The National Hockey League is launching an “all-access” service to capitalize on the 2010 Olympics and increased digital-media consumption of its games.
Associated Press
Anaheim Ducks defenseman Steve Eminger, left, takes the puck from Edmonton Oilers defenseman Tom Gilbert during an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif.The league, which has 140 players competing in Vancouver, has already seen an uptick in traffic to its Web, mobile and social-media outlets. NHL.com received 13.4 million unique visits in January, a record, said Mike DiLorenzo, the league’s director of social media marketing and strategy, and visits for the ‘09/’10 season are up 34% from the year-earlier period. Its audience on Facebook and Twitter has more than doubled since the beginning of the season, and visits to NHL Mobile have more than tripled year-over-year.
It plans to introduce NHL All-Access Vancouver this weekend, as the Olympics begin, which will provide pre- and post-game reports, analysis and interviews on its online, radio and TV networks. The league’s daily radio show will also air on Sirius XM and stream on NHL.com.
John Collins, the National Hockey League’s operating chief, declined to say how much money it’s making from these initiatives, but he said that NHL GameCenter Live, a streaming service that lets fans catch out-of-market games, was a seven-figure business last year. It is up nearly 40% in revenue and number of subscribers so far this year, he added.
“We’ve seen a 66% annual average increase in sponsor support and ad spending on our media properties as well,” said Mr. Collins, who joined the league three years ago and has spearheaded the plans for digital and big “tent-pole” events, which includes an aggressive distribution and syndication strategy. “Other leagues drive everyone to their sites for content you can get through TV broadcasts as well. Our video player is populated with content fans can’t get anywhere else, every goal, every meaningful save, every body check. We see that as key to our multi-platform growth.”
Hockey isn’t the only professional sports league making a splash this weekend. The National Basketball Association plans to stream 12 hours of live and on-demand programming surrounding All-Star Weekend starting Friday, and it will offer an expanded version of last year’s NBA All-Star Scene online. It has equipped players and celebrities with Flip MinoHD pocket cameras and asked them to capture behind-the-scenes video that will be shared in near-real-time through its Kyte video platform.
Last year’s NBA All-Star Weekend events resulted in record-setting traffic for NBA Digital, which includes NBA.com, NBA Mobile, and NBA TV streams, as well as the regular season package NBA League Pass. Brian Perez, senior vice president and general manager of NBA Digital, said the numbers have continued to grow.
“We’re seeing 515 million video streams through NBA Digital just this season alone,” which kicked off in October, he said.
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