Since 2013, Bleacher Report has hosted a live show during the NFL Draft, an event that is a key focus for the company. Just what that means has changed dramatically over the years, though. This year will see further changes, thanks to the company’s new official partnership with the NFL, which was announced in January.
That partnership allows B/R NFL Draft Live (which will run all three days of the draft, starting at 7:45 p.m. ET on Thursday and will be streamed in the Bleacher Report app) to have a more prominent presence at the event in Green Bay itself. Part of that will come from an on-site producer, who will select some recently drafted players for live conversations with the New York-based panel.
For night one, that panel will include host Adam Lefkoe, current Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons, current Philadelphia Eagles star Darius Slay Jr., and analyst Mike Renner. The second night, starting at 7 p.m. ET will feature Lefkoe hosting alongside Mike Golic Jr. and Michael Felder. The third day, starting at noon ET will see Felder and Connor Rogers together on the desk.
How Bleacher Report will handle draft interviews
B/R head of content Tyler Price spoke to Awful Announcing Thursday on the evolution of the draft show, the NFL partnership, and the company’s wider plans with the league. He said that they plan to utilize the current-player connection here to ensure their newly acquired access offers something distinct from ESPN and NFL Network TV coverage, and something that aligns with their focus on fan engagement through the app.
“We are super proud of the live experience around the draft for B/R,” Price said. “Instead of using that access opportunity to do a traditional content collection with these guys as they’re coming off, what we’re going to do is as they exit stage to get their big adult hug and their hat, they’ll walk over, and then they’ll have a live conversation with Micah Parsons and Darius Slay Jr. in studio. The producer will just be setting up the conversation between the two, so you’ll have these top picks talking directly to the guys they’re going to compete in the league with next year.”
Price said those interviews won’t happen after every pick but rather at moments where they make particular sense.
“We’ll do that between four and six times during the [first-night] show, we hope. We’re not going to overreach. We’re really targeting things like when the Cowboys pick, how amazing is going to be for that person to talk to Micah right away, and create this kind of player-to-player moment that’s differentiated from the traditional stand-up interview that you see on linear broadcasts?”
The value of adding NFL highlights to the Bleacher Report house
Another differentiator for the B/R draft show this year, courtesy of this NFL partnership will be the ability to use NFL highlights, which is particularly crucial for comparisons to current players.
“It’s really exciting for us,” Price said. “In the past, a player would get selected, and we’d be able to show their college highlights because of the partnerships we have. And then we put up a graphic that the panel compared him to this offensive lineman in the league.
“Now we have the ability to show the college highlights and show the player comparisons in real time, so you can see the similarities in their game. Micah and Darius can react to it, talk about it, point things out. And just that one level of deeper understanding for fans is huge, not just in the live show.”
Indeed, a key part of how B/R thinks about the draft show is that it’s not just for those watching the show live in real-time. Price said they also see it as an opportunity to get video-on-demand clips that they can push across their B/R and House of Highlights social platforms to fans.
“This live show results in 250 clip-out VODs that live in our ecosystem,” he said. “You’re seeing your draftee compared to someone you know, highlights to highlights, and then NFL players talking about why those similarities exist. Just yesterday we did it for the first time with the rehearsal, and it just creates such a robust experience. It kind of to me completes the show.”
For Price, those social platforms are a long-time strength for B/R and a key part of their focus around the draft. The NFL partnership is also crucial there, including for the clips that feature highlights.
“We’ve always thought that we are best in class in that type of short-form, social conversation, fan interaction stuff, specifically with what the group at House of Highlights does,” he said. “Being able to combine that with NFL access allows us to double up.”
‘This is our Super Bowl’
The draft and the attention it gets from sports media have its critics and fans. Price said B/R is firmly in that latter camp, and they view this as their most important event of the year, even above the Super Bowl.
“We love the Super Bowl. But this is our Super Bowl at Bleacher Report. This is the most conversation that happens around sports every year inside our app, and our fans can’t get enough of it. It’s a three-week period that’s just focused on hope and excitement and positivity. And so we really try and feed that beast and that conversation as much as we can throughout the weekend.”
Price said the NFL partnership means they can offer fans new elements.
“It just gives us another thing to give them. Maybe you’re not here for analytics, maybe you just want to get to know Travis Hunter, who just got drafted. And we’re doing a fun little game, and you have access to that, and then you can go and look at [comparisons] and break that down too. There’s another added layer for the experience of a weekend that we know our fans come to us for.”
‘We’re not obligated to show certain things’
B/R still has a notable draft week focus on their live-streaming show, though. Price said that while the product has evolved a lot since its 2013 beginnings, its ethos has been consistent: providing fans with the information they want as rapidly as possible.
“It’s always been grounded in one principle that we still hold super important. We talked about it all day yesterday. It’s ‘All right, you’re watching the draft as a fan. What information do you want, and how fast can we get it to you?’ It’s a differentiator for us.”
Of course, other companies might cite a similar focus. But Price said the key for B/R is that while they have an NFL partnership and are doing a live draft show, they don’t have the same draft-night obligations as actual draft broadcasters ESPN and NFL Network.
“We’re not obligated to show certain things. We don’t have to wait for people to walk across the stage. We can go right into analysis, we can go right into conversations, we can go right into social reactions.”
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“I think pace and conversation has always been at the front lines of what we’ve done on the draft. We’ve added voices, we’ve added staff, NFL players sat outside the studio and called in, and then we brought them into the studio.
“We’ve experimented with formats, and sometimes it’s been like a real traditional studio. This year, it’s couches. We’ve played with those. But it’s always been about ‘How fast can we get the conversation? How fast can we get to reaction? How fast can we get to the fans being able to interact?’”
For Price himself, that reflects how he approaches watching the draft, and he feels that there are many other fans in a similar situation.
“That is what’s happening the minute the pick happens, organically. I’m a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, the first thing I’m going to do when we draft tonight is send a message to my Steelers’ chat. Well, let’s get that energy in the show as soon as we possibly can. And that’s been a nice grounding north star for us, even as we experiment with new things like the highlights and the access. It’s still about ‘How quickly can we get to the dialogue?’”
A different kind of media partner
Those new features from the NFL partnership will enhance B/R’s draft coverage, though. And Price said the draft elements are just part of the success both sides have seen from that deal, which has been evident through only a few months.
“It’s been a long time coming. I think both sides would say that we’ve circled each other for a while. Having done the draft show, they know how big the B/R NFL audience is. So we have hit the ground running, and the two teams work so well together.”
Price said the NFL sees B/R as a different kind of media partner.
“They’re excited by what we bring to some of their marquee events. We do different and unique things with highlights than some of their more traditional partners. So it’s been us pushing and saying, ‘Hey, have you ever tried this,’ and them saying ‘Well, not yet, but let us figure it out.’ It’s been a super solution-oriented collaborative experience. It’s been great on the content side.”
‘The energy is there’
For B/R, working with the NFL pays business rewards beyond content.
“It’s also been fantastic for the sales partnership side,” Price said. “We’ve made, I think, best-in-class NFL content for a while, without IP, without highlights, and without access to some of those premier partners. This year, the draft is a sold entity, the sponsored partner supporting us on that is thriving, and we’ve been able to integrate them seamlessly into the show. I don’t think that conversation comes to fruition without the NFLness of it all.”
The rewards on both there started showing up at B/R’s NFL Combine coverage, which took place only a month after the deal was struck.
“Very quickly after our partnership started, we went to Combine for the first time this year,” Price said. “There, we had great content. We also got to work with traditional NFL partners like AWS, Snickers, Microsoft, all in a really short amount of time. The energy is there for a premier digital partner of the NFL.”
There’s plenty more planned, too. Price said that will be especially notable around B/R’s first NFL season under this deal, beginning this fall.
“It’s been a great start, working out some stuff in the offseason with them, going right to teams, and all ramping up to what I think is going to be an amazing first full season of this.”
