| By: Carolyn Braff, Managing Editor | Published: December 10, 2009 |
There seems to be no cap on fans’ passion for college sports, and athletic departments are enhancing the interactive viewing experience on their Websites accordingly. Where only game information was once available, official athletic sites now offer social-networking applications, coaches’ shows, player interviews, and fan shops. At a panel at this week’s IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum, representatives from media and technology companies, as well as the NCAA, took the stage to discuss how to drive revenue through new media — digitally, online, and via mobile.
“There is a great deal of interest in the live game but also a huge passion for the things that happen leading up to and around the game,” explained Chris Wagner, EVP and co-founder of NeuLion. “Athletic Websites become a place for fans to find other things when live content is available on ESPN or CBS.”
Inevitable Quality Increase
As the cost of HD continues to drop, more athletic departments are purchasing HD flip cameras, and the quality of video on the departments’ Websites is consequently improving. For non-revenue sports, a single coaches’ cam was once acceptable for online viewing, but, with the quality of online products like March Madness On Demand, fans will soon expect much higher production quality across the board.
“There’s going to be additional investment needed to help with that,” said Greg Weitekamp, director of broadcasting for the NCAA. “Some of the non–revenue-sports people have to be cognizant of what the audience is going to expect online with what they’re watching.”
Building an Audience
Weitekamp acknowledged that streaming a low-viewership event like the Division II women’s soccer championship is a service to the fans, so the NCAA does not charge for any of its championship events, all of which are streamed live. Keeping the streams free, however, makes them difficult to monetize and, therefore, low on the totem pole when it comes to enhancing their production. The hope is that, by accumulating the championships for 70 sports in one place, the NCAA will collectively draw a large enough audience to enable future monetization.
“People are likely to follow their school or a specific sport; you’re not likely to be an NCAA-championship fan,” Weitekamp said. “If we can aggregate 70 sports, you can build your audience over time, and I think you could have a model. We have to do a better job of putting the content in places where the fans are: Facebook or fan sites, not necessarily NCAA.com.”
March Madness On Demand drew 7.5 million users this year by syndicating across 300 Websites, and Weitekamp pointed to that model as the one to follow in the future.
“We focus on making sure that any user on the Web — on ESPN, Yahoo, YouTube — in a matter of a click of their mouse, can be watching the tournament,” said Jason Kint, SVP/GM of CBSSports.com. “We want to make that as easy as possible, so no registration, no subscription walls, no authentication. That’s something that’s pretty profound that you never would have dreamed of doing in the TV world.”
Rights Lagging Behind
While technology has progressed to the point where near-HD-quality streams are demanded for events as big as March Madness, the rights landscape is a bit behind the times, according to Weitekamp.
“Technology is so far ahead in comparison to rights,” he said. “These rights agreements get put together for long terms. Content digitally can go to so many places now; it can be controlled, gated, location-based. The technology is there; it’s trying to figure out how the rights can be put towards better monetization strategies.”
Complicating matters further is the impending convergence of television and Internet.
“When you can start to scroll through your TV and you’re online at the same time, suddenly your Website is not a Website; it’s a broadband network,” Weitekamp said. “Then what is TV at that point in time? Down the road, that’s going to be something that we all have to be aware of and familiar with.”
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