Media Companies Launch Local Sports Websites

In an August 20, 2007 article on the MediaWeek website [1], Katy Bachman details the launches by three media companies of new websites aimed at high school sports.

Bachman writes:

High school sports coverage, often relegated to scores and video clips shown on weekends on a local TV station, just got a lot more competitive. Last week within days of each other, three media companies—Hearst-Argyle Television, Emmis Communications (in partnership with the Indiana High School Athletic Association), and Belo Corp.—launched new Web plays aimed at high school sports.

Hearst-Argyle’s HighSchoolPlaybook, an online, on-air and mobile brand that combines social networking with high-definition video, stats, music and merchandising, initially launched on seven of its 26 stations; four also launched YouTube pages. The TV group also plans to syndicate the brand next year in markets where it doesn’t own stations. Belo launched HSgametime.com covering football in six of its markets, with plans to complete the rollout to all 15 of it stations by September.

“High school sports is an untapped area,” said Chris Campbell, director of interactive media for Emmis and managing director of IHSAAsports.org, which is running the Indiana-wide site as a stand-alone brand with its own staff and sales. “We’ve found an overwhelmingly positive reaction from advertisers who are hungry to reach the multiple demographics that high school sports attract.”

The local broadcasters are just the latest group of media companies to latch onto the red hot trend among marketers such as Gatorade, All State, Nike and Under Armour, to aggressively court the teen sports market.

Indeed, some big money has already been plunked down. In March, CBS bought Maxpreps.com for $43 million. In June, Yahoo bought Rivals.com, a college sports site moving into high school sports, for a reported $100 million. And last month, Time Inc.’s Sports Illustrated took a majority stake in Takkle.com.

“Social networking sites like Takkle, MaxPreps and HighSchoolPlaybook are simply in the sweet spot of being in the right place at the right time,” said Josh Weil, a partner in marketing research firm Youth Trends...

Click here for Bachman's article in its entirety on the MediaWeek website. [2]