YouTube Gets Streaming Rights To Soap Box Derby In One-Year Deal

YouTube picked up the exclusive live-streaming rights to this year’s Soap Box Derby, which will be held July 22 from 8:30am-3:30pm ET in Akron. The one-year deal will see YouTube carry everything from the opening ceremonies and parade to all of the race’s heats. This year’s event will include racers ranging in age from 7 to 21. “Regular linear broadcast television is not the format for this,” said LHB Sports, Entertainment & Media President & CEO Lee Berke, who negotiated the deal for Soap Box Derby. “Online, over-the-top streaming is the way to go. This is television, as it’s defined in 21st century.”

The Derby will produce the event, which will carry First Energy as a title sponsor this year. “It will be a learning experience for everybody,” Berke said. “It will build from a production and programming standpoint for years to come.” The Derby has been around for more than 80 years, but has not had a consistent national media partner for decades, opting instead for local media partners, Berke said.