January 14, 2020 • 10 mins
James Kotecki of C Space Studio speaks with Howard Mittman, CEO, Bleacher Report.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, I'm James co Techie. You're listening to the C
Space Studio podcast interviews with technology, media and marketing leaders
from CS. Hi, I'm James co Tech. You're here with
me in the C Space Studio a CS here with us,
Howardmitment's CEO Bleacher Reports. Thanks for having me. Thanks so
(00:23):
much for being here. Appreciate it. So I think probably
a lot of people are from the Bleacher Report, but
I'm always curious about how executives define their own brands.
So what is Bleacher Report to you? We exist simply
to make it as easy as possible to be a
sports fan. So, regardless of where it is you want
to experience sports and sports culture content, whatever format, distribution mechanism,
whatever game um passion point you may have, Bleacher Report
(00:46):
is there to make it as easy as possible. Fift
of our traffic comes on our app, which we have
over twenty million total downloads and nine and a half
million consumers opted in to receive alerts um and the
rest comes across a varied variety of spectrum, is the
largest being social. So as we move into an era
of technological disruption and just our tension being divided in
(01:08):
so many different places, Where does sports fit into the mix.
Is it's still something people prioritize and watch life. Yes, Look,
at the end of the day, UM, sports matters, right, UM.
Sports fans have a passion and a deliberate intention. UM
those games that those passions are UM sought out, They're
(01:31):
not necessarily found. And I think a lot of what
we consume today, especially across social is you're happy to
consume it, you find it, but you don't really seek
it out. UM sought out content live sports content? Is
that increasingly though, we're seeing a highlight driven culture and
we own and run House of Highlights UM, which is
a you know, marvelous brand, maybe the most disruptive brand
(01:51):
in all of sports right now. Uh, that's driving in
a really different kind of culture and widening the aperture
on who and what is the sports fan. And do
those trends become especially pronounced as you get to younger generations.
How is gen Z looking at sports, for example, compared
to millennials or other people. Yeah, I think each generation
is becoming increasingly more fragmented and fragmented, you know, even
(02:13):
within itself. But what we're finding some of the trends
that we found that are interesting to us. Is in
gen Z I mentioned, you know, widening the aperture on
on who's a sportsman. Um, we're not just looking at
what happens off the court, we're looking off the court.
So NBA is an example used to be about opening
tip off to the handing out of the trophies, and
then you went on your way to fall baseball and
(02:34):
then football, and then you re engaged in the fall.
It's a three dred and sixty five day year endeavor.
It's more of a soap opera really. It's more of
like a the Marvel or the DC universe, where you
have heroes and villains and a constant sort of cast
of characters that are not just playing the sport, but
that are um creating content themselves and engaging consumers. Seven
(02:55):
That is of great interest the younger you get. But
the difference maybe if you have heroes and villains in
the Marvel universe, it's clear who is supposed to be which,
and everybody in the audience is probably thinking of everybody
in the same way. If I'm a fan of a
sports team that most people think is the villain, but
I think they're the hero, is there a way to
get me content that speaks to that. Yeah, I think
what hyper local contents always going exist. You know. One
(03:16):
of the advantages we have, we think is um in
our app, we we employ a platform strategy and so
we don't think of ourselves any different than any platform.
And what that means is we're aggregating and we're having
content submitted from across the world. UM, so that if
you log onto the bleacher Report app, it's not as
if you're just reading Bleacher Report content. You're reading content
from anywhere. So the streams you subscribe to. If let's say, um,
(03:39):
you know you're a Carolina Panthers fan. I think you're
from down there. My guests, you might be right, I'm
a Jets fan. Um, we're playing each other. We might
get some of the same content, but we're also gonna
get different content depending on the streams that we engage with.
When we speak about this highlight culture, I think one
way to look at that might be, well, there's just
there's there's fewer places that still adds because people are
just watching shorter and shorter clay. But another way that
(04:01):
you're talking about it seems like to me is you
could bring people in who would never watch sports, but
we'll only watch highlights, and so that actually brings new
people into the mids. That's exactly right, UM. And you
know when when you think about that in terms of ads,
you know, you're referencing a thirty second spot, it sounds
like right, which is you know, probably still the lingua
front of our business. But in reality, on a more
(04:22):
um broad spectrum, UM advertising and advertising opportunities start taking
on a variety of different shapes at this point UM.
For example, UM branded content. Take Instagram as an example.
In two thousand and nineteen fifty one of the top
one hundred branded content pieces across all of Instagram, not
just sports but all of Instagram were created by Bleacher Report.
(04:44):
And you think about that, there's a lot of brands
out there that a lot of brands doing things. We
understand branded content. We understand how to create connections, we
understand how to tie those storylines back from that DC universe,
if you will, into our world and create entry points
for brands to arictionlessly or seamlessly sort of fit into
the middle of it. So you're presenting experiences. And you know,
(05:05):
we we've always I've always operated by the monster that
branded content is only branded when it sucks. If it's good,
it's just content because to the audience it just feels
like something they wouldn't want to get anyways, exactly right.
And so the more that we can engage consumers by
giving them a value proposition that they enjoy that they're
looking for versus giving them thirty seconds they have to
wait for their actual content to start, the more opportunistic
(05:27):
can be for us to take advertising messages and create
opportunities to engage younger fans. Talking to Howardmitman, CEO Bleacher Report,
what do other brands get wrong about branded content? What
are some of the obvious blenders you see? Yeah, um,
I think you have to create branded content that looks
and feels, um like a perfect marriage or union between
(05:50):
your content sensibility and the content sensibility of the brand
that you're creating for. When you do that right, um,
and you come at it from a perspective of what
is it the consumers want to see? I think that
you can do something spectacular when you come about it
in terms of like, look, we're just trying to sort
of break through and get someone's attention, and we have
a story to tell regardless of who's listening. Invariably, that's
(06:12):
where it fails. So we're talking about content. You actually
have a video production studio here in Las Vegas? Is
that right at Caesar's? We do? Yeah, So tell me
about that, what why that happened, and what you've learned
from it? Yeah? So, Um, Look, sports fans are betters
are better sports fans, right, They watch more, they engage
more of their higher level of intensity around it. Um,
(06:32):
sometimes good, sometimes bad, depending on the bet I guess sure. Um,
So what we did is we built out three sixty
five content studio on the um casino floor in the
Sports Book of Caesar's Palace. We also have a large
office space there, and we think about betting as an
entry point not just to sort of bet, but as
an entry point to tell broader stories around sports and
(06:54):
the personality around the culture of sports, betting and gambling
and Las Vegas as a whole. So are studio is
in Caesar's, but our office space is you know, our
real sort of space is Las Vegas as a whole. Sure,
And what do you mean by seven? Does that mean
there's just a live stream happening all the time, but
there's are actually content being programmed in all this, we
have branded shows that we do that fill up certain times. Again,
(07:15):
you're filling in a live space that's highly valuable to Caesar,
So it can't be seven. That's just not possible. But
what we do is we we do the best that
we can to not be disruptive, and we're also creating
content and content experiences that attract fans into Caesar's Palace.
So we are helping them fill seats, We're helping them
bringing the right kind of younger demos Millennia lyn gen
Z consumers that they're looking for. Sure, E Sports do
(07:37):
you think about that? Is that on your radar at all? Yeah?
We do. We just in the sports coverage, you know,
through Turner we we own E League, UM and we
have some sports covers that we do through uh the
our gaming So it is something that we think about
for sure. Okay, And but is it do you see
any trends there as you think it's going to pick
up significantly or is it just is it? Is it
(07:58):
something that you're kind of still experimenting with. I think
it's something that we're slightly beyond test and learn, but
I wouldn't say we're we're all in with, we have
a couple of interesting, unique UM shows that we do
in programs, and what I'm really interested in we just
wanted to show called battle Stations. So battle Stations is
a great example where we're sitting down. You take twenty
(08:20):
five year old professional athletes. They're all gamers right now.
Some of them are gaming Fortnite or you know, League
of Legends or other things, and some of them are
just you know, playing themselves. There's traditional sports for traditional sports,
and so what I'm interested in is that marriage and
that cross section between the two. So it's almost like
an MTV Cribs like experience where we go into their
(08:41):
homes and they're showing our audience their gaming set up
in their stations, and they're they're pretty pimped out, they're
they're excited about it um And so we're doing things
like that. We have a couple other opportunities that we do,
and so bringing those two worlds together is something that
that is more interesting to me right now than say
hosting our own e sports tournament. Got it, And we're
(09:03):
talking about millennials and gen Z and focusing on that audience. Famously,
those are the most diverse demographics I think that we've
ever had in American history. How do you think about
that from a perspective of the content you create? That
kind of need for diversity, I think you have to
think about it. It should be at a point where, um,
(09:23):
you're doing that organically. You know, the reality of most
of the major American sports that we cover is that, um,
the lack of diversity. Right. And so when you have
built a culture around sports and sports content that is
largely driven by young African American men and that the
you know, in the same godly abilities that they've been
(09:44):
sort of m granted or cultivated. Um, you have to
think about culture, and you have to think about their
culture and what works for them. We view ourselves as
an athlete friendly brands. We we love sports, right, so
we're not looking to take anyone down. We're not looking
to sort of create controversy or you know, be a
reverence to the point where, um, you know, we're we're
(10:05):
running a foul of of um, celebrating the athletes and
the sports that we love. What are you most excited
about twenty twenty uh c s obviously who's not great? Yeah,
that's a fantastic answer. There Howard. Thanks, yeah, thank you.
This podcast is in partnership with the I heart Podcast Network.
Hi, I'm James co Techie. You're listening to the C
Space Studio podcast interviews with technology, media and marketing leaders
from CS. Hi, I'm James co Tech. You're here with
me in the C Space Studio a CS here with us,
Howardmitment's CEO Bleacher Reports. Thanks for having me. Thanks so
(00:23):
much for being here. Appreciate it. So I think probably
a lot of people are from the Bleacher Report, but
I'm always curious about how executives define their own brands.
So what is Bleacher Report to you? We exist simply
to make it as easy as possible to be a
sports fan. So, regardless of where it is you want
to experience sports and sports culture content, whatever format, distribution mechanism,
whatever game um passion point you may have, Bleacher Report
(00:46):
is there to make it as easy as possible. Fift
of our traffic comes on our app, which we have
over twenty million total downloads and nine and a half
million consumers opted in to receive alerts um and the
rest comes across a varied variety of spectrum, is the
largest being social. So as we move into an era
of technological disruption and just our tension being divided in
(01:08):
so many different places, Where does sports fit into the mix.
Is it's still something people prioritize and watch life. Yes, Look,
at the end of the day, UM, sports matters, right, UM.
Sports fans have a passion and a deliberate intention. UM
those games that those passions are UM sought out, They're
(01:31):
not necessarily found. And I think a lot of what
we consume today, especially across social is you're happy to
consume it, you find it, but you don't really seek
it out. UM sought out content live sports content? Is
that increasingly though, we're seeing a highlight driven culture and
we own and run House of Highlights UM, which is
a you know, marvelous brand, maybe the most disruptive brand
(01:51):
in all of sports right now. Uh, that's driving in
a really different kind of culture and widening the aperture
on who and what is the sports fan. And do
those trends become especially pronounced as you get to younger generations.
How is gen Z looking at sports, for example, compared
to millennials or other people. Yeah, I think each generation
is becoming increasingly more fragmented and fragmented, you know, even
(02:13):
within itself. But what we're finding some of the trends
that we found that are interesting to us. Is in
gen Z I mentioned, you know, widening the aperture on
on who's a sportsman. Um, we're not just looking at
what happens off the court, we're looking off the court.
So NBA is an example used to be about opening
tip off to the handing out of the trophies, and
then you went on your way to fall baseball and
(02:34):
then football, and then you re engaged in the fall.
It's a three dred and sixty five day year endeavor.
It's more of a soap opera really. It's more of
like a the Marvel or the DC universe, where you
have heroes and villains and a constant sort of cast
of characters that are not just playing the sport, but
that are um creating content themselves and engaging consumers. Seven
(02:55):
That is of great interest the younger you get. But
the difference maybe if you have heroes and villains in
the Marvel universe, it's clear who is supposed to be which,
and everybody in the audience is probably thinking of everybody
in the same way. If I'm a fan of a
sports team that most people think is the villain, but
I think they're the hero, is there a way to
get me content that speaks to that. Yeah, I think
what hyper local contents always going exist. You know. One
(03:16):
of the advantages we have, we think is um in
our app, we we employ a platform strategy and so
we don't think of ourselves any different than any platform.
And what that means is we're aggregating and we're having
content submitted from across the world. UM, so that if
you log onto the bleacher Report app, it's not as
if you're just reading Bleacher Report content. You're reading content
from anywhere. So the streams you subscribe to. If let's say, um,
(03:39):
you know you're a Carolina Panthers fan. I think you're
from down there. My guests, you might be right, I'm
a Jets fan. Um, we're playing each other. We might
get some of the same content, but we're also gonna
get different content depending on the streams that we engage with.
When we speak about this highlight culture, I think one
way to look at that might be, well, there's just
there's there's fewer places that still adds because people are
just watching shorter and shorter clay. But another way that
(04:01):
you're talking about it seems like to me is you
could bring people in who would never watch sports, but
we'll only watch highlights, and so that actually brings new
people into the mids. That's exactly right, UM. And you
know when when you think about that in terms of ads,
you know, you're referencing a thirty second spot, it sounds
like right, which is you know, probably still the lingua
front of our business. But in reality, on a more
(04:22):
um broad spectrum, UM advertising and advertising opportunities start taking
on a variety of different shapes at this point UM.
For example, UM branded content. Take Instagram as an example.
In two thousand and nineteen fifty one of the top
one hundred branded content pieces across all of Instagram, not
just sports but all of Instagram were created by Bleacher Report.
(04:44):
And you think about that, there's a lot of brands
out there that a lot of brands doing things. We
understand branded content. We understand how to create connections, we
understand how to tie those storylines back from that DC universe,
if you will, into our world and create entry points
for brands to arictionlessly or seamlessly sort of fit into
the middle of it. So you're presenting experiences. And you know,
(05:05):
we we've always I've always operated by the monster that
branded content is only branded when it sucks. If it's good,
it's just content because to the audience it just feels
like something they wouldn't want to get anyways, exactly right.
And so the more that we can engage consumers by
giving them a value proposition that they enjoy that they're
looking for versus giving them thirty seconds they have to
wait for their actual content to start, the more opportunistic
(05:27):
can be for us to take advertising messages and create
opportunities to engage younger fans. Talking to Howardmitman, CEO Bleacher Report,
what do other brands get wrong about branded content? What
are some of the obvious blenders you see? Yeah, um,
I think you have to create branded content that looks
and feels, um like a perfect marriage or union between
(05:50):
your content sensibility and the content sensibility of the brand
that you're creating for. When you do that right, um,
and you come at it from a perspective of what
is it the consumers want to see? I think that
you can do something spectacular when you come about it
in terms of like, look, we're just trying to sort
of break through and get someone's attention, and we have
a story to tell regardless of who's listening. Invariably, that's
(06:12):
where it fails. So we're talking about content. You actually
have a video production studio here in Las Vegas? Is
that right at Caesar's? We do? Yeah, So tell me
about that, what why that happened, and what you've learned
from it? Yeah? So, Um, Look, sports fans are betters
are better sports fans, right, They watch more, they engage
more of their higher level of intensity around it. Um,
(06:32):
sometimes good, sometimes bad, depending on the bet I guess sure. Um,
So what we did is we built out three sixty
five content studio on the um casino floor in the
Sports Book of Caesar's Palace. We also have a large
office space there, and we think about betting as an
entry point not just to sort of bet, but as
an entry point to tell broader stories around sports and
(06:54):
the personality around the culture of sports, betting and gambling
and Las Vegas as a whole. So are studio is
in Caesar's, but our office space is you know, our
real sort of space is Las Vegas as a whole. Sure,
And what do you mean by seven? Does that mean
there's just a live stream happening all the time, but
there's are actually content being programmed in all this, we
have branded shows that we do that fill up certain times. Again,
(07:15):
you're filling in a live space that's highly valuable to Caesar,
So it can't be seven. That's just not possible. But
what we do is we we do the best that
we can to not be disruptive, and we're also creating
content and content experiences that attract fans into Caesar's Palace.
So we are helping them fill seats, We're helping them
bringing the right kind of younger demos Millennia lyn gen
Z consumers that they're looking for. Sure, E Sports do
(07:37):
you think about that? Is that on your radar at all? Yeah?
We do. We just in the sports coverage, you know,
through Turner we we own E League, UM and we
have some sports covers that we do through uh the
our gaming So it is something that we think about
for sure. Okay, And but is it do you see
any trends there as you think it's going to pick
up significantly or is it just is it? Is it
(07:58):
something that you're kind of still experimenting with. I think
it's something that we're slightly beyond test and learn, but
I wouldn't say we're we're all in with, we have
a couple of interesting, unique UM shows that we do
in programs, and what I'm really interested in we just
wanted to show called battle Stations. So battle Stations is
a great example where we're sitting down. You take twenty
(08:20):
five year old professional athletes. They're all gamers right now.
Some of them are gaming Fortnite or you know, League
of Legends or other things, and some of them are
just you know, playing themselves. There's traditional sports for traditional sports,
and so what I'm interested in is that marriage and
that cross section between the two. So it's almost like
an MTV Cribs like experience where we go into their
(08:41):
homes and they're showing our audience their gaming set up
in their stations, and they're they're pretty pimped out, they're
they're excited about it um And so we're doing things
like that. We have a couple other opportunities that we do,
and so bringing those two worlds together is something that
that is more interesting to me right now than say
hosting our own e sports tournament. Got it, And we're
(09:03):
talking about millennials and gen Z and focusing on that audience. Famously,
those are the most diverse demographics I think that we've
ever had in American history. How do you think about
that from a perspective of the content you create? That
kind of need for diversity, I think you have to
think about it. It should be at a point where, um,
(09:23):
you're doing that organically. You know, the reality of most
of the major American sports that we cover is that, um,
the lack of diversity. Right. And so when you have
built a culture around sports and sports content that is
largely driven by young African American men and that the
you know, in the same godly abilities that they've been
(09:44):
sort of m granted or cultivated. Um, you have to
think about culture, and you have to think about their
culture and what works for them. We view ourselves as
an athlete friendly brands. We we love sports, right, so
we're not looking to take anyone down. We're not looking
to sort of create controversy or you know, be a
reverence to the point where, um, you know, we're we're
(10:05):
running a foul of of um, celebrating the athletes and
the sports that we love. What are you most excited
about twenty twenty uh c s obviously who's not great? Yeah,
that's a fantastic answer. There Howard. Thanks, yeah, thank you.
This podcast is in partnership with the I heart Podcast Network.
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