hit with a more mobile generation of fans, NESN SVP, Digital,\u00a0Michael R. Hall<\/strong> said that his group will work to determine how to measure ratings and create revenue.<\/p>\n\u201cFrom a qualitative standpoint, we feel good about it. It does make us seem more relevant, younger, fresher, and more accessible to a younger, more mobile generation of fans,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom a quantitative standpoint, there\u2019ll be three things to consider as we evaluate its success.\u201d<\/p>\n
The panelists from Fox Sports Regional Networks, NBC Sports Regional Networks, Monumental Sports Network, and NESN agreed that the push to in-market streaming and direct-to-consumer OTT is intended to match up with fans\u2019 evolving viewing habits; a thought echoed by TokBox Global VP, Business Development,\u00a0Brian Johnson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\u201cAs much as OTT is a big change for RSNs, it\u2019s also a big change for the people on the other side of the screen,” he said. \u201cViewers are expecting something different \u2014\u00a0they want interaction, they want to talk with their friends, they want to talk with the people they\u2019re watching with \u2014 and that\u2019s what TokBox does. We make an interactive platform for fan engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n
The panelists also discussed the rise of live social-media opportunities, particularly with Facebook Live. Although it may seem that Facebook Live has always been a part of many networks\u2019 digital strategies, Spirito reminded the audience that the platform is less than two years old.<\/p>\n
\u201cFacebook Live launched about 15 months ago across the Fox regions,\u201d he pointed out, adding, \u201cWe were right there alongside them and have been programming that specific channel in a manner that is consistent with what works on that platform that drives engagement. What we bring to the fray is a depth of coverage and a behind-the-scenes look and a lot of that sort of product that we have not been able to bring to light with traditional production processes. These new tools and new platforms have allowed us to grow that audience, which, on any nightly basis, trumps what we\u2019re doing on a live-linear perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
The newness of Facebook Live \u2014\u00a0along with other live social platforms Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat \u2014 has prompted a wave of experimentation to determine what works, what doesn\u2019t, and what fans want.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe numbers around these social platforms are just enormous and are too big to ignore, frankly,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cSo we\u2019re experimenting on all social platforms right now. Specific to Facebook Live, all of our regional sports networks are experimenting in their own ways; they\u2019re getting very creative.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re all trying to find solutions to monetization,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe\u2019re really focused on the purpose part of it. If we\u2019re going to be participating on social, what is our purpose? What is our goal when we\u2019re on the platform? We\u2019re in experimental mode, and we\u2019re going to continue to experiment to try to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The digital landscape of the RSN market is evolving rapidly, adapting to shifting viewing habits. In particular, the rise of in-market streaming indicates networks\u2019 intention to reach sports fans wherever […]\n More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":121187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8899,9248],"tags":[7768,13059,7280,1011,9483,13060],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121186"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121186"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121208,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121186\/revisions\/121208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}