chapter 15 Electronic Media

Objectives To gain an overview of current electronic media To become familiar with the technological basics and terminology of electronic media To examine how the sport industry can use electronic media to market and promote products To gain an understanding of how sporting events are produced and distributed through the electronic media.

The Electronic Media Landscape 1.Obtain Information—the sounds of a contest, pictures of an event, or textual accounts— is encoded as digital bits and bytes. 2.Select Media Channel to send it - Information sent via satellite, wire, or over- the-air transmission to a receiving device that decodes the impulses and reproduces the information in usable form. Although there are obvious differences among the electronic media, all follow the same simple 2 step process:

Electronic Media Facts Television is the dominant electronic medium in terms of both market penetration and audience impact. Radio is often overlooked, but it continues to reach local and regional sport audiences efficiently. The Internet and its digital offspring offer immediate, international reach and the ability to pinpoint specific consumers but have yet to approach either television or radio in terms of mass audience numbers or response.

Television Facts 110 million of the approximately 112 million U.S. households own at least one television and nearly 4 out of 5 homes own two or more sets. (Lewis family has 7) In the typical household, the television is tuned in to one of the nation’s 1,600 TV stations or hundreds of cable channels for 8 hours every day. Women, on average, watch for 5 hours a day; men, 30 minutes a day less. Children make up the bulk. Advertisers paid an estimated $86 billion for commercials to reach those viewers in 2014.

Radio Facts Radio reaches 94% of the population every week. Radio has some 9,500 commercial stations, 2,500 noncommercial stations on the air in the United States, and rival satellite services offering hundreds of channels of personalized programming. Advertisers spent nearly $32.5 billion on radio in 2015.

Internet Facts The Internet, conceived as a research tool in the 1960s, became a mass medium by the 1990s. In 2013, more than 80% of all Americans had Internet access at home, school, or work. About half of users had high-speed broadband connections that allowed them to download audio and video effortlessly. No longer do you need a radio to listen to radio programs or a television set to watch TV broadcasts. Computers and portable digital devices make it possible to watch games in progress, get the latest sports news, and retrieve past performances and feature material from vast digital archives any time and any place, threatening the assumption that the greatest virtue of the electronic media is immediacy. Advertisers followed consumers into cyberspace, spending nearly $20 billion on Internet advertising in the U.S. in 2013.

Building a Winning Web Site Every sport organization should have a presence on the web. Question: Why is it important? Place for “primary” information Portal for all services (ticket sales, live games streams, merchandise) A place for fans to connect with team

Building a Winning Web Site Content is King – provide good information Promote, promote, promote – advertise your teams website in all you do Make it interactive Use quick-hitting eye and ear appeal Keep it current – update it daily Don’t get lost in the links – keep them “home” Remember, keep some low tech features Borrow ideas – keep up with others innovations

Sport Industry–Media Relationship Well-established legal precedents give the home team, the tournament organizer, or event promoter the exclusive right to determine who can and cannot broadcast the events. Established teams, leagues, and events usually auction their broadcast rights to the highest bidder. In exchange for a guaranteed payment, the winning bidder receives exclusive rights; pays production, distribution, and promotional expenses; and sells advertising time to cover its costs.

Players in Sport–Media Relationship Players are sport property. Organization or league owns rights and sells them to media. Media buy rights and sell ads to cover costs. Advertisers look to reach customers through commercials, signage, product endorsement during broadcast. Outside of game, players use popularity to obtain endorsement/sponsorship deals.

Other Broadcast Models Syndication – rerun shows are syndicated In-house production – IMG Sports In-house production/distribution – ESPN 30 for 30 Internet broadcast – “simulating radio” through web formats