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Innovation | Uncategorized

Mobile Day Offers a Strategic View of Challenges and Opportunities

The majority of digital content is consumed on mobile devices. Most people check their phone before brushing their teeth. And more than 90% of people have their mobile device within reach 24/7. This behavior creates an unprecedented opportunity to deliver mobile content and marketing; it also means that the breadth of use-cases, expectations and needs vary as much as the times and places consumers find themselves using their devices throughout any given day. Mobile is not just the most popular way to experience digital content; it is also the most personal — and perhaps most complex — way to do so as well.

At Digital Content Next’s members-only Mobile Day held December 5th at The New York Times building, speakers shared a wide range of approaches to and experimentation with mobile content and delivery. They also examined some of the distinct challenges of meeting the demands of today’s mobile content consumer.

News seems like one of the most obvious fits for mobile content consumption. However, according to Editor-in-chief Anthony De Rosa, Circa was created because they felt that news was not optimized for a mobile audience. He pointed out that, “news consumption is very different on smart phones and we don’t want to shoehorn the desktop experience to mobile.” In particular, De Rosa believes that mobile apps over-use push alerts and said that the number one reason people delete apps is because of too many unwanted push alerts. The Circa news app only pushes story updates to users who have opted-in to follow a particular topic. The company “atomizes” its content and, rather than creating and publishing entirely new versions of stories as they unfold, Circa sends users directly to the updated aspects of stories they follow. Atomization does not mean less information, however. “There’s an idea that we only give people high-level stuff at Circa, but when users follow a story, they actually consume what amounts to a long form article over a longer time—but in a way that is better suited to the mobile experience.”

CircafollowCirca is currently building out its website; to date its entire experience has been built to suit app delivery. Several of the DCN Mobile Day speakers noted that they see higher levels of engagement in apps than mobile websites. CNBC’s VP of Product and Design Deepanshu Bagchee reported that apps deliver the most engaged CNBC fan base and panel agency executives reported that, overall, they perceive apps to be a more engaging environment. Morgan Petti, Associate Director of Mobile at OMD Airwave said “we see more engagement and time spent with apps” and Andy Hoffman VP, Mobile Marketing at Havas Media / Mobext noted that “if your goals are about high-engagement and impact, [focus on] apps.” ‘

In contrast to those voices, Vox Media Product Manager Lauren Rabaino told DCN Members that they recently “killed mobile apps” opting to go with responsive design throughout its network of sites. As a company recognized for its agility and technological acumen, the move to streamline from four code bases to a single one can clearly be seen as allowing the company to focus on delivering an optimal website experience across devices. It also allows standardization of ad units for delivery throughout its seven brand sites.

Condé Nast’s Executive Director of Digital Development Ned Newhouse reported that the company “has “reached the magic number of 50 percent mobile web and 50 percent desktop.” While it has made a huge investment in video through its Condé  Nast Entertainment division and delivers video through a portal, partnership program and websites, Newhouse said “we are really focused on deploying the video through our branded mobile web products because that’s where the loyalty and traffic exists.”

Sara Poorsattar, The New York Times’ Director of Video Products, has found that page views are higher in mobile environments, but noted that because of the “additional commitment and barrier of entry in mobile,” they do better with video on the website. However, they also see a lot of video views coming through YouTube because of the prevalence of the YouTube app. Poorsattar said that the Times is looking closely at the offline experience in developing for mobile, noting that video news is something users might want to consume during a commute or other times when they have time to focus on longer form but may lack consistent connectivity.

The offline experience is also one that Bagchee is closely evaluating. “We see that when people are on the move we see things like quick stock checks. But we are working on surfacing more contextually- relevant video and possibly creating video that people can watch later on the office Wi-Fi.”

For the Times, mobile video represents an opportunity to reach younger and international audiences. CNBC is also among those that believe content needs to be available on a wide range of delivery channels including YouTube and Facebook to reach a younger demographic while its older demographic is more inclined to use the app. Interestingly, Christy Tanner SVP and GM of CBS Interactive Media Group revealed that the TVGuide app experience is the only one that its under 35 demo (about a third of its audience) really knows, despite the fact that it is a 60 year print-legacy brand.

TVGuideTanner said that her company, which launched CBS All Access a few months ago, is focused not just on mobile but on creating a true multi-screen experience because “it is possible to engage audiences, and for them to have shared experiences, on any size screen.” And, as Newhouse from Condé Nast said, “It’s a mobile dominated world. This is the core device we use everywhere, but it is just another means to an end. Content absorption is not device specific.”  While there are certainly ways in which content and experience can be optimized for time and context of mobile consumption, mobile cannot be conceived of in a silo. While it is a dominant part of users’ content consumption habits, creating a seamless experience across devices remains the goal.

Innovation | Revenue

Meredith Begins Performance-based Ad Solution Rollout with Relaunch of Fitnessmagazine.com

With the relaunch of Fitnessmagazine.com and the introduction of native advertising, Meredith Corporation is signaling a new phase of innovation for its sites that are aimed at improving experiences for end users and advertisers alike. According to Andy Wilson, Meredith Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, the company has had an adaptive design strategy for some time however, given that sites like Fitnessmagazine.com derive as much as half of their traffic from mobile, it was time to make a more significant shift.

The new site is tailored to their users’ media consumption habits and advertiser objectives.  It features a responsive design that’s fully optimized for users across devices and screen sizes. Fitness was an optimal place to start within the Meredith suite of brands, says Wilson, because “we are finding that certain brands, like Fitness, are more attractive to the millennial target. The way they are accessing our sites has changed. They use the content at different times and are doing much more on mobile devices.”

Increasing mobile consumption was not the sole motivation for the site redesign, of course. Creating better opportunities for content discovery, and better aligning content consumption with advertising were also significant factors. The site includes enhanced social sharing and new features like infinite-scrolling category pages that allow users to easily discover the brand’s deep content in areas like workouts, healthy eating and diet and weight loss.

The new design not only helps increase content discovery, but has the added benefit of improving ad viewability. “This relaunch not only gives consumers a mobile-first experience, but it also allows us to develop richer integrated opportunities for our advertisers to drive better performance and viewability to meet their goals,” says Wilson.

MeredithNativeMockupWith the relaunch of the site, Meredith Digital also introduced its Native “Buzz” Platform. Buzz units will integrate marketers’ messaging into trending and highly contextual content areas. According to Wilson, Meredith is rolling out native advertising with its newer sites and leveraging a cross-platform approach for ad sales and ad distribution. “It simplifies things versus selling each individual platform. But more importantly, it lets us focus on performance, regardless of platform.”

Buzz is the first in a suite of performance-based ad products that will soon rollout across 10 Meredith owned and operated websites. “We are very excited about delivering a line of performance ad products that will let us tap into search and content marketing budgets.” The new products will allow Meredith to capture new ad revenue streams and go head to head with the big players in search and social. “Our offering will be compared against the Google and Facebook ad spend but we provide a contextual environment and engaged audiences and we are 100 percent audited. We are going look good in these comparisons.”

Innovation | Revenue

Q&A: Samantha Minish, Director of Mobile Video Gannett Co., on Video Ad Innovation

Q: To drive success in video advertising, what is the most important thing to consider:

SamHeadshot1A: Put the users first. If you build a product – and an ad experience – that puts the needs and habits of consumers first, then you will be able to maximize the overall impact. A majority of app consumption happens at home, often while also watching TV. Users are coming to our apps to escape the same old TV commercials, so we need to provide them an innovative ad experience that compliments the mobile mindset. Before you run an ad, the first question you should ask yourself is, “would I sit through this ad?”

Q: Describe one of your video advertising campaigns that you think is particularly innovative:

A: USAToday partnered with Dodge on a unique campaign that paired-up with movie trailers. We presented an interactive pre-roll that featured stars from upcoming movies, which allowed users to answer trivia questions about the Dodge Durango. Often publishers will talk of gamification of content to drive engagement. We have taken that concept, combined it with the idea of native advertising and created an experience that will encourage interaction with both the content and the advertisement in a seamless and social manner.

Q: What is working in video advertising and what do we need more of in order to drive success in this area?

A: I think the biggest step forward in video advertising, particularly in the mobile space, has been the adoption of Vine and Instagram by brands. Finally we’re starting to think outside of the traditional 30-second pre-roll box, and focusing on the wide array of platforms users now consume media through. An overwhelming majority of people use their tablets and phones while watching TV, and most are doing so during commercials. We cannot expect them to engage in our video content if they are forced to sit through the exact same ad that they are trying to escape.

Samantha is currently the director of mobile video for Gannett and its properties, including USAToday and over 100 local broadcast stations and local newspapers. She oversees both product and content strategy for the company’s mobile apps and mobile website. Samantha has worked on both the editorial and product side of the video and content business, with time at both AOL and The Weather Channel.

Also in this series:

Q&A: Aaron Broder, CEO & Co-Founder Evolve Media, on Video Ad Innovation

 Q&A: Beth Lawrence, EVP Digital Sales, Scripps Networks Interactive, on Video Ad Innovation

 

 

Innovation

AOL and Girls Who Code Partner to Make Cambio #BuiltByGirls

Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code has made inspiration her day job at the nonprofit organization she founded to inspire, educate and equip girls with the computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities. And her work, and mission, is getting some “traditional” brands to take notice.

When Mattel wanted to create an entrepreneur Barbie with street cred, one of the women they turned to was Saujani. Susan Lyne, CEO of AOL’s Brand Group and Girls Who Code advisor also turned to Saujani when she wanted to create a site built by girls for girls.

The inspired connection between Lyne and Saujani led to AOL offering summer internships to five Girls Who Code alumnae. These young women are playing a fundamental role in the re-launch of AOL’s millennial-focused pop-culture site, Cambio (coming this Fall).

“Part of Reshma’s program is to build something you care about and present it. She focuses on what you can build if you learn to code, which is exactly the right focus.” During their internship, the girls will certainly do a lot of coding, but they are also helping to shape the Cambio brand’s editorial direction and building new mobile-first products.

Lyne been impressed with the impact the interns are making—including making the content “multifaceted like they are,” which includes an affinity for celebrity news (the current focus of Cambio’s content), but also “about issues that are really important them whether it’s a crush, weight, family relationships or world peace.”

The interns have also developed an inspirational meme generator and a contributor platform so that they—and many more girls like them—can participate in the site. “I love the idea of building because it can mean many different things,” says Lyne. “Just the idea of creating, not just serving or enabling. Doing the creating themselves is incredibly empowering.”AOLBuildLyne was also pleased to see how the larger AOL team welcomed the Girls Who Code interns, “the minute we announced the program, I can’t tell you how many engineers raised their hands, but also people in sales, designers, editors…everyone wanted to find a way to help these girls have a fantastic summer.” They’ve been privy to sessions on advertising, analytics, privacy, computer security and more.

Given the fact that three of the five top positions at AOL are held by women, it isn’t surprising that this is an organization supportive of young women’s professional development. “I think it all starts with Tim,” says Lyne of the company’s CEO and Chairman. “He made it a goal to have three women on the board because there’s research that demonstrates that companies with three or more women on the board perform better. He was looking for whatever will give us an edge and having strong women is part of that.”

Building a structure that supports women internally is important. But perhaps even more so is spreading the #BuiltByGirls message through initiatives like these, where young women see that the products they use every day are actually built by girls, in the hope that it changes their perception of computer science.

And, as Lyne points out, “Media companies like ours reach many millions of people and we impact all kids of attitudes. It is important that we positively impact the way young women think about their possibilities going forward, and even impact the way technology and an industry evolves. This is an opportunity…and a responsibility.”

Innovation

History Looks Forward to Attracting Younger Audiences with Two New Apps

History may just be the most popular subject for 7-11 year olds this fall. A+E’s History brand– which works hard to infuse the subject with entertainment value to go along with informational substance —has just introduced two new apps targeted at kids: Empire Run and Frontier Heroes.

While there are many apps on the market that fall into the historical genre, Evan Silverman, SVP of Digital at A+E Networks said that the company “felt that there was an opportunity in the marketplace for historically-inspired apps that are fun for kids.” In analyzing the segment, Silverman says they found many of the apps lacked production value and “skewed to dry.” And History, which produces such popular programs as Vikings, Pawn Stars, and Ice Road Truckers, does not do dry.

In addition to seeing a market opportunity for fun historical apps, the cable network is “always looking for new ways to explore audiences and develop new brands within the larger History umbrella,” says Silverman. While the 7-11 year old set may not be its prime expansion demographic, the move will reinforce the brand among parents of young children who are likely to be happier approving the $2.99 app price tag given the reputation of the History brand. This certainly represents a growth opportunity, given that the network’s viewer profile is dominated by 55+ (42%) followed by the 25-54 age bracket (36%).

planetHRev“We really focused on creating apps that parents would trust,” says Silverman.” The apps are part of a new “Planet H” brand, which will join  H2 under the History umbrella.  “We made a very conscious decision to charge up front and not include ads or in-app purchases. We also worked hard to create apps that parents would consider high quality and premium, and maybe even enjoy playing themselves.”

History developed its new Empire Run and Frontier Heroes apps in partnership with RED Games, a division of RED Interactive Agency. A&E Networks and RED Games teamed up previously to produce the popular Battle of the Beards game for A+E’s Duck Dynasty.

The choice to approach this audience through games also made sense given the low-cost to test the market (relative to developing a pilot or digital series). Silverman also points out that “with apps, you get a very fast read on whether something resonates with an audience: Do they like these characters, enjoy these particular historical eras?” This year, History plans to introduce one more game under the Planet H brand which Silverman will only say is an “exploration game.” However, if the games gain traction, we can expect much more.

“We don’t want this to be a one or two-off. We are making a commitment to launching a series of apps.” Silverman says that his team looked closely at the Toca Boca studio when formulating their plan for approaching this new audience mobile-first. Like Toca Boca, if they find an audience that embraces the fun in History, the Planet H brand will expand into other channels and content types including the possibility of merchandise sales and original digital programming.

“The History brand has really broadened over the years and now we speak to so many different audiences.” Silverman credits now-A+E CEO Nancy Dubuc with “genius, when she was running History, at viewing history through a contemporary lens instead of always looking backwards.” Planet H, he says, is just another step in that evolution.

Research

Mobile Moves Digital Spending, eMarketer Reports

US industries will collectively spend upwards of $50 billion on digital advertising in 2014 according to eMarketer’s 2014 Digital Ad Spending Benchmarks by Industry report.  While direct-response still captures the largest amount in the overall spending—$29.61 billion versus the $20.5 billion predicated to be spent on branding this year—both segments are growing at approximately the same rate. eMarketer also finds that, “As marketers get better at measurement and attribution, the lines between direct-response spending and branding are blurring more than ever.”

eMarketer Digital Spend 2014 Chart 1It is important to note that the larger trend numbers don’t tell the whole story. While eMarketer finds double-digit gains across virtually all industries since 2009, they say that more important data is among the “subtrends within individual industries.” In particular, evolving mobile behavior is impacting spending trends. To reflect this significant industry condition, this year eMarketer includes its first estimates of mobile v. desktop spending on an industry-by-industry basis.

eMarketer predicts that the US retail industry’s advertising spending on paid digital media will reach $11.05 billion in 2014 and rise to $17.39 billion by 2018 and it continues to be the single largest-spending industry by a wide margin. However that spending is largely concentrated in direct-response advertising. Among the factors driving retail’s use of digital media is consumers’ use of mobile devices throughout the shopping process.

The travel industry also skews heavily to direct response, devoting a larger share of its overall budget to performance advertising than any other industry covered in eMarketer’s report (74% of its $4.15 billion spend). However eMarketer foresees a possible shift increase in mobile spending from this segment as consumers shift to mobile travel booking and marketers experiment with advertising that taps into this trend as well as last minute purchases.

More than one-third (35%) of US automotive-related digital ad spending will be on mobile this year, eMarketer predicts, accounting for $2.15 billion of the $6.15 billion total. This will put the auto industry in line with the US industry average when it comes to mobile’s share of digital ad spending. In the automotive sector, mobile-based branding and upper-funnel advertising efforts are increasing in response to evolving consumer research behavior—which has shifted to mobile. eMarketer suggests that brands “must remain well-considered and top of mind among consumers who are not yet in-market in order to win a place on their shopping lists once they are.”

Mirroring increased consumer usage of a wide range of financial activities via mobile devices—including banking, buying securities and managing funds—the financial industry is increasingly viewing mobile as an attractive advertising platform. In addition to mobile, this sector is likely to increase its usage of digital video, social media and sponsored content. At present, 62% of the financial industry’s digital spend is being used for direct response and 38% is used for branding.

eMarketer Digital Spend 2014 Chart 2Somewhat stronger in the branding area is the US healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, which will spend $1.41 billion on paid digital media in 2014, including $373 million on mobile ad formats. This segment will invest 44% of its digital spend in branding-focused campaigns. An interesting growth segment among pharma and healthcare is the use of digital media to target small, specific audiences for expensive specialty drugs that treat less-common ailments.

The segment focusing the largest percentage of its digital spend on branding is CPG and Consumer products with the lion’s share of its ad budgets going towards TV. The CPG and consumer products industry, in which a mere 8.4% of total spending is done via digital channels, focuses a hefty 65% of their $4.2 billion digital budget on branding efforts. The good news is that the digital ad spend is growing and eMarketer predicts that some of the largest budget increases, by percentage, will be in digital video, as brands transfer linear TV efforts to online and mobile, where they are starting to find effective ways to measure campaign success.

The full 2014 Digital Ad Spending Benchmarks by Industry report is available only to eMarketer’s corporate subscribers, though an executive summary can be downloaded here. The full report covers Automotive, Computing Products & Consumer Electronics, Consumer Products, Financial Services, Media & Entertainment, Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Retail, Telecom and Travel.

Innovation

Healthy Insights: WebMD Healthy Target App Combines Content and Data for Popular Fitness Wearables

WebMD is bringing insights to wearables with the launch of WebMD Healthy Target. Available within WebMD’s flagship mobile app for iPhone, Healthy Target is designed translate step, sleep, weight and blood glucose data from multiple well-known device manufacturers—including Entra, Fitbit, UP by Jawbone and Withings—into actionable insights.

WebMD director of mobile product development David Ziegler cites the increasing popularity of wearables as one factor in the decision to target this market. However he emphasizes that the move originated from a desire to better serve WebMD’s core audience “with a health improvement and behavior-change program.” While wearables are adept at tracking a range of user activities and behaviors, interpreting the data had been left to the users. With Healthy Target, WebMD helps users set achievable goals and pairs them with content-based insights the help them achieve those goals.

“We went into this knowing that a lot of activity trackers end up in users’ sock drawers. To date the devices only deliver the numbers; we believe that by providing contextual WebMD information and insights we can help users understand the data and learn new habits that will improve their health” says Ziegler. “And we are finding that device makers are also excited about this tool because it will keep people using their devices longer.”

WebMD Healthy Targets App ScreenThe app starts off by letting users set one of six goals: 1) lose weight 2) eat healthier 3) be more active 4) control blood sugar 5) sleep better 6) feel better. Once goals are selected, Healthy Target recommends three habits that can help users reach them.

It then supports the formation of these new health habits not only by tracking and reporting on users’ progress, but also by suggesting content that helps them succeed. For example, if your goal is to sleep better, but your tracker finds you didn’t sleep well last night, the system will offer physician-reviewed suggestions to help and motivate you, or an article on what causes fatigue or a list of the effects of poor sleep.

One of Ziegler’s favorite features of WebMD Healthy Target is the way in which it provides weekly reviews that not only provide insights into users’ progress, but provides encouraging insights to help them improve and stay motivated. “For example, if you didn’t do your habit, we ask why: Were you stressed? Did you forget? Then Healthy Target generates a reading list to help you overcome those obstacles.”

For medical concerns such as diabetes, the tracker not only provides ongoing informational support, but calls-to-action if necessary. “Everything we do is physician- reviewed and for Healthy Target, we worked closely with doctors who are experts in diabetes to develop intelligence on the back end. If your levels are high or low, the tracker interrupts with a big alert on things you should do immediately.”

While the first wave of biometrics stores data in silos, WebMD wants to unify that information in one place so that users can easily gain usable insights from the behaviors they may be tracking on various devices including fitness trackers, wireless glucometers and scales. Now that the devices are beginning to mature and the data automatically updates, Ziegler believes that the time is right to combine personal, tracked data with trusted health content to help users live a healthier life.

“We want to be the central location for your personal data. People will have multiple biometric data points, but they trust WebMD to bring it to one central location.” This data, combined with physician-reviewed, contextually-relevant content and motivational tips, will support WebMD’s goal of supporting users’ in developing healthy habits that last.

Perspectives

Univision Ramps Up World Cup Across Digital and Social

Kevin Conroy HeadshotThe 2014 FIFA World Cup is well under way and it is proving to be the most digital and social event in the history of Univision Deportes. The first six days of the 2014 FIFA World Cup have been the most visited days for Univision Digital of all time. Moreover, the live stream of the Mexico vs. Brazil game on June 17 received 3.63 million views, making it Univision’s most watched live stream ever.

This does not come as a surprise. Compared to 2010, this World Cup compared shows far greater digital consumption across live streaming, page views and social media interaction and reflects the broader shifts taking place in the consumer media landscape, notably the dramatic shift to mobile.

Our World Cup digital experience is centered around our Univision Deportes app. We partnered with industry leader NeuLion to create the newly-enhanced app to deliver the best possible World Cup digital viewing experience, serving as the official home for all World Cup games and content. The app offers fans access to high-quality live streaming coverage of all the games with in-match, real time highlights and stats, multi-camera angle video highlights, schedules, individual club news, rosters and more. In expectation of the tremendous demand for live streaming that we expected, we worked hard to test and re-test with matches before the World Cup to make sure that the viewing experience was the very best possible.

Additionally, the app offers fans watching live sports on smartphones and tablets a one-of-a-kind interactive live soccer experience that can be personalized to the individual fan, connecting users to each other via their social networks using Twitter and Facebook. U.S. Hispanics over-index on digital video consumption. We took this into account with the creation of this app which has been optimized to work across mobile devices and platforms.

Our audience has most certainly embraced this app in a big way. It has already been downloaded more than 1 million times since June 1, and now 2 million times overall. In fact, since the launch of the World Cup, the Univision Deportes app has ranked among the top three free sports apps in the Apple App Store.

Our objective for this World Cup was to provide a new digital destination for soccer fans that gives them a chance to engage with content, watch games live on the go and receive up-to-the-minute, real time match highlights and updates like they never have before. We want to deliver the ultimate companion for the die-hard soccer fan—regardless of platform. Importantly, from a strategic perspective, we made the decision to not create a separate experience and app just for World Cup. We created the Univision Deportes experience as both the home of our World Cup experience and the home of all of our soccer coverage year-long.

As part of Univision’s FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 all around digital experience, fans can also follow the action, online in the fully responsive World Cup homepage, or using the hashtag #UDMundial across their social platforms on Twitter via @UnivisionSports, as well as comment and follow all related content Facebook.com/UnivisionDeportes and Instagram/UnivisionDeportes.

The World Cup creates the space for one big conversation across social media. We have seen consistently high engagement on Twitter and Facebook, with viewers engaging with our programs in a big way.  Our awards shows consistently have higher social engagement than the GRAMMYs and Oscars. For the World Cup, we have led on Nielsen Twitter TV ratings across some of the matches.

For this World Cup, we will deliver a few interesting new social plays:

First, Univision has created “Por El Futbol,” a documentary for fans around memorable World Cup moments as told by the fans, via Instagram and Vine

Second, Univision is kicking off the longest soccer kick in the world, offering fans to join by participating through Instagram and Vine, which will culminate with the ball landing in Brazil.

Then we want to break from pure sports posts and show more of what fans are experiencing throughout Brazil, fans can experience every moment as if they were there by following hashtag #CelebrandoEnBrasil via their favorite social network.

As for social TV integration, Univision and Facebook have teamed up to deliver the best possible social experience for fans who tune into World Cup coverage, with Facebook and Instagram content integrated into the broadcast. This allows us to continue to work with our viewers as they become partners in the content creation process.

The daily broadcast segments feature a mix of Facebook posts by athletes, teams and public figures, fan comments, various chatter data (such as which players are top talk on Facebook, etc.), along with Instagram photos by teams, players and fans. Univision has committed to running a significant number of social segments daily throughout the tournament.

We welcome one and all to watch fútbol en Español with us! Univision Deportes App Screen

Kevin Conroy serves as president of Univision Interactive Media and Enterprise Development for Univision Communications Inc.Conroy has more than 20 years of advertising and media experience and has managed a number of popular Web brands, including AOL, AIM, ICQ, Moviefone, Netscape, Truveo and Winamp. Conroy was recognized by Broadcasting & Cable as a 2010 Digital All-Star, and lauded as one of Digital Media Wire’s 25 Executives to Watch. He also serves on the boards of The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Online Publishers Association (OPA), Newell Rubbermaid (NWL) and RecycleBank. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College.

Innovation

For World Cup 2014, ESPN’s Goal is to Give Fans a Winning Multiplatform Experience

The buzz around the 2014 World Cup is palpable. And this year, more people can watch it more places than ever before thanks, at least in part, to ESPN’s massive multiplatform push. According to Patrick Stiegman, VP and Editorial Director of ESPN Digital and Print Media, “Strategically, we don’t separate digital from print and broadcast. All parts must be moving together nicely as we produce this incredible event.”

ESPN has a team of 15 people on the ground in Brazil providing coverage that is being leveraged across all of its platforms. The work they do will be used for breaking news, analysis, digital features and shorts, and stories for broadcast and print. “All of our reporters are thinking multiplatform at all times,” says Stiegman. “At the World Cup, they are ESPN reporters, not specific to a delivery platform.” For example, Michael Davies and Roger Bennett, who are well known for their popular Men in Blazers podcasts on Grantland, are contributing daily blog posts to ESPN FC. In turn, segments of broadcast video commentary are available on the website and in ESPN’s apps.

To flesh out this multiplatform approach, ESPN has made significant investments in its digital delivery that will enable viewers to watch all 64 matches live online via an embedded WatchESPN video player on its responsive ESPN FC website, which it relaunched along with the ESPN FC app, earlier this month. Stiegman says that the updated ESPN FC app will be a “game changing service for fans. It will be a mobile home for anyone who wants to follow the ins and outs of the World Cup.”

ESPN Inbox ScreenA “huge step in ESPN’s digital strategy is personalization,” according to Stiegman. “Increasingly, we see the drive toward personalization. In more than a third of our visits, fans spend time in clubhouses and take a team-specific approach. They want the higher level stuff, but also want to follow their teams in depth.” To that end, the ESPN FC app starts with IP-based geolocation, and then prompts users to set which edition they want. Options include regional or specific team-centric coverage as well as language options that include Spanish and Portuguese. All matches will be available online in Portuguese via ESPN Deportes as well.

Another significant piece of the company’s strategy that has allowed ESPN to provide such extensive digital availability of this year’s World Cup is the company’s work over the past several years to improve authentication, particularly ease of use. “With WatchESPN, we’ve been working hard for some time to make it as easy as possible for fans to authenticate as cable subscribers.” ESPN currently has digital authentication deals with Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Dish.

“We really are focused on allowing viewers to access ESPN on the best screen available at any given moment. Maybe that’s mobile on a plane. Or maybe, like it is at my house, you’ll be watching on a tablet while your daughter watches Disney on your 60-inch TV.” While the goal with authentication has been to make signing in as easy as possible, increasing the breadth and depth of offerings via as wide a range of platforms as possible “is all about giving viewers a clear return on investment for taking the time to do so.”

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