If you enjoy sports and also mis-self-diagnosing yourself on the internet, then we have good news for you! Sports Illustrated is partnering with WebMD to produce an editorial series called “The Comeback.”
Advertising Age has the specifics:
Sports Illustrated and WebMD — the place you invariably land when you Google health symptoms — are teaming up on an editorial series called “The Comeback,” which packages a story on an athlete’s return from injury with service-y information about the ailment. Part one of the series about Los Angeles Angels pitcher Garrett Richards rolls out today on the Sports Illustrated and WebMD sites and includes video and text.
The tie-up is part of each media company’s strategy at attracting more readers, executives said.
According to ComScore numbers, however, SI is going to be reaping more of the benefits of this partnership, so to speak. In May, WebMD had 78 million unique visitors in the U.S. compared to SI’s 24 million. But, this won’t just bring SI more visitors. Via AdAge:
It’s also looking to wring money from the venture with WebMD. Cialis is the first advertiser attached to the series for Sports Illustrated, both on the magazine’s website, and in print.
This partnership definitely makes sense given how closely we (collectively) track our favorite athletes’ sports injuries. Sure, we might not be experts, but you can bet I consulted WebMD after Jay Cutler’s last injury and obsessively trolled that site and sports columns expecting an accurate outlook on his return within hours (as in, he can come back at 10am EST on Nov 11th, but not an hour sooner.). Okay maybe I’ve gotten off topic. The point is – this is an interesting partnership and if successful I am willing to bet other publishers with similar interests will start to follow suit.
