Episode 110 Snippets: Mark J. Burns of Sports Business Chronicle

Best of the Digital and Social
Media Sports Podcast
Episode 110: Mark J. Burns
On episode 110, Neil chatted with Mark Burns of Sports
Business Chronicle, to discuss the 2017 trends and 2018
predictions series he conducted with dozens of sports business
leaders.
What follows are select snippets from the episode. To hear the
full interview, check out the podcast on Apple Podcasts,
Stitcher, and at www.dsmsports.net.
You can also follow me on Twitter @njh287.
@njh287; www.dsmsports.net

Mark’s career path
Attended Michigan for undergrad and after getting interested in sports,
decided to go to Belmont for law school after learning about the sports
agency world on Sports Agency Blog
Did short internship with Nashville Predators; started writing for
SportsNetworker.com during law school
Began writing for Forbes Sports Money during law school and after
graduating law school, did an internship with USA Hockey Magazine

Mark then got started in the agency world at CSE Talent in Atlanta, working
on the marketing side for the agency that repped
players/coaches/broadcasters
Mark decided he wanted to do writing full-time and became a Senior Writer
for SportTechie
After leaving SportTechie, Mark decided to launch his own subscription news
company for sports business
“The thought of creating my own media company just seemed so
astronomical…August 8 I committed to launching Sports Business
Chronicle…We launched October 4 – just me writing, pretty much doing
everything.”

Creating the business around Sports Biz Chronicle
Mark talked with others in the space doing subscription journalism in the
sports space, looked at others in the subscription space, too
“It was basically taking all those conversations, knowing what I know
about media, in general, [and evaluating the subscription options]…I’d be
stupid to just put out content without talking to any users…It’s a lot of
one-to-one (conversations) – talking to people who have paid for
content, talking to people on my newsletter who have not paid for
content.

“I basically have spent weeks of time on calls with people –
understanding what kind of content they, why they read stuff, what they
read, why they like SBC, what they don’t like…to get all that feedback
and position the site in a way that caters to a lot of people who not only
pay for content, but people who are on the fence about paying for
content…
“I don’t need 100,000 people to read my site and pay for content to make
it successful…I need a few thousand people that love what I do day in
and day out that not only love sports business, but me as a writer...”

Starting the annual trends and predictions pieces Mark has done
This is the 4th year Mark has done it spanning Forbes, SportTechie, and now
SBC
Mark talks about being stranded in airport one day and just deciding to shoot
off emails to several people to get their thoughts for the trends/predictions
piece
“I blasted out a bunch of emails, and the next morning I had 20-30 people
get back to me initially – there was all this interest. Every year it has gotten a
little more refined…”
This year’s covered: VR/AR, tech, social, digital, traditional media, ticketing,
general business, esports, and more

Looking back at 2017
Looking at esports – “A lot of people mentioned franchising, which we’ve
seen, and there’d be a localization, in general. I think you’ve seen that with
the Overwatch League – there are 12 teams. Same thing with the NBA2k
league with the 17 teams there. I think that definitely has come true. There
were a few people that mentioned esports getting more structured – not only
as the leagues with consolidation, but also the players and athletes having
some sort of representation and unions. I don’t know how much of that has
actually come true…I think that’s something to keep an eye on as we head
into 2018.

“When it pertains to tech and AR/VR, I think a lot of people were bullish
on VR; not necessarily becoming the primary viewing experience for the
sports fan, in general. But for the avid superfan, and also early adopters
of VR – but even then I’m not so sure that the early adopter of VR really
wants to watch a game for 2-3 hours. I think VR, in general, is probably
3-5 years when it comes to (live) sports. I think as good as technology
will hopefully get, that people won’t want to watch a game for three hours
in a headset.”
[Mark talks about a Fox Sports exec calling it ‘second screen 2.0’ for fans
to come in and out of while watching the game mainly on a big screen]

“When it comes to AR, it was something that people were definitely following for
this year…For how the year panned out, it really picked up in the last couple of
months with teams and leagues leveraging it. Based on the predictions around
the AR space as we head into 2018, next year will be the year that AR blows up
– with Magic Leap and some of these companies and teams that are really
utilizing it from a fan experience standpoint; not only at a venue, but while fans
are viewing games at home.”

Monetizing esports
“I still think we’re in the first inning of what esports is and could be…I
think we’ve definitely seen endemic and non-endemic [sponsors] come
into esports, more so than I anticipated…It’s the Snickers, the Buffalo
Wild Wings, McDonald’s, Coke – the big brands everyone knows
about…One category that has picked up is not only telecom, but also
insurance…There is a little bit of FOMO (among brands), too…they hear
about it and don’t know what it is, but know they should be using it to
target a certain segment of Millennials or Gen Z’ers…

“I still think we’re early even figuring out why a brand (would want) to enter the esports
space…” [Mark mentions watching the brands that get involved in the NBA2k league and
what they spend]
“We haven’t reached any sort of sophistication when it comes to figuring out why certain
brands are getting into the space; I think the brands themselves don’t even realize why this
is a potential good marketing opportunity for them, versus spending that money
elsewhere.”

How broadcasts and content delivery are evolving
“Especially the two lacrosse leagues in particular, those commissioners
(Mark spoke to for his article) 100% they’re trying to figure out the OTT
game. Where they’re going after their audience – whether it’s new
platforms…platforms already existing…their own over-the-top service;
2016, I think, was the year everybody was figuring out going ‘live,’ this
year, a lot of that content appeared on different platforms across a wide
variety of sports. I think this year, people are going to figure out in
particular which platform in particular makes sense.

I think being across different platforms, at least initially, is good for you reach…but to really hone
in on your audience and to just have one or two platforms, one that you own, in particular, might
be the best bet.
“We’ve seen so many different channels pop up this year – YouTube having their own
subscription, Sports Illustrated launching their own (OTT) on Amazon…are people going to pay a
few extra bucks for (this content)?...”
“Maybe you’re paying for six or seven or eight subscriptions and it adds up to $100 (per month),
but then it’s like ‘What I else am I going to have to pay for because I’m missing it on those
channels?’ I think it’s still too early to say how it’s going to shake out. It just seems like in 2017,
everyone was coming out with their own $35/40/month OTT subscription service…maybe the
bundle unwinds and it’ll get a little tighter…One, I think it’s just tough to evaluate where this is
going, because it came a little unraveled this year…”

What sports executives envision with OTT
“Start with Monumental Sports and Entertainment [Leonsis family – Wizards,
Capitals, etc.] – they control the network [and own it], which is great because they
don’t have to work with anyone (in regards to metrics and marketing)…
“For the NLL (example), having some games on not only their own network, but also
Twitter…The big players – Twitter and Facebook – Twitter hasn’t figured how to really
(monetize)…and working with different sports properties and different leagues and
college athletic conferences. And, frankly for Twitter…unless I’m a parent with a kid
playing soccer in (for example, a Mountain West Conference team), the [average
user] isn’t clicking in to the game and watching it. It’s not how people use the
platform; it’s not a destination place for watching a game.

“The one (counterpoint) was the Nike 2-hour marathon thing –
Twitter was going nuts during this thing…People were
commenting and Twitter was going crazy then, which was
fascinating because people had to sit there and watch…
“I think these platforms are great, and we saw a lot of
experimentation the last 12-18 months, but I think when it comes
down to it, people owning these teams and leagues – owning their
own content, owning their platform, and owning the data…how to
better target them, how to better serve them; I don’t think it’ll
happen necessarily next year, but I think that’ll be the long-term
play…”

Monetizing content
[Mark mentions Bleacher Report and their branded content,
Richard Sherman on Players Tribune with Samsung-branded
content, and especially Barstool Sports with brands integrated into
their content regularly in their Barstool kind of hyperbolic, satirical
manner]
“I think you’ll see more of that, but it has to be in an authentic way
and make sense for both parties – the brand and the company…”

[Mark also talks about savvy social media managers being smart with injecting their brand
into a conversation, but in a natural manner. Mark cites the example of Chick-Fil-A opening
on a Sunday during the power outage in Atlanta]
“They opened up on Sunday…they’re working out of obviously the goodness of their heart,
but at the same time, they got tons and tons of press for it…One of their higher-ups in
marketing and PR knew that if they do this, they were going to get (a ton) of articles written
about them…”

Athletes becoming the biggest/best channel for brands to reach fans
“I think you see more engagement, too…When you see an athlete
something that’s sponsored or branded versus a team, you see way
more engagement, way more exposure for that brand…I think you’ll see
more down the road – seeing brands really evaluate how they’re
spending money; whether they go the team route or whether they want
to get more targeted…and get more engagement affinity for that brand,
based on who’s posting the content – the athlete.”

On Artificial Intelligence and bots
“I think we’re still very very early to the AI game. Beyond the Facebook Messenger, chatbots and
maybe some automated messaging…But when it comes to teams really figuring out how to
leverage AI, I didn’t see much of it that stood out…It’s kind of like how esports was in a way
maybe last year or the year before – where people knew it was going to be a thing, but didn’t
really know what it was going to become…From an AI standpoint, I don’t think teams really know
how to integrate and leverage it (yet)…
“One thing that stood out to me this year…is this company Reely (kind of like SnappyTV, but it’s
an automated and augmented way to cut highlights). They worked with one of the lacrosse
leagues...because there are so many goals scored in a game and because they come so quickly,
this automated, augmented software can cut highlights in real-time and post them to social…”

Helpful Tool: CrowdTangle Google Chrome Add-On

Surprising or thought-provoking things Mark heard in this year’s predictions/trends pieces
“One thing I’m really focused on…was about how not only athletes, but media
personalities…considering and moving towards some type of premium subscription model
when it comes to content… think you’ll see more of that going forward…I think (agents) will
discuss it with their clients. Depending on the (level of fame of the athlete), does that really
impact them at all, that they have a little subscription business on the side? Probably not.
[Except for maybe ‘fun’ money].
“I think it’s even more valuable for those people playing those niche sports. Even soccer
players in the MLS; they’re not making (a ton of money) – if they had some sort of subscription
engine that could (supplement their income)…”
[Mark discusses Paul Rabil at being great at monetizing against his sport and his brand]

Share-able Stat: In a study of branded content ads vs. standard ads – the branded
content earned 1,248,448 earned impressions vs. 34,718 for the standard ads.

The biggest lesson Mark has learned in starting out as an entrepreneur with Sports Biz Chronicle
“I would say two things – One is not everything has to be perfect…That’s one of the things I learned
just with the process – talking to folks, reading, going to things in New York; it took me six or seven
weeks to hit the ground and press ‘go.’ But there were literally things I was tweaking every day…I
think the thing is not trying to be perfect, because no one really expects you to be…
“The other thing is – constantly tweaking, constantly iterating; I’m always open to feedback…I think
really getting into the trenches and talking with folks; really understanding why they’re a fan of Sports
Business Chronicle. Really understanding what they like about the site, what types of content they
read, and positioning the content (better). Yes, I want to have control over what I’m doing, but at the
same time, if I were just putting stuff out there and hoping people read it, and not talking to anybody,
then I’m pretty much doomed from the start…”

The biggest sports business storyline Mark is looking to unfold in 2018
“I would ESPN, just in general. The narrative this year is they’ve gone so left wing
with their coverage, they’ve lost a lot of subscribers, they’ve had three rounds of
layoffs in the last three years, John Skipper just unexpectedly resigned…how does
that company respond in 2018? Does the narrative continue…? Doe subscribers
continue to drop? What will their OTT look like that launches next year?...
“The second storyline is the NFL, in general, too. Looking at ratings…I think the
kneeling and what has happened on the political spectrum, that has kind of come
on, but it’s still a talking point…”

The coolest sports tech that Mark saw in 2017
“It has definitely been a flash in the pan, is Spectacles [from Snap]. I saw some
really cool integrations. The Pittsburgh Pirates put some on a catcher as he’s
catching 95 miles-per-hour fast ball from a pitcher…Guys wearing them during
warmups at hockey games…Richard Jefferson putting them on for a dunk…
“Nothing too crazy, but it just gives you that viewpoint that you’d never seen
before. I’m not 6’10”, so I’m never going to see the top of a rim and feel what it’s
like to dunk a basketball , but seeing Richard Jefferson put them on and
experiencing (it)…was pretty cool.

“Also the company I mentioned the first segment, Reely, with the (video
clipping) automation. Then there’s a company called Arccos that
partnered with Microsoft. It’s like a caddie in your bag as you go golfing,
which can predict, based on where you are, your ball lie, how far, what
type of club you should use. And that’s all based on AI, machine
learning, and predictive analytics…”

The sports league outside the big four that will make the most noise in 2018
[Based on recent events with Vince McMahon selling off some of the WWE and
reports of a reboot of XFL] – XFL
Mark also cites MLS, with Nashville entering soon as an expansion club and
recent expansion clubs doing so well

The sports league outside the big four that will make the most noise in 2018
[Based on recent events with Vince McMahon selling off some of the WWE and reports of
a reboot of XFL] – XFL
Mark also cites MLS, with Nashville entering soon as an expansion club and recent
expansion clubs doing so well

Mark’s top tweet[s] in 2017
[Mark notes nothing that went viral]
A tweet that shared a feature he wrote for Forbes with a deep dive into Barstool Sports –
hundreds of retweets and thousands of likes
[Mark also notes Jeff Eisenband has become the ‘king of viral tweets,’ of late. Jeff is a
sports journalist/reporter with Yahoo, formerly The PostGame until they partnered with
Yahoo]

The best game Mark saw in 2017, there or on TV
Mark says – Super Bowl is #1 [but also notes he watched it from a
Starbuck’s; though he had to leave when it closed when the game was
still going! So Mark had to run back to his apartment to see overtime]
Also notable – USC vs. Penn State Rose Bowl game
And the World Series games [there were some crazy ones], even though
Mark admits he didn’t watch much of any of it

The biggest sports media person of 2018 will be ____
Outgoing ESPN President John Skipper  “With everything going with
ESPN and the loss of Skipper, I would say him [or whoever ends up
replacing him]…”

The best food Mark had at a sports event in 2017
Mark talks about getting to go to Yankee Stadium and sitting in the Legends premium
section, and had access to the incredible food:
Filet mignon, shrim
p, crab meat, all sorts of desserts, and more

Mark’s outlook on Barstool Sports for 2018, based on his work covering them
“Just from talking to Erika (Nardini, CEO) and Dave (Pourtnoy, founder) recently for a
story on Ruff N’ Rowdy, which is the boxing company thayt they acquired – I think
they’re going to be really mindful, after the ESPN experience with the TV show
Barstool Van Talk getting pulled after one episode, they had the Facebook show that
kind of came and went; I really think that they’re focused on owning their own
content…I think they can do more with it. They have the audience…that they don’t
need a partner…
“They definitely haven’t ruled linear out, both on the Barstool/Van Talk side, but also
the Ruff N’ Rowdy side…talking with Dave, in particular, that’s something that could
live on TV. With that, there’s more boxing partners [that are interested in TV] than the
Barstool Van Talk side…

“There is going to be some type of premium [offering] – both Erika and Dave
have said on record…in 2018. I don’t know what that’s going to be. I think it’ll be
a mix of video, some audio element.
“And then also PFT and Big Cat. They’re beholden to Barstool right now…A lot of
people would probably say that they’re becoming as big as Barstool, if not
bigger. I don’t see them leaving anytime soon, but it’ll be something to see hoe
their profiles continue to grow with the brand, what they do next year…They just
have a very unique, authentic voice…

“A lot of people I wouldn’t say are scared of Barstool, but they’re definitely
mindful of what they’re doing. It’s still one of the most talked-about companies. A
lot of people I’ve talked to about them…have said they’re still an
underappreciated story. I think that just comes with how they are. They’re very
polarizing. They toe the lines with what they say and what they do. But at the
same time, they own who they are. I think that’s why a lot o their fans like them;
they say who they are.”

The athlete of the year for 2018 will be ____?
Tom Brady – “I could see the Patriots winning again, I still think he has a few
years left in the tank., I think if he wins the Super Bowl, I think his legacy will only
continue to grow..”

Mark’s Social Media All-Star to Follow
Jessica Smith (@WarJessEagle)
Mark cites me, too! (@njh287)
Others Mark listed -- @JeffEisenband, @sportsrapport (Ryan
Glasspiegel, of the Big Lead)

Where to find Mark and Sports Business Chronicle on digital/social
media
Mark is @markjburns88 on Twitter
Sports Business Chronicle is @SportsBizChron on Twitter and
Instagram; also on Facebook.com/SportsBusinessChronicle

Thanks so much again to Mark for sharing his time, expertise, and
experience on the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast!
Hear the full episode on iTunes, Stitcher, and at
www.dsmsports.net.

Episode 110 Snippets: Mark J. Burns of Sports Business Chronicle

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