Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said he does not believe sports "are immune from cord cutting." He said, "You saw [Disney Chair & CEO] Bob Iger in the last Disney earnings announcement make comments about some of the over-the-top offerings like Sony View now licensing their content and that those over-the-top offerings were doing better post-licensing of their content. ... The folks in that business understand that and are already working to deal with it. So I think you’ll see continued fragmentation in this space” (
"Squawk Alley,” CNBC, 8/23).
FOCUS FACTOR: In Cincinnati, Paul Daugherty wrote no website "interprets football numbers" the way that Pro Football Focus does. There are 24 NFL teams that "subscribe to its service" and 15 major college programs, including Notre Dame. PFF is "helping to change the way coaches and players study and prepare." With PFF’s ability to "isolate on individual players, grade them and put their performances on video, what used to take three hours to watch now takes 20 minutes." Grading "can be done almost in real time." NBC's Cris Collinsworth, who purchased PFF last year, said, "If NBC wants to see our grades at halftime, they’ll see them at halftime" (CINCINNATI.com, 8/21).
SNAP SHOT: In N.Y., Ben Sisario notes music promoter Peter Shapiro is "introducing his latest venture this week, an online platform called Fans.com that lets users build profiles based on concerts they have attended and communicate with like-minded people via news feeds." Shapiro’s bet with Fans.com is that other social networks are "ill-suited as platforms to express the effusive passions people have for music, sports and other kinds of entertainment." Fans.com is a "rudimentary database of concert listings," but Shapiro "wants to expand it into sports and other areas" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/24).
I'M GOIN' MOBILE: Bayern Munich has relaunched a suite of mobile apps built with the aid of N.Y.-based consultancy Omnigon, part of a broader digital reworking undertaken by the club. The new apps feature a full array of live match content, player data, personalization features, video highlights, and global radio match feeds. Bayern Munich adds to an Omnigon client roster that also includes the PGA Tour, NASCAR, the USGA, and Fox Sports, among others (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).
