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Turner Sports Making First Periscope Foray During This Week’s PGA Championship

Turner Sports’ renewal of media rights for the PGA Championship in ’09 emphasized a renewed effort in targeting younger consumers, and that continues this week as the company turns to Periscope. During early action at Whistling Straits this week, Turner will take over the PGA.com Twitter feed and provide behind-the-scenes streaming, with subjects including hole walk-throughs, fan Q&As, practice rounds and a long-drive competition. This week’s effort marks Turner Sports’ first foray with Periscope, and Senior Dir of Social Media Morgan Dewan spoke with THE DAILY about what fans can expect on the platform at Whistling Straits.

FRESH APPROACH: Dewan said, "We feel like it’s a new content distribution platform. And it’s really going to complement our coverage on TNT, PGA.com and the PGA Championship Live app. So it’s just another great outlet that we can expose this great golf content to new audiences.” Turner also will be using drone technology at the PGA Championship for the first time, but do not expect those angles on the Periscope feed this year. Dewan said she “would have loved to have done that, but I think the production guys would have killed me.” Turner also is not simply handing the Periscope work off to an intern. It added a small production crew to handle the feed. Dewan: “This content will be different from some of the other Periscope material you’ve seen. We’ll have a producer helping us with it. It will be talent-hosted -- not just run-and-gun style by a social media person who is running around with a camera phone. We even have a steady-cam holder so we shoot high-quality video in that vertical format. We’ve got microphones, so the audio is great. It’s really kind of its own production.”

THE NEW GUYS: With golf’s young guns making a lot of noise on the leaderboards this year, it seems likely Turner will look to target these fresh faces for Periscope. “It will really depend on who we have access to and where we are in the day,” said Dewan. “But this year we’re definitely seeing a younger golfer than we’ve ever seen before. Guys like Jordan (Spieth), Rickie (Fowler), Rory (McIlroy), Jason Day. So yes, they are targets for us as far as who our fan base would like to see on Periscope.”

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? Dewan is a big fan of studio talent using Periscope, and singled out Kristen Ledlow and Rick Fox at NBA TV for efforts this past season. Dewan: “When you bring that level of access and authenticity to fans, that’s really where Periscope shines. No other platform captures that type of access in real time. We love it when talent is willing to get on their phones, flip that camera around selfie-style and just take questions from fans. Whether it’s at the desk, getting ready, behind the scenes at a game -- that’s just really the best type of content you can give fans.” Dewan and Turner Sports also are paying close attention to Facebook Live, another new streaming platform, but not just jumping into it without a solid playbook. Dewan said the company “wants be deliberate about which social media platforms we use. We want make sure we’re embracing new technologies and trying new things, but also doing what is right for the business.” As to whether we will see Periscope during the MLB Postseason, Turner is taking a cautious approach. Dewan: “We really have to address every tentpole and every event that we do on a case-by-case basis. As you can imagine, Periscope had to be fully vetted with the PGA, with our legal. As domestic rightsholders, we really wanted to be very strategic about how and why we’re using this platform.”

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