MLB Advanced Media, operators of what is widely considered the best league-run Web site in American sports, did nothing to rest on its laurels last year.
Furthered significant influence in ticketing with new company record for online sales, as well as a market-defining secondary ticket deal with StubHub.
Set new internal revenue and traffic records through strong multifaceted operational model with entries in content and live video, merchandising, fantasy, ticketing and third-party development work.
Further distancing itself from the rocky early-decade beginnings of MLB.com, the operation in 2007 set new company records for annual revenue with more than $450 million, tickets sold online with more than 27 million, and traffic of more than 60 million unique visitors in peak months, according to internal server counts.
The numbers were generated while MLBAM easily bested most of its main competitors in sheer volume of content, streaming 15 live MLB games per day during the season and a bevy of other events amounting to more than 12,000 overall for the year. It also stood as one of the last remaining outposts for commercially viable, subscription content online.
But befitting its lofty stature in the digital media industry, MLBAM also did more than simply sell content, tickets and merchandise, and record impressive numbers. A leaguewide secondary ticketing deal struck last summer with StubHub moved far beyond the more sponsorship-oriented pacts signed by other leagues for ticket resales. It created a co-branded secondary ticket area within MLB.com and StubHub, and already is beginning to serve as a template for future deals in the mushrooming industry.
The commercial launch of MLB.com’s Mosaic, powered by Ensequence, helped foster the simultaneous viewing of multiple live events and fan interactivity long seen as ideally suited for the Internet.
MLBAM, primarily through its chief executive, Bob Bowman, also helped advance a bitter industry debate on Internet metrics, repeatedly pushing for an end to panel-based measurement methods favored by Nielsen Online and other agencies.
“We still have to offer the very best,” Bowman said. “A lot of this is trying to look around the corner and being a step ahead, and that’s not easy. But the fervency and passion of our fan base gives us a lot to work with.”
