The NHL is making a heavy push with its online offerings, announcing a sweeping array of new partnerships and products that are designed to make the league a prominent player in the digital media realm. With the NHL having a smaller television deal with Comcast's VERSUS, the league is able to be highly flexible in their online push where MLB and the NFL may not due to exclusivity agreements with the likes of CBS, ESPN, FOX, and TBS.
NHL.com Redesign. Games On Demand
The league today launched the beta of the new NHL.com which heavily leverages the League’s assets in digital content and video.
“As the NHL evolves as a media company, platforms such as NHL.com are amplifying the NHL voice, bringing fans to places inside the game that they’ve never had access to before,” said NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins. “NHL.com is a key to the League’s growth, and the advancements at the new NHL.com highlight the emphasis we’re putting on digital.”
The key aspect of the redesign is what the NHL is calling GameCenter Live.
GameCenter Live is a subscription service which allows fans to catch games streamed online. According to the league, the online interface for GameCenter will offer select video highlights, real-time stats, play-by-play tracking, in-game photos, audio feeds, social networking and much more.
GameCenter Live will be available in October.
NHL.com Partners with Yahoo! Sports for Fantasy Game
Along with the GameCenter Live, the NHL announced that they have partnered with Yahoo! Sports to offer fantasy hockey. In doing so, the NHL becomes the first sports league to collaborate with Yahoo! Sports.
A key aspect of the partnership, the fantasy sports product will have actual integrated footage within the game. With NHL video embedded into the game, fans can utilize the footage to track players’ performances, scout players and research players for their rosters. The official fantasy hockey game leverages Yahoo! Sports content, including tight integration of NHL stats and player data. The game is available at http://hockey.fantasysports.yahoo.com/hockey.
“Working with the NHL to make the first official fantasy hockey game available on Yahoo! Sports continues our commitment to deliver the #1 fantasy games on the Internet,” said Yahoo! Sports & Entertainment Vice-President and General Manager Jimmy Pitaro. . “It’s a great match up – the fastest growing sports site teamed up with the fastest game on earth to give loyal hockey fans even more action, even in their fantasy.”
Other Features of NHL.com Relaunch
Integration of Single Sign-On (SSO) - SSO lets fans sign on once to NHL.com and have a relevant, personalized experience in every content area at NHL.com -- editorial, multimedia, images, product and service offerings, etc.
"What's next" programming - According to the NHL, "What's next" is "an approach to Web site programming that goes beyond simple content population to offer fans layer upon layer of relevant content about their favorite team and players."
A bigger editorial voice - In addition to more exclusive editorial, content will now be bundled with other relevant media such as pictures, video and statistics.
Improved Photos - Photos will now have a dedicated location, allowing fans to “flip and browse,” as well as instantly purchase photos of their favorite moments.
Richer Content - New special features such as schedule pages that tell fans where to find the broadcast of local games; ticket pages that pop-up maps of the arenas; and player pages that include photo galleries and video highlights of every active player in the NHL.
“The new NHL.com is a revolution in NHL programming, not simply the evolution of a Web site,” said NHL Senior Vice President/Executive in Charge of Programming and New Media Andre Mika. “The re-programming of NHL.com now puts the League in the same class as the top media properties on the Web, and we have an aggressive roadmap for further development and growth.”
Source: National Hockey League
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After Monday night’s triple-overtime thriller during Stanley Cup Final Game 5 between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings, on Tuesday National Hockey League (NHL) fans consumed more streaming video at NHL.com than any other single day in the history of the site.
On Tuesday, fans flocking to the NHL Network Online, and tuning to the Game Highlights Channel presented by Verizon Wireless, consumed 50 percent more streaming video than NHL.com’s previous daily record. The achievement is particularly notable because the amount of highlight video consumed in the wake of Game 5 eclipsed nights when the NHL has had 15 games being played across North America. Â
On Tuesday, the Game Highlights Channel presented by Verizon Wireless saw a record number of visitors and concurrent users.
“The NHL has made digital a central platform for activating avid fans and scaling the business, and video is the key part of that strategy,†said John Collins, NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Business and Media. “As a League, we’re demonstrating in record numbers the ability to deliver a large audience, both to traditional media as well as New Media platforms that are widely consumed by the most appealing demographics.â€
The achievement comes on the heels of the news that NBC earned a 3.8 overnight rating and a 7 share for Game 5, the best overnight rating for a Stanley Cup Final Game 5 in six years, and the best for an NHL game on NBC since NBC reacquired the NHL in 2004. The average of 6.2 million viewers made it the most-watched Stanley Cup Final game since Game 5 in 2002 between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Red Wings (6.8 million).
Source: The National Hockey League
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Imagine a database of advertisers for a given professional club where these partners can contact each other, form alliances and even create joint advertising campaign to launch new products or contests...
The Florida Panthers hockey club, based on an idea that was first put in place by NASCAR (nascarpartners.com), will create a site (Bizteamup.com) that will link every partners to a database, reported the Sports Business Journal this morning.
Bizteamup.com, which the Panthers will launch on Wednesday, offers team partners a protected, digital networking environment where they can connect with one another, share ideas and launch new business endeavors together. Yormark believes the site could be the business-to-business equivalent of what Facebook is for college students and MySpace is for teens.
"We have leveraged our resources to create a B2B tool which is so revolutionary that nothing like it exists within the sports or B2B universe," Yormark said.
Michael Yormak is President and COO of the Florida franchise and his twin brother, Brett is CEO of the New Jersey Nets. They were both featured in this two-page spread of Newsweek this past December. To get an idea of the type of executive the 41-year-old New Jersey natives are and strive to be, read this quote:
To them, teams are merely the magnetic "show" for drawing an audience of consumers. Heck, the attraction could just as well be Disney sensation Miley Cyrus, as it was recently at BankAtlantic Center, which is owned by Florida's Broward County, but managed by Michael Yormark and his executive team. Where fans see a stadium, Brett and Michael see acres of monetizable space—or, as they say on Madison Avenue, "inventory." Victory for them isn't necessarily the final score. The Yormarks' game is to help their "marketing partners," as the sponsors are known, win over new and repeat customers—the fans who are watching live (and on TV), engulfed in a blaze of logos, brand names and ads displayed on monitors, scoreboards and announcer tables.
Much like social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook, this B2B initiative will permit advertisers/partners to make a profile and make their ideas known throughout the site, so that new and better iniatives can be created.
Yormak hopes to extend this endeavor to other clubs and leagues, so that local advertisers can develop projects with national companies or any other collaborator interested in their products or services.
"Can you imagine what a powerful networking site it would be if you had this connecting all B2B organizations across professional leagues and teams?" asked Ziff, the Panthers' senior director of brand activation. "Partnerships would become national, not just local. The boundaries are exponential."
The site isn't designed to generate revenue, only to add sponsor benefit. However, Ziff and the Panthers see it opening future revenue streams if the club sells the technology behind it to other teams or allows nonsponsors to buy subscriptions to the site.
With the Panthers doing very well at the turnstiles and attracting more season-ticket holders every year, this revolutionnary idea could potentially be a windfall for the NHL and its advertisers, still trying to break through on the national stage and be treated as a major sport with its legion of fanatical supporters.
Dave Rouleau is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network
