Turner Sports Using New Platforms To Promote NBA All-Star Game

Watch Turner Sports' '10 NBA All-Star Game Spot

Turner Sports "will look to take its marketing shots for TNT's Feb. 14 NBA All-Star Game telecast outside the sports media arc to avoid a very cluttered marketplace" due to the presence of Super Bowl XLIV, the Vancouver Games and the Daytona 500, according to Thomas Umstead of MULTICHANNEL NEWS. Turner Sports Senior VP/Strategy, Marketing & Programming Christina Miller said that while Turner "will aggressively promote its overall All-Star game weekend festivities through league-related digital platforms such as NBA League Pass, NBA TV and NBA.com -- as well as the various Turner cable networks" -- the company "plans to offer what amounts to a double-digit increase in the number of All-Star game-related TV spots on non sports-based broadcast and cable networks compared to last season." Miller: "When you factor in the fact that a lot of great sporting events are going on during the first couple of weeks in February, it does mean that there's a crowded marketplace filled with a lot of noise." Turner will "run ads in entertainment magazines and newspapers such as Entertainment Weekly and USA Today to reach a broader swath of consumers." Miller said Turner also is using social media outlets like Facebook and YouTube to "make sure that we're not just advertising to people but also starting a conversation about the All-Star game and the NBA in general" (MULTICHANNEL.com, 2/6).