This is not your grandfather’s Bleacher Report. Once the site that was known for slideshows, Turner Sports has transformed the site like a chef transforms the food basket ingredients on Food Network’s “Chopped” series. Purchasing Bleacher Report for $175 million in 2012, Turner has hired journalists to write for the site and also increased the content. Using the brand to expand its reach and purpose, the Wall Street Journal reports that Turner Sports plans to invest another $100 million to hire additional staff, produce original videos as well as short-form material that will be sent out via social media.
For Turner President David Levy, this is more than just making the site viable, it’s about making it a true destination for all types of content:
The company also intends to experiment with animated content, as well as editorial focused on the intersection of sports and pop culture, such as music and fashion, he said.
Now think about that. For those of us who remember who Bleacher Report began, this was hardly foreseeable, but the future is now for BR which has gone through a massive rebrand and change in strategy. Gone are the slideshows. Gone are the anonymous bloggers. Now, Bleacher Report has become one of Turner Sports’ coveted properties and the company sees a bright star in the digital universe:
“When we bought it, it really was a brand,” said Mr. Levy. “Whether it was really something with [complete] journalistic integrity, you can debate that one way or another. But we truly saw it as a brand. Turner wasn’t a sports brand. We sort of needed a sports destination media brand.”
“If you ask people in the industry, nobody is thinking Bleacher Report is a bunch of bloggers anymore,” he added.
And that’s key to Turner because if you’ve been watching CBS, TBS, TNT or truTV during the NCAA Tournament, you may have noticed that the Team Stream homer broadcasts for the Final Four and National Championship Game are branded under Bleacher Report. And Turner sees plenty of potential of growth for BR down the road.
According to Turner, Bleacher Report content generates 28 million social interactions, such as likes and shares, a month on various social platforms, and its video content accounts for 60 million views a week.
Bleacher Report pulled in $100 million in ad revenue last year, said a person familiar with the matter.
So as Bleacher Report continues, it knows it’s future is quite bright with a big infusion of cash, but also seeing that its content will attract new visitors and continue its association with Turner for the foreseeable future.
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