Mark Shuken envisions a reimagined Pac-12 Networks by the fall.Roxxe Ireland
The Pac-12 Networks have embarked on a series of cost-cutting measures and new content initiatives that are designed to create a leaner, meaner conference media company that will generate more net revenue for the member schools.
Networks President Mark Shuken has spent the past month meeting with university presidents, athletic directors and other high-ranking officials as part of a new strategy rollout that will reimagine the networks and enhance the bottom line between now and 2024 when the conference’s primary media contracts with ESPN and Fox run out.
Shuken envisions a Pac-12 Networks 2.0 by the fall.
“This is going to be much more of a dramatic shift than a gradual evolution,” said Shuken, who is entering his third year at the helm.
The networks have been profitable, returning close to $3 million to each of the conference’s 12 schools in 2018, the most recent year figures are available, but that’s still well behind what the Big Ten Network and SEC Network return to their schools.
As part of what Shuken described as a right-sizing of the business, the net revenue going back to the schools was expected to increase significantly starting next year as the networks’ bottom line benefits from a reduction in expenses. Shuken said Pac-12 schools are in line for “a pretty big bump” next year. Those expectations could change depending on the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These efficiencies are wrapped into a bigger strategic plan that’s designed to help us elevate the value of these rights,” Shuken said.
The Pac-12 announced earlier this month that 8% of the network’s workforce, 12 people, were laid off, open positions are frozen, and travel and special projects are on hold. Shuken said there is an ongoing “reallocation of human and financial resources” that will be done by the fall and was planned before the coronavirus outbreak.
The strategic plan has four basic tenets: Deliver 850 live events to the networks’ distributors; drive up the value of future media rights; define the efficiencies; and develop different forms of content that are in front of the paywall and can be accessed for free — what the nets call “ungated content.” That would be more short-form content across social media channels.
“The difference for viewers will be fewer produced TV shows and far more storytelling and features on multiple platforms,” Shuken said. “That’s going to be fundamental. We’ll still focus on football and basketball studio shows because those achieve high viewership, but we’ll also take those stories and put them on other platforms in different formats.”
Pac-12 Networks identified these changes after a series of six meetings with school leaders. Each meeting lasted 90 minutes and covered a 40-page deck that described the efficiencies.
Shuken had been cutting costs piecemeal — about $2 million to $3 million a year over his first two years. “But that’s no way to inspire a team,” Shuken acknowledged, which prompted him to explore a more comprehensive strategic plan to help the networks perform better for the next four years until the next round of media contracts.
“There’s been this false narrative that we’re just standing pat until 2024 and that we’re just stuck until then,” Shuken said. “That’s a narrative we’re challenging, and to do that you’ve got to make serious changes.”
