As rightsholders look for new ways to present content and also to monetize it, some networks are going to social media as a way to reach viewers. YES Network, home of the New York Yankees, is using Facebook Live to stream its production meetings.
YES has been streaming its production meetings prior to the start of a series (usually twice a week) to give fans an inside look at how the games are produced. During these meetings, producers and the television broadcast team discuss potential storylines, various issues they want to hit during the game and in a sense, it becomes a pregame show to the TV pregame show.
YES is part of Fox Sports Regional Networks so this is part of a company-wide strategy to show more video. Michael Spirito who’s the head of business development and digital media at Fox Sports Regional Networks tells Sports Video Group that the Facebook Live streams are a way to create content beyond live game broadcasts:
“This is an opportunity to create a multi-channel, multi-platform video product that is not dependent upon [imposed digital rights]. We can show the breadth of our coverage in different and varied ways.”
Spirito says YES has done more than 110 Facebook Live streams over the past year and a quarter, and Fox Sports Regional Networks are looking for new opportunities to monetize this type of content throughout the company. And Spirito says the production meetings on Facebook have brought in “tens of thousands of views.”
So based on this, we’ll see if other Fox Sports RSN’s follow suit with similar plans and if the major sports cable networks follow suit.
About Ken Fang
Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.
He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.
Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.