MLBAM, Yahoo Reach Three-Year Ad Deal For Online Game Package
By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
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MLBAM And Yahoo Sports Ink Three-Year
Deal For MLB.tv's Live Game Package |
MLBAM and Yahoo Sports have struck a three-year video and advertising partnership in which the Internet portal will become a distribution arm for MLB.tv's live game package, as well as sell ads for it. The two parties will create a co-branded video player for subscription-based MLB.tv at sports.yahoo.com/mlb and MLB.com, for which they will jointly sell video ad inventory for the rest of this season. For the '09 and 2010 seasons, Yahoo will handle MLB.tv video ad sales exclusively using its newly announced AMP ad platform.The deal marks a significant shift for Yahoo Sports compared to many of its online competitors. Following the initial CDM Fantasy Sports court ruling against MLBAM and the MLBPA in August '06, some licensees of baseball's interactive arm began to pull back their formal involvement. But Yahoo, already a baseball rightsholder for fantasy and some online video highlights, has conversely opted to deepen its ties to MLBAM. “We think there’s huge opportunity for both sides,” said Yahoo Sports VP & GM Jimmy Pitaro. “By keeping content just on the league sites, you’re only getting the most passionate fans. This is a big chance to broaden the base for a premier video product and get in front of casual fans and a much larger, mainstream audience. And we’re going to have a very potent combination of really valuable content merged with our extensive reach to advertisers.” Pitaro said MLB.tv, which last year had more than 400,000 subscribers, could see 20-30% annual growth on top of the existing organic double-digit percentage growth in subscribers as result of Yahoo’s involvement.
MORE DEAL DETAILS: In the new deal, Yahoo Sports also will distribute MLB.com’s FastCast highlight clips, and will be able to utilize some MLB.com video content within their own original programming. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Yahoo will provide MLBAM an upfront payment as its prior and newly added rights are bundled into the new pact. Following that payment, the parties have a revenue sharing agreement for MLB.tv. The pact also marks a reallocation of some rights to Yahoo that were previously held by ESPN. That network and MLBAM have been negotiating for months on amended digital rights agreement.
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