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Major League Baseball (MLB) Future of TV Sports Marketing

How Fox Sports is using Facebook Live to drive engagement and tune-in for the World Series

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By Adam Flomenbaum, Co-Executive Editor

November 3, 2016 | 4 min read

With the Cubs in this year’s World Series ratings for Fox have spiked: it will likely be the most-watched series since (if it doesn’t surpass it) the Red Sox swept the Cardinals in 2004.

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In 2004, Facebook was in its infancy and Facebook Live certainly didn’t exist. If networks had it somewhat easier back then in terms of less competition for sports fans’ attention, they also weren’t able to engage them as much.

As the sole broadcaster of the World Series, Fox Sports this year has been leveraging Facebook Live as a complementary experience for its telecast, and more, they’ve been using it effectively to drive tune-in.

“Facebook Live has been an excellent vehicle driving the FOX Sports digital audience to linear events and studio programming,” Matt Schnider, FOX Sports VP of Digital Production, tells Found Remote. “We are currently producing a World Series Facebook Live show featuring all of the FOX Sports broadcast talent. Hosts Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci steer the ship alongside exclusive analysis from the entertaining pre and postgame crew of Kevin Burkhardt, Alex Rodriguez, Pete Rose and Frank Thomas. Top that off with daily booth hits from our game announcers, Joe Buck and John Smoltz. This synergy wouldn't be possible without the phenomenal access our production team has provided us led by John Entz. All of the talent promote game tune-in throughout our show to the linear coverage on FS1 and FOX.”

Not often does the 7th inning stretch make the telecast (see: commercials), so MLB on FOX showed Wrigley Field's famous take on the tradition via Live. Fan-favorite actor Bill Murrary took to the microphone during Game 3 and the video racked up 1.6 million views.

Fox has been utilizing the platform for pre-game and post-game efforts. The network’s preview show – in partnership with Sports Illustrated – has been streamed exclusively on Facebook Live. They also have been going live for the postgame celebrations both inside the stadium and at bars and streets close by, giving fans at home a true feel.

In a particularly innovative second screen use of Live, and a one that may become more common moving forward for other sports rights holders, FOX enabled fans to “watch the game with” Alex Rodriguez and Kevin Burkhardt. The two hosts provided real-time commentary and answered fan questions throughout.

“Our partnership with Facebook around the Live piece continues to evolve, and we are excited to find new ways to push the envelope from a technology standpoint to provide a richer experience for our fans,” says Schnider. “The huge audience and engagement on Facebook sets the table, and we consistently get new toys to play with. Nothing compares to the access that enables us to produce multi-camera shows incorporating video, graphics, music and so forth. This is a game-changer for us, and we've taken our productions on the road to major live events in addition to recurring studio shows. In addition, we have big plans to incorporate Facebook Live throughout the week in Houston leading up to Super Bowl LI on FOX.”

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