Fox Sports (3)
Fox Sports
Charlie Dixon (executive vice president and head of content)
Michael Bucklin (senior vice president, digital content)
Barry Nugent (vice presidnet, development and original programming)
Two years ago this month, Charlie Dixon was promoted to executive vice president and head of content at Fox Sports. But the eight-year Fox veteran was surprised to hear that’s when it was: “It feels like it’s been longer, because the consumption models of content are just evolving so rapidly and this is all I obsess about.”
Dixon said his biggest priority is to ensure content verticals like digital media and original films, respectively led by Michael Bucklin and Barry Nugent, are aligned around Fox’s biggest bets on live sports. That’s a departure from a decade ago, when the network’s documentary and social teams would produce valuable content but often act as independent production companies as opposed to parts of a more holistic, concerted effort to promote — and be promoted by — Fox’s live sports broadcasts.
“That’s how we can cut through the noise. We have a proper way to promote this content where it doesn’t feel too promotional, where it feels like branded content,” Dixon said. “If there’s a documentary Barry is doing on baseball in a couple weeks, we’ll sit in a room and figure out what’s something interesting and innovative Bucklin’s team can do to support that content. … Maybe an interview you did with [David] Ortiz couldn’t be 20 minutes in the film, but we could use it as a promotional element on digital and then use the response to that in the shows to promote the overall movie that will then air on cable.”
Dixon said that flywheel has allowed Fox to excel in its partnership with MLB, which has featured a recent doc on Latin American minor leaguers and last week’s “The Game that Changed Everything,” about the 2004 ALCS. He’s now looking to pursue a similar level of success with the NFL. And without an OTT platform requiring a constant stream of new content, Fox can be strategic about which stories to tell.
“We really try to be selective and make sure we focus on hunger, frankly. If the people in the ecosystem we have are hungry, then they’re going to touch all the bases,” Dixon said. “If we had to come up with 100 hours of original docs a year, that just becomes the job. The job is no longer about how are we actually going to reach the audience.” — Chris Smith
