With all the continued talk of cord cutters and big dollars looking for unique content, traditional broadcasters are always looking to amend and reinvent. For the newer players in the marketplace, it is more about TV everywhere and finding and building an audience that needs to make you the destination for all things in a space. That mantra remains true in sports, as startups look to battle against carriage fees of cable companies to find fans in what are usual nontraditional ways. Universal Sports, The American Sports Network and ONE World Sports are just a few of many who are looking to balance having the cord and be everything to a key audience not following with traditional broadcast, and this month, ONE World Sports, which bills itself as “America’s Network for Global Sports,” expanded its month long promotion to draw in passionate viewers of all things soccer.
They are in the midst of “Soctober,” a celebration of the network’s premium soccer content. From a sweepstakes offer for a trip to Germany to see Bayern Munich, to free network previews on Verizon and RCN, to a weekend filled with championship soccer telecasts, the network is aggressively pushing through the digital space to show fans of the sport in general and of select supporter groups that they are the place to be as the leaves turn in North America.
Fans can enter a sweepstakes to win two tickets for a trip to Germany to see Bayern Munich host Schalke 04 at Allianz Arena. To enter, fans vote for their favorite European club – Bayern Munich, Arsenal or Chelsea, all of whom are featured on ONE World Sports – and receive a free, customized, “virtual jersey” in that club’s locker room. The virtual jersey can then be shared via social media using the hashtags #Soctober and #DemandOWS. Secondary prizes for the sweepstakes include signed club memorabilia and merchandise. Fans can enter the sweepstakes by visiting ONEWorldSports.com.
The contest is augmented with Verizon FiOS and RCN offering subscribers a free preview of ONE World Sports and the opportunity to matches as well as other top sporting events from around the globe ranging from elite cricket to the Yomiuri Giants to the KHL to the New York Cosmos of The North American Soccer League qnd the NASL Game of the Week.
It certainly is not an easy battle for ONE World Sports to fight. The offer lots of shoulder programming and replays of top matches for clubs, while the live events go to places like FOX and NBC Sports. They cannot offer all games of NASL for example, only select Cosmos matches. Yet for sports that the new U.S. immigrant wants, cricket for example, they have found a spot, and be offering all the extras for supporters of some very key clubs, they have found ways to cut through the clutter and make some noise in the carriage debate over channels for cable providers. In the meantime, the channel has built out a robust digital offering and provides its own news to draw in fans away from live events on other rights-holding stations, and will push the unique promotion opportunities as another form of momentum building and storytelling.
In the broadcast world of today, ONE World Sports is banking in the future; one of stand-alone channels appealing to a strong demo; one which will consume media on every device possible. For now, they are playing the unique and creative card to garner awareness, the latest of which appeals to the soccer passionate and the expats; here’s hoping it scores well.
