Publishers world-wide are seeking more revenue from their digital platforms online, mobile and tablets and sports news is driving both new revenues and innovation. The conference, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), examined a wide variety of strategies and practices that integrate social media, apps, blogs, iPads, loyalty programmes, fantasy leagues and more.
The conference also examined threats to the traditional role of newspapers as the leading providers of sports news to their communities both the growth of new competitors that include websites from the leagues, individual teams and broadcasters, and restrictions being placed on free and open sports news coverage by the sports organisations themselves.
"Our industry is under assault by the people who own the sport, who see the ease of communicating directly with the audience and want to limit what we can do," said Matt Kelly (pictured), Publisher of Mirror Group Digital in the United Kingdom. "They want to own everything about the game. And if that happens, we're in a good deal of trouble. This is something we as an industry have to take very seriously."
To compete in the new environment, publishers were urged not only to contest restrictions being placed on sports coverage, but to create better multi-media content and to exploit the opportunities that the new platforms and channels provide.
"Tablets and iPads can provide a new multi-media offer for sports reporting unlike anything that came before," said Jeremie Clevy, former head of the Eurosport internet newsroom and a WAN-IFRA consultant. "Providing content to tablets offer publishers an entirely new opportunity."
Presentations at the two-day conference, which drew participants from 25 countries, included:
• The case of Lance! in Brazil, which has nearly 2 million registered users, on how to create loyalty and a sense of belonging among sports audiences. "Lance! doesn't have readers. Lance! has supporters, fans," said Paulo Henrique Ferreira, the company's Digital Media Executive Manager. "It's like a broker between the fan and the club."
• An overview of the "pure player" digital sport publishers, which showed how their strategies are targeted, social and use real-time content. Stephan Minard, Marketing Manager for Nexway in France, showed how these on-line publishers focus on the fan, benefit from brand awareness as sports specialists, cooperate with the clubs, have a multi-media approach, and build social interactions.
• A look at the restrictions that sports organisations are placing on coverage of their events, particularly on digital platforms, and how these restrictions impact press freedom and prevent publishers from carrying out their traditional role. The restrictions, which are imposed as conditions for gaining access to events, include limits on the number and timing of photos posted to websites, bans on audio-visual material, and attempts to control negative comment, said Larry Kilman, Executive Director of Communications and Public Affairs of WAN-IFRA (for more on the subject, visit http://www.newsmediacoalition.org).
• An overview of advertising opportunities around sport, focusing on special campaigns and innovation. Alexandre Bougouin, Special Campaigns Director of Amaury Media in France, showed two examples in L'Equipe, the French sports daily, that mix media campaigns with contests to complement classic advertising and develop a new source of revenue (one campaign drew 250,000 competitors).
• The use of fantasy leagues to build passionate communities. "It really gets underneath people's skin, your fanstasy team becomes your second team," said Andrew Wainstein, CEO of Fantasy League in the United Kingdom. "They started in newspapers and exploded online. Because of the depth of the game, the medium is excellent for it. It's a real community and social interaction it's about keeping in touch with your friends."
Mr Wainstein, speaking about the development of fantasy games but speaking for the entire conference itself, summed up by saying: "We all need to keep our industry fresh."
For a schedule of upcoming WAN-IFRA conferences and events, please consult their website.
Sponsors of the conference, which ended Friday, included Agence France-Presse, scoreradar, SID (Sports-Informations-Dienst), Soho Sports Software, wincomparator.com and the WAN-IFRA Magazine.
