SNY will cover this week’s MLB Winter Meetings in Orlando using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as much as its linear channel. The use of digital media platforms, including the RSN’s website, will allow SNY to cover the meetings all day across many platforms, rather than breaking into linear TV coverage, which generally produces low viewership during the day. “This is indicative of what’s going to be more of our shift in strategy,” said SNY President Steve Raab. “We want to go to our fans wherever they are, and that’s social media during the day. Then we can push them toward linear content in the evening.” Raab said that the RSN used to break into programming on the linear network during the day as news would break, like a manager change or a player trade. “But our viewers didn’t think of our network that way,” Raab said. “During the day, they are more likely to see our content on social media than on our linear network.” SNY’s Winter Meetings coverage started last night with two shows on linear TV: “Mets Hot Stove” and “Geico SportsNite.” It produced “Metsblog Morning” that appeared on Facebook Live this morning, and has seven “360” updates available on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Starting at 5:00pm ET, the RSN will cover the meetings through its linear TV channel via shows like “Daily News Live,” “Loud Mouths,” “Mets Hot Stove” and “Geico SportsNite.” SNY will use similar coverage schedules through Thursday. SNY will use on-site talent like Steve Gelbs, Andy Martino and Jim Duquette. Gary Apple, Nelson Figueroa and Todd Zeile will stay in studio in Manhattan. Raab said that SNY ratings historically have seen a ratings pop during the Winter Meetings, with his network’s MetsBlog showing a 60-100% increase during Winter Meetings over a typical winter week.
