As founder and chief executive of digital media and technology consultancy Blue Sky Media NYC, Leslie Gittess has had a front-row seat for the sports industry’s digital revolution the past two decades. The former NHL and MLB Advanced Media executive today counsels a portfolio of influential clients on a variety of monetization, media rights and distribution issues. Among those clients are daily fantasy giant FanDuel, video-sharing platform SnappyTV, in-venue technology firm FanVision and audio-streaming company TuneIn. Gittess also serves as an adviser to Columbia University’s Startup Lab.
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Mobile growth and consumption is still growing, and I don’t see this slowing down.”
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Photo: BLUE SKY MEDIA NYC
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On boosting the value of digital and mobile ad rates: Mobile inventory, ad units and pre-roll is a tougher sell because the branding is smaller, the user experience is clunkier, and you have people turning on ad blockers. With mobile consumption growing and overtaking more traditional methods of consumption, mobile will start to get better CPMs and more ad dollars. The experience has to be better for users. Minutes for a page to load with heavy ads is not good, but being able to sling your mobile video to your 70-inch screen is awesome.
On the prognosis for traditional cable and satellite TV: I love my cable TV because it is reliable, the picture is great and I can now watch almost everything on demand. That is not to say that I don’t also enjoy my Apple TV, Roku and Netflix, because I use all of those as well. The problem is that demo of people paying for cable is older. I have done my own research and surveys among my own focus group of teenagers and 20-somethings, and they don’t pay for cable. They watch everything on their mobile device or laptop.
On New York City becoming a global technology center: I see New York becoming the tech capital of the world. Columbia has their Startup Lab, and they are grooming dozens of startups each year. NYU has just merged with the Polytechnic Institute to become an engineering powerhouse. Cornell’s forthcoming engineering campus will train thousands of engineers each year. And with angels, investors, VCs, accelerators and unicorns all based in New York and growing, it surely will be the best place to create and grow for technology.
On the future of sports gambling and daily fantasy sports: My advice would be for the companies in this sector to be thoughtful and perhaps slow down a bit. Take a step back, legislate, and make sure that sports gaming companies give their customers the best experience under the law.
