Sports 2.0 Digest - May 1, 2009

[Pat Coyle]

Here's a list of recent news we're following a Sports 2.0 (Compiled by Patrick Stack)

MLBAM Posts Strong Opening Numbers

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-mlb.com-by-the-numbers-subscription-sales-up-45-percent/

* MLBAM, subscription sales are up nearly 46 percent year-over-year to 400,000-plus for premium live game products MLB.TV and Gameday Audio.
* With that increase, it’s not surprising that video delivery is up, too—127.2 million streams, up 136 percent over 53.8 million in the first three weeks of the 2008 season.
* Mobile use is definitely on the uptick: on April 25, MLBAM says its mobile network hit a single-day record 31.1 million page views and that it has broken 20 million at least seven times. MLB.TV also has delivered more than 4.1 million video streams, including real-time highlights to team alert subs. (Team alert subs are up 35.5 percent.)
* No numbers but MLBAM says MLB.com At Bat 2009 is the top-selling sports app in the iPhone app store. Dan Frommer reports that MLBAM has sold 130,000 downloads at $10 a pop for gross revenue of $1.3 million, about $910,000 after the 30 percent rev share with Apple (NSDQ: AAPL). The lite version has been downloaded about 220,000 times.
* MLB.com averaged 9.4 million daily visitors in the first three weeks, up roughly 30 percent.

Takeaways

* Telling statistics regarding the continued increase in the popularity of digital technology
* The 'live' and inimiatable aspect of sports reinforces the value with mobile

NFL To Look Into Use Of Twitter And Web To Reveal Draft Picks Early

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/129696

* More than 48,000 fans followed the Draft via the NFL's Twitter pages this past weeken
* Patriots Exec Dir of Media Relations Stacey James in an e-mail said: "The 5,000 Patriots fans following realpatriots on Twitter were the first outside the team draft room to learn of the team's three trades and four second-round draft choices. It was a great addition to what is always an exciting day for football fans
* Chargers' Web site featured a "pick cam" located outside the team's war room. As soon as the Chargers made a pick, a team official planned to "bring a card" to the camera. The Chargers also offered a "service in which fans can sign up to receive a text message announcing each of the team's picks"
* Hannah Karp reports the Jets Saturday, after trading for the No. 5 pick to select QB Mark Sanchez, revealed the pick on Twitter, "texted it to their Jets Wireless subscribers and posted it to their Web site, all before ... Goodell made it to the podium to make the pick official" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/27)

Takeaways

* Great examples of how franchises used technology to engage fans on this 'non-game gameday';

Disney to Buy 30% of Hulu, Put ABC Full Eps on Site
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124110275139073305.html

* Walt Disney Co. has reached a deal to take a nearly 30% stake in Web-video aggregator Hulu and put full episodes of its ABC TV shows on the site.
* Disney will invest capital and marketing dollars in a similar amount to each of NBC Universal and News Corp., which invested a combined $100 million, according to people close to the talks. It will also provide exclusive rights to full-length episodes to start the venture in 200
* Hulu will be the first outside recipient of ABC's full-episode programming, which has lived for years only on the network's own Web site. Hulu—which reaches a different audience than ABC.com—will soon stream full episodes of popular prime time ABC shows such as "Lost" and "Grey's Anatomy." The site will also be home to archived titles from Disney's library, along with shows from ABC Family and Disney Channel.
* The deal doesn't include some of the most-watched cable programming in the Disney portfolio, such as "Hannah Montana" and the "High School Musical" franchise. By keeping those titles off Hulu, Disney is trying to protect its relationship with cable operators, which pay the company large sums to air its programming.
* The addition of Disney to Hulu leaves only one major broadcast network, CBS Corp., distributing its shows independently online. CBS puts its shows on a wide array of sites but without offering them to any exclusively.

Takeaway

* Major development in the online video space which we should be aware of.

Twitter Users Don't Stick Around
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/digital/e3i0dac803b1646d6afa84ae59b6f396d85?imw=Y

Nielsen Online performed research on Twitter. Here are some findings that show its seemingly ubiquitous nature as of late might not be sustainable.


* Over 60 percent of people who sign up to use the popular (and tremendously discussed) micro-blogging platform do not return to using it the following month
* Twitter currently has just a 40 percent retention rate, up from just 30 percent in previous months--indicating an “I don’t get it factor” among new users that is reminiscent of the similarly-over hyped Second Life from a few years ago.
* MySpace and Facebook had double Twitter’s retention rate at a similar growth stage, and their retention increased over time.

General Mills Recruits Bloggers
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/direct/e3i99f8bcdd4e59da83b63a6317e4e792dc?imw=Y

* Bloggers, particularly moms, are an audience of such growing importance to General Mills that the consumer-goods company has built a formal network to feed them free products and enable them to run giveaways for their audiences.
* MyBlogSpark has recruited more than 900 bloggers -- over 80 percent are moms -- to register to be eligible for everything from sampling campaigns to product coupons to news of a new ad campaign. General Mills plans to use the network to promote its wide portfolio of products in the food and beverage, beauty, home, electronics, health and automotive categories.
* General Mills can be confident the program will fill blogs with positive reviews. One of the requirements for participation reads: "If you feel you cannot write a positive post regarding the product or service, please contact the MyBlogSpark team before posting any content."
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The General Mills program highlights the growing importance of bloggers to marketers, particularly packaged-goods companies.
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Overall, the program resulted in 5 million total impressions and over 8,000 comments with no media costs.
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Takeaways

* Sponsors (brands) can leverage fan bases for feedback not only on their team but also their brand, products, sponsorship, messaging, etc....If teams deduce that they should target a fan base with a sponsorship, why not squeeze some more value out of their team partnership.
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Obviously can be extended to fans from teams.