Monthly Archives: March 2009
ESPN/YouTube Partnership- Who Benefits?
I was tipped to this from our friend Ken Fang at Fang’s Bites and the news became official today…ESPN (and ABC for that matter) will soon be sharing video content on YouTube.
Here are parts of the official ESPN release;
As part of the agreement, the ESPN Video Player will be integrated into ESPN’s channel on YouTube and will anchor a wide variety of exciting sports content and highlights on YouTube. ESPN will also make additional short-form content available through YouTube’s player. ESPN content that is available on the ESPN channel and player will not contain long-form content from its linear networks.
“We are thrilled to welcome ABC and ESPN into our global content network of premium partners,” said David Eun, VP of Strategic Partnerships at Google. “More and more studios and networks are realizing the power of YouTube
to reach a huge and engaged audience. Our diverse collection of ad products, Content ID tools and sophisticated online analytics, provide studios like ABC with innovative monetization options, more control over their online content and granular insight into how audiences are interacting with their videos.”
“Reaching and engaging fans is paramount in all that we do as a company, and YouTube is a great platform to achieve that goal,” said George Bodenheimer, co-chair, Disney Media networks, and president, ESPN and ABC Sports. “Making our content available to fans via YouTube presents an extraordinary opportunity for ESPN to create new revenue streams and new value to advertisers, as they continue to look for new ways to connect with fans in the digital environment.”
I think it’s safe to say that YouTube is a big winner here, gaining quality network programming in an attempt to compete in this arena with the network content at Hulu. Their ability to partner on ad revenue will make the online video giant that much more influential.
I do question why ESPN, or any other network, would seek to share their programming on web platforms other than their own websites. I understand YouTube is the “ESPN” of online video sites, and the WWL looks at the relationship as another way to expand their brand. But why not use their uber-marketing skills to drive people from the television to the ESPN website to view full or partial programs? They’re a television station for goodness sake, why share that content?
I need to be educated on this. Let me know what I’m missing.
What They’re Saying- March 27, 2009
Time for our Friday look at what ome of the sports media columnists across the country are writing in their papers…
USA Today‘s Michael Hiestand talks with Dick Enberg about the Bird/Magic Indiana State/Michagan State NCAA Final 30 years ago.
Marc Katz at the Dayton Daily News also looks back at the Bird/Magic match-up…
Tom Hoffarth at the LA Daily News previews NBC’s coverage of the World Figure Skating Championships…
Diane Pucin at the LA Times talks with Michelle Kwan about the World Championships…
In New York Bob Raissman at the NY Daily News looks at the SNY Mets Studio team of Chris Carlin and Bob Ojeda…
As part of his weekly column, Neil Best at Newsday explores why SNY does not offer closed captioning of their programs…
Phil Mushnick at the NY Post wants TV Golf analysts to talk like real golfers during a telecast…Also at the Post…Justin Terranova talks college hoops with CBS’s Greg Anthony…and has 5 questions for SNY’s Bobby Ojeda…
Dave Darling at the Orlndo Sentinel headlines his column by looking at the top tennis Grand Slam choke jobs as to be presented by the Tennis Channel…
Jay Posner at the San Diego Union Tribune talks with San Diego State broadcaster Ted Leitner about going back home to New York to broadcast the semi-finals of the NIT…
John Maffei at the North County Times also has a talk with Leitner…
Mel Bracht at the Oklahoman talks to CBS’s Clark Kellog about his move to the lead analysts role at the NCAA Tournament…Mel also has his weekly sports media notes…
As part of his weekly column, Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Sentinel questions the game selection of the MLB Network…
Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star talks with Dick Enberg about receiving the Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award from Fordham University…
Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald has his grade for CBS’s NCAA coverage…as well as other local media notes…
Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post Dispatch has the story of the return to the airwaves of a local sports radio voice..
Journalism Today: The Last One Out, Turn Off The Lights
I had an interesting (and admittedly heated) debate with a friend yesterday about the current state of affairs regarding the economy, the government bailouts, and personal culpability.
Indulge me for a moment, here, because I do have a point. Our discussion stemmed from the $165 million in bonuses that AIG determined necessary to hand out to their employees that has caused such an outrage.
I was in a huff because, contractual obligation to offer “bonuses” aside, like most people I wanted to see some heads roll. What I understand about the whole situation is that the banks are in the position they are in largely because they didn’t see the trouble that was coming down the road. They didn’t (or couldn’t, depending on who you talk to) foresee a collapse in the housing market that, in the precarious position they put themselves in by issuing shoddy mortgages, threw them and us into this panic.
What if these weren’t major banks with tons of political and financial clout? What if they were local banks? And local businesses? How many businesses fail on a yearly basis for reasons they couldn’t possibly foresee? What business are yet to fall? Where’s the cardboard cutout of Uncle Sam with his arm stuck out saying “you must be this big to be safe from your own financial mistakes”?
This is a long-winded way for my to ask the question: Why is nobody clamoring for newspapers to be saved? Where’s their bailout?
Another Idea to Save Newspapers
I have been totally enthralled by all the stories on the state of print newspapers. My feeling has been that by the time my generation passes, so too will be the print newspaper we see today. That’s not to say there will no longer be a print product, but it’s content will be different from what we currently experience.
John Nichols and Rbbert McChesney have a piece in the latest edition of The Nation with their views on the future of newspapers. In it (it’s rather lengthy but a good read) they not only fear for the demise of the printed paper but the eroding of journalism itself. On the final page of the piece they provide this government solution to keeping newspapers viable:
What to do about newspapers? Let’s give all Americans an annual tax credit for the first $200 they spend on daily newspapers. The newspapers would have to publish at least five times per week and maintain a substantial “news hole,” say at least twenty-four broad pages each day, with less than 50 percent advertising. In effect, this means the government will pay for every citizen who so desires to get a free daily newspaper subscription, but the taxpayer gets to pick the newspaper–this is an indirect subsidy, because the government does not control who gets the money. This will buy time for our old media newsrooms–and for us citizens–to develop a plan to establish journalism in the digital era. We could see this evolving into a system to provide tax credits for online subscriptions as well.
None of these proposed subsidies favor or censor any particular viewpoint. The primary condition on media recipients of this stimulus subsidy would be a mild one: that they make at least 90 percent of their content immediately available free online. In this way, the subsidies would benefit citizens and taxpayers, expanding the public domain and providing the Internet with a rich vein of material available to all.
As much as I respect these men’s opinions, I can’t see how their plan will work. If the papers are to continue to provide 90 percent of their content free online, even with a tax break, why would anyone still buy the paper? Free online content is one of the reasons the papers are failing. Add to that people needing to generate another receipt at tax time to receive the tax credit. It may not be worth it to most people.
I leave you with this related and disturbing photo from the AP I found at Newspaper Death Watch. It’s from a San Francisco area landfill…
Kind of says it all, no? Enjoy your sports weekend!
What They’re Saying- March 20th, 2009h
Here’s our Friday look at what some of the print sports media columnists are writing about…
Dave Darling at the Orlando Sentinel thinks March Madness is just about perfect…
USA Today‘s Michael Hiestand previews the upcoming season of Fox Sports’ Sports Science…Windows Media
In New York Neil Best at Newsday looks at CBS’ on demand offerings…
Phil Mushnick at the NY Post doesn’t seem impressed with the NCAA field…Justin Terranova talks Knicks with Mike Breen…and has 5 questions for Billy Packer…
Bob Raissman at the NY Daily News says the coaches, not the players, are the marquee attractions for this tournament…
Mel Bracht at the Oklahoman also looks at the popularity of CBS’ online offerings…Mel also offers up other national and regional sports media notes…
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell at the Boston Globe tells us of some new baseball offerings coming from Red Sox carrier NESN.
Marc Katz of the Dayton Daily News reports on a college basketball voice with local roots…
Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal- Sentinel looks at the work of new CBS lead analyst Clark Kellogg.
Bill Doyle at the Worcester Telegram and Gazette does the same with analyst Len Elmore…
Diane Pucin at the LA Times recounts a longs day of work for the broadcasters at the beginning of the NCAA Tourney…
Tom Hoffarth at the LA Daily News gives us mobile offerings to follow the big dance…
Jay Posner at the San Diego Union Tribune gives us his latest local sports radio rant…
Ray Frager at the Baltimore Sun gives us his thoughts on the March Madness coverage…
John Maffei at the North County Times looks at the loss of Billy Packer and the promotion of Clark Kellogg…
Jim Carlisle at the Ventura County Star writes that the World Baseball Classic may be worth the effort after all…He also offers the story on President Obama’s NCAA bracket..
Michael Zuidema at the Grand Rapids Press wasn’t too thrilled with the first day of the NCAA Tourney…
Ray Buck at the Fort Worth Star Telegram likes what he sees out of CBS’s lead NCAA broadcast team…
Scott D Pearce of the Salt Lake City Desert News tells us of the television schedule for the upcoming Real Salt Lake MLS season.
Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald tells us of the advent of another sports radio station in South Florida…
David Barron at the Houston Chronicle goes over some local rodeo coverage coming to DirectTV… He also has a local media notebook…
John Ryan at the San Jose Mercury News has some media notes in his Morning Buzz…
Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has the latest local sports radio news…
All the best to Doug Nye at the State, who gives us his final column today. Happy retirement!
