The Los Angeles Dodgers have found a key way to innovate off of the field, combining forces with R/GA studios to create the Global Sports Venture Studio, a technology accelerator. GSVS Managing Director Tim Katt discusses what all of that means, and why a professional sports franchise is smart to infuse itself into the tech-development space of start-ups. Katt talks about the types of innovation already realized as well as the commitment level needed to succeed long term. Twitter: @tim_katt
Eric Jackson has managed to create one of the more remarkable weekly emails to date, focused on the financing of media and technology. Jackson covers several topics in-depth, providing reasoning for his investment strategy as well as the different issues cropping up with various companies. Jackson discusses the recent departure of ESPN's John Skipper, focusing on those who might serve as heir-apparent, the Amazon Prime sports streaming model and Bill Simmons' success/failure of The Ringer. Twitter: @EricJackson
Stefanie Gordon arrives on the podcast during an interesting time in her sports social media career: searching for that elusive next job. Gordon shares her experiences in the digital realm as a producer for Sports Illustrated, as well as how one tweet from a space shuttle managed to go viral, giving her the idea of how to generate the hashtag #hirestef as her job search continued. @stefmara
Seth Shapiro joins the podcast to discuss the world of sports filmmaking, fresh off of a trip with the NFL in China. Shapiro talks not only about the air of filmmaking, but also the production angle, where there are time limitations with sports stars, as well as branding implications. Shapiro covers the several issues concerning how gauge evergreen content in a world of fast paced social media, along with building a quality production every time out. Twitter: @dieselfilms
Anthony Rodriguez comes on the podcast to discuss the branding of the athlete in the digital world, how you can grow a niche audience that supports a brand and whether or not esports has a longevity brand with its athletes. Rodriguez shares how a tennis player coming into his dorm room upended his business aspirations, and the various ways in which tech has increased awareness of an athlete. Rodriguez talks about the increasingly hard game of bringing an athlete's brand to scale with the demands of the consumer for more unique changing content. Twitter: @LineageCEO
Julian Jenkins comes on the podcast to examine whether sports clubs truly understand their fans' KPIs or only the ones that the organization thinks the fans desire. Jenkins shares his two decades worth of knowledge as CEO of European football clubs, as well as his understanding of the digital space. Many times, as Jenkins is mindful of, the top brass don't value digital for revenue generation as much as they should. Jenkins talks also about broadening the discussion when it comes to digital metrics. Twitter: @Julianj1973
With the young history of digital media unfolding, Brian Srabian presents a strong argument about why sports is generally at the forefront of delivery of social media technology. Srabian discusses the early days of living on the edge in sports social media, where trying new things and jumping to different platforms shook up the system with differing results. Srabian discusses navigating the waters of fan engagement, avoiding outrage issues by going too far, and how to show that digital media is the most effective branding available to a sports team. Srabian discusses the Bat Kid phenomena in San Francisco after the 2013 baseball season, and the San Francisco Giants' part of the day-long celebration. Twitter: @Srabe
Digital streaming is becoming the simplified way of live sports content distribution, and as Sportle CEO Adam Shaw explains, that brings out the complexity of the traditional media marketplace amid contractual and corporate sponsorship agreements. Shaw discusses the issues at hand, especially couch rights vs. hotel rights, and whether consumers will finally gain access to Regional Streaming Networks (RSN). Given Shaw's expensive background as a c-suite executive in traditional television with FOX, FX & the NFL Network, he shares the vision of what it will take to make streaming the overall experience that most consumers have with live sports content in the future. Twitter: @PrinceAdRock
Blood, sweat and association equity are part of Jimmy Smith's gameplan to push the social media digital side of college athletic administrators into the forefront of professional development. Smith talks about his lobbying efforts with his fellow digital collegiate professionals into building an affiliate association under NACDA of their own, as well as some of intangibles of why its necessary. Smith discusses how far digital marketing has come in the last few years for athletic departments, and where it is headed. Twitter: @TheJimmySmith
Looking beyond the simple platform chasing of social media, the central focus arises as to what digital as a brand can do for a sports team. James Royer oversees the Kansas City Chiefs digital endeavors which was recognized as one of the most “Contagious” brands on Facebook by a study done by author and professor Jonah Berger and Digitas lbi. Royer also discusses his recent NFL Digital Summit speech in April, how the Chiefs are utilizing paid social advertising through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, specifically in the realm of supporting ticket and merchandise sales despite most NFL teams being very slow to adopt paid social. Twitter: @JamesRoyer