U.S. Open Shows Ratings Improvement

The US Open this past weekend performed well for Fox Sports with the highest ratings and viewership in six years.

The final round on Sunday as Gary Woodland secured victory pulled a 4.4 rating and 7.31 million viewers on FOX, rising 38% in ratings and 44% in viewership from last year. The peak viewership on Sunday was 10.17 million.

The audience was up from 6.69 million for the previous US Open on the West Coast in 2015, but lower than the 9.27 million for the last one Pebble Beach in 2010.

Outside of the Masters, it was the second-most watched golf telecast in the past five years behind the final round of the 2018 PGA Championship.

The complete US Open averaged 3.67 million viewers on FOX and FS1, up 28% from last year and up 37% from 2017. All four rounds showed healthy viewing increases.

Motorsport UK Launches Fan Membership Package

Motorsport UK has today announced the launch of Trackside, its first ever dedicated membership programme for motorsport fans and enthusiasts.

Trackside Membership (at £24.99 per year) will capitalise on the governing body’s unique access to the sport, to deliver exclusive, member-only experiences and behind-the-scenes access, getting fans closer to the sport than ever before.

Opportunities already on offer, to coincide with the launch of Trackside Membership and put fans at the heart of the action, include:

  • The opportunity to get behind-the-scenes of motorsport with regular team and factory tours
  • VIP Team Experience with Power Maxed Racing at a round of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, courtesy of Power Maxed
  • Exclusive monthly member competitions for VIP experiences
  • Invitations to member-only events
  • Subscription to ‘Revolution,’ monthly membership magazine of Motorsport UK
  • Access to Motorsport UK’s membership benefits programme with discounts across a range of automotive, travel and High Street partners

The vision is for its members – both competitors and fans – to feel part of a wider motorsport community, working alongside the governing body to help shape the future of the sport.

Trackside Membership will present fans with an opportunity to get involved, have their say and help shape the future of Motorsport UK, through forums, ‘Evening With’ events and regular member surveys.

Members will also gain access to a substantial member benefits package, offering discounts and savings from major High Street retailers and automotive partners, including accommodation, travel, outdoor clothing, breakdown recovery, car tyres, tools, MOTs, parts and accessories.

Partners and discounts include 10% off in store at Halfords, 15% discount on Adrian Flux car insurance, 10% discount with Hilton hotels and Avis car rental, discounted car tyres and £25 MOTs with Protyre, plus a range of venue, event, trackday and experience day discounts.

The ambitious new initiative is the latest phase in Motorsport UK’s ongoing transition from a traditional governance-led association to a modern membership-focused organisation with members at its heart.

Hugh Chambers, CEO of Motorsport UK, said: “Trackside membership is a significant new programme designed to get fans closer than ever to the sport. UK motorsport fans are among the most passionate in the world; now, with Trackside Membership, they have an opportunity to join a motorsport community not just attend their choice of individual events, and get closer than ever to the sport they love.”

“As the governing body, we are committed to growing the sport and better meeting the needs of our customers and stakeholders. That includes fans, as well as competitors, officials and volunteer marshals.”

“What’s more, with our package of partners offering significant discounts, Trackside membership rewards fans for their support of the motorsport community while giving them a voice and helping shape a sustainable future for UK motorsport.”

Who Runs Sport: “Athletes Feel Now Is The Time To Speak Up”

The role of athletes as key communicators will be on the agenda at iSportconnect’s Digital Masterclass in London next Wednesday with a panel session entitled ‘Is Digital the New Sphere for Athletes to Win the Battle of Ideas and Opinions?’  This offering on iSportconnect TV helps set the scene. It features Ben Nichols, who will be the moderator of next week’s session, with one of the panellists, veteran journalist Steve Wilson, who covered the Olympics world for decades for the Associated Press.

The Digital Masterclass panel will feature Olympic gold medallist Callum Skinner as well as Rob Woodhouse, General Manager Talent UK of TLA Worldwide and Daniel Smith, Director of Communications & Media at World Sailing.

The Digital Masterclass takes place at the Holiday Inn, Regent’s Park on June 26.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Chloe McCombie at info@isportconnect.com

 

Under Armour Names Former Red Bull Exec To Sports Marketing Role

Under Armour, Inc. has named Sean Eggert as its new Senior Vice President of Global Sports Marketing.

He joins from Red Bull where he spent the past 11 years building the Red Bull brand through an innovative sports marketing approach and a world class team.

At Red Bull, he was responsible for more than 160 company-owned initiatives including its newly formed partnership with USA Basketball, several action sports properties, the Red Bull Signature Series on FOX, over 140 athletes and influencer relationships, sports lifestyle related film properties and digital sports content series.

He will report directly to Chief Marketing Officer Alessandro de Pestel, who said: “Sean’s strong track record of global leadership, highly successful activations and direct experience integrating consumer insights into purpose-driven sports marketing strategies is a welcome addition to the Under Armour team.”

“As we work to connect even more deeply with our consumers through compelling engagements and powerful experiences, his expertise will play an instrumental role in our global expansion of the Under Armour brand.”

Eggert was recently recognized in Sports Business Journal’s ‘Forty Under 40’ for work which includes some of Red Bull’s best-known initiatives such as Felix Baumgartner’s iconic free-fall from 128,000 feet in October 2012.

Prior to Red Bull, he worked in a variety of sports and entertainment roles for Gatorade, Publicis and Palace Sports & Entertainment.

French Spot Rates Soar For Women’s World Cup

France is once again gripped by football fever — a year after the men’s national team triumphed on the world stage, the women’s team, which beat Nigeria 1-0 last night, is cruising through the group stages and smashing TV audience records in their own World Cup.

Stadiums are selling out, and TV broadcasters are bumping up the price of advertising slots as millions tune in. Les Bleues’ star players are fast becoming household names.

Reuters reports:

TF1, France’s main broadcaster for the tournament, had expected the team’s opening match to draw up to 5 million viewers. Instead, numbers peaked at 10.9 million, while almost 1 million followed the game on Canal+, a pay-TV unit of Vivendi.

TF1, owned by family-controlled conglomerate Bouygues, described the numbers as a French record for a women’s soccer match.

But the records did not stop there — in France’s second group game against Norway, domestic viewer numbers spiked to 11 million on TF1 – on par with the number of people who watched the men’s opening matches in 2018.

The surprising level of interest prompted TF1 to drive up the cost of advertising slots by 50-60 percent the day after France’s first match, Le Parisien newspaper reported.

Thirty-second slots during the half-time break of France’s group stage matches, initially slated at €73,000, now cost €116,000, it said.

The surge in viewer numbers extends beyond the French games. England’s match against arch rival Argentina drew nearly 1.5 million viewers on TF1, while up to 1.1 million people have tuned in to watch the United States.

Women’s soccer is steadily growing in popularity in many parts of the world.

FIFA has said it has received a record number of expressions of interest for hosting the next women’s tournament, in 2023, including a joint bid by South Korea and North Korea football associations.

Presidential Hopefuls Weigh In On Equal Pay For U.S. Footballers

The U.S. women’s national team’s call for equal pay is gathering support from a number of presidential candidates and advocates as the World Cup holders keep obliterating the opposition in their pursuit of a fourth title in France.

Reuters reports:

“As we cheer them on in the World Cup, we must support their fight off the field for equal pay,” former Vice President Joe Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, tweeted minutes before the team’s match against Chile on Sunday (the U.S. won 3-0 to advance to the last 16).

“In 2019, it’s past time we close the pay gap and ensure women get paid as much as men.”

In March, all members of the squad were named as plaintiffs in a suit against the national federation, demanding pay and training conditions equal to the men’s squad.

The players, a group that includes stars Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan, said they have been consistently paid less money than their male counterparts even though their performance has been far superior to the men’s team.

Biden’s comment echoed that of fellow presidential candidate and current Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who highlighted the team’s 13-0 rout of Thailand in their World Cup opener.

“Here’s an idea: If you win 13-0 – the most goals for a single game in World Cup history – you should be paid at least equally to the men’s team,” tweeted Gillibrand following that match.

The result was “a visual demonstration and reminder that the U.S. women’s team deserves equal pay,” said Cheryl Cooky, a Purdue University professor who focuses on gender in sport.

That kind of performance, she argued, helped chip away at “the kinds of explanations that we’ve seen in the past being used to justify or legitimate the unequal treatment of women’s sports.”

The next challenge will emerge “when the tournament ends how do we keep the conversation in the limelight,” Cooky said.

Since the lawsuit was filed, some companies have stepped in to help close the pay gap.

Nutrition snack company Luna Bar announced that it would give each member of the squad competing at the Women’s World Cup a one-time payment of $31,250 — the difference in the bonus paid to the men’s World Cup squad.

Sportswear company Adidas has also said that if the USWNT win the Women’s World Cup this year its sponsored players would receive the same performance bonus payments as their male counterparts

The U.S. women next play Sweden on June 20 in their final Group F match.

French Court Issues Soft Ruling In beIN’s Anti-Piracy Case

A French court has ruled that pirated sports content belonging to the Qatar-based broadcaster beIN was accessible via a Saudi-based satellite operator, but said it had not found evidence of “clear and illegal disruption,” court documents seen by Reuters showed.

BeIN Media Group filed a complaint in France against Saudi-based Arabsat to try to establish, in what it said was a “credible” court, that Arabsat was carrying pirated broadcasts of global sports events to which beIN held the rights.

Reuters reports:

Several global sports bodies have threatened legal action against the pirate channel beoutQ over what they say are illegal broadcasts across the Middle East and North Africa. It is unclear who owns or operates beoutQ.

A June 13 ruling by the Paris court, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, found that signals from beoutQ were available on Arabsat frequencies and accessible from French territory, based on findings by a firm retained by beIN.

“These elements are sufficient to establish that Arabsat has a charge to answer,” the ruling said.

But it also said beIN had failed to demonstrate the existence of “clear and illegal disruption or prove that there was immediate risk of commercial damage” that could justify forcing Arabsat to block beoutQ’s satellite signals in France.

BeoutQ emerged in 2017 after Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies launched a political and economic boycott of Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism, which Doha denies. The channel is widely available in Saudi Arabia but Riyadh says it is not based there, and that Saudi authorities are committed to fighting piracy.

FIFA said on Sunday that beoutQ was transmitting the Women’s World Cup across the Middle East and North Africa via Arabsat frequencies and called on the operator to help address the misuse of its intellectual property.

Arabsat, which is owned by Arab League states, has denied that beoutQ uses its satellite frequencies for illegal broadcasts. Reuters has not been able to contact beoutQ for comment.

Arabsat welcomed the French ruling, saying it rejected “all false accusations that Qatar’s beIN Sports group tried to pin on Arabsat.”

BeIN also welcomed the court decision, which a spokesman said would be used to support the company’s filings in separate international investment arbitration cases.

Arabsat has a small presence in France, which enabled beIN to file its complaint in Paris. BeIN was ordered to pay fees of €25,000 to Arabsat and €6,000 to an Arabsat adviser.

Champions League Winners Wear The Social Media Crown Too

Champions League winner Liverpool FC rose to the top of the list as the most followed team in the world on social media, according to the May rankings from sports sponsorship analytics and evaluation platform Hookit. Nine of the Top 10 teams for the month were European football clubs. Find out which team was the exception on iSportconnect TV

Nissan, Notre Dame Athletics, beIN Media Group & Verizon Media To Speak at 2019 Digital Masterclass

iSportconnect is delighted to announce that Jodain Massad of Notre Dame Athletics, Johary Rafidison of beIN Media Group, Taylor Riese of Verizon Digital Media Services, and Xavier Diquet of Nissan Europe will be speaking at our 2019 Digital Masterclass, which will be held on Wednesday 26th June at the Holiday Inn, Regent’s Park in London.

The Masterclass will look at the world of digital to reach and engage with fans throughout the event lifecycle, hearing from expert speakers sharing their experiences of communicating with their target audiences. With the actual field of play action making up such a small window of fan engagement, how do you keep the conversation with fans going outside of the live event experience? Given the rapid development of new technologies and channels available to speak to fans, how do brands keep up? Are your strategies to keep up with the changes robust and nimble enough while staying effective and relevant in an ‘always-on’ and competitive fan environment?

The Masterclass will also look at how the individuals within the sports universe are taking the power of social media and digital channels to speak about causes and issues affecting the world of sport, and for the very first time, we have Olympic medalists sharing their experiences and insights on their abilities to influence the very core of sport through digital.

The latest speaker lineup includes the following:

  • Adam Field, Head of Global Fan Engagement, Chelsea FC
  • Anand Narayanan, Head of Digital Marketing and Innovations, Panasonic UK
  • Callum Skinner, Olympic Champion, Lead Athlete for Global Athlete, and Sports Governance Reform Campaigner
  • Daniel Smith, Director of Communications and Digital, World Sailing
  • Jodain Massad, Executive Producer, Fighting Irish Media, Notre Dame Athletics
  • Johary Rafidison, Digital Content Insights, beIN Media Group
  • Rob Woodhouse, General Manager Talent – UK, TLA Worldwide
  • Richard Berry, Commercial Director, Williams Racing
  • Robert Alberino, Vice President & Executive Producer, San Francisco 49ers
  • Steve Wilson, Communications Adviser / Writer
  • Taylor Riese, Managing Director EMEA and India, Verizon Digital Media Services
  • Xavier Diquet, General Manager – Content & Brand Engagement, Nissan Europe

Fighting Irish Media elevates and empowers our student-athletes, together inspiring all who behold to forever engage in the Notre Dame experience. Big stories with small crews. In 6 seconds or 60 minutes, if we can set a mood, evoke an emotion, or deliver an idea worth remembering, we’ll go there. Jodain leads Innovation, with a background in writing, shooting, designing, and editing. He was told to choose a job he loves, and he did just that. Jodain has achieved 25 Emmy® Awards including Director, Writer, Editor, Photographer, Audio, Graphics (2011-2018); 6 New York Festivals International Film & TV Awards World Medals (2012-2014); and 4 SVG/NACDA College Sports Media Awards (2016-2019).

Johary’s main objective is to improve the digital performance of the beIN’s content across the group. Sitting within the group analytics team, his role is to shape the best picture of how sports fans consume digital sports content through data. Working in tandem with the producers and online publishers, he shares his insights in order to improve the digital experience of the beIN Media Group content. Prior to beIN Media Group, Johary was a digital content analyst in media (OMD EMEA), content (Grayling) and creative (AKQA) agencies working across different clients such as Nike, Xbox, Heineken, Adidas and Intel.

Taylor serves as the Managing Director, EMEA, and India, for Verizon Digital Media Services, whose next-generation platform is delivering the future of media. Taylor works out of London, UK, in the company’s European headquarters – his base of operations for the past five years since opening the company’s first overseas office. Over the past seven years, he has been responsible for a variety of industry verticals and markets, including overseeing all sales across APAC. Taylor originally joined the company as a part of Verizon Digital Media Services’ acquisition of Edgecast CDN. .

Xavier has spent the last 15 years working for the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance in South Africa, France and Spain, and has been involved in a variety of roles, mainly in marketing. In his current role, Xavier looks after all advertising, content, events and sponsorship related areas. Nissan currently sponsors the UEFA Champions League, after Xavier had the privilege of starting  negotiations with UEFA back in 2013, leading to Nissan becoming their official sponsor from the 2014/15 season. Nissan is also involved with Formula E, ICC and City Football Group, as well as working with global ambassadors such as Eden Hazard, Philippe Coutinho and Lieke Martens. This year, Xavier and his team delivered the first 100% electric Champions League Final in Madrid, providing 266 electric vehicles to shuttle UEFA guests. Xavier is also a lecturer in the E-Marketing, Mobility and Automobiles Masters programme at ESSCA School of Management in France.

Hosted by leading Global Sports Communications expert, Ben Nichols (of Ben Nichols Communications), the Masterclass will feature a maximum of 150 invite-only delegates. iSportconnect provides a media/agency free opportunity to network with influential senior-level sports business executives. We are famous for our intimate and relaxed environment, encouraging ideas exchange and helping to introduce you to the right new connections.

To register your interest in attending the 2019 Digital Masterclass, please contact Chloe McCombie at info@isportconnect.com

Invitation Policy: The Digital Masterclass is a complimentary event for iSportconnect members who are from governing bodies, sports teams, brands and broadcasters. There is no fee to become an iSportconnect member. No sports agencies, professional service providers & suppliers are allowed.

For limited partnership opportunities, please contact Hugo Millns at info@isportconnect.com