The 10 companies shortlisted for Media Player of the Year in Marketing’s Nov. 19 issue were at the top of their game in 2012. We’ll be featuring each one online as a lead-up to our January 2013 issue, where you’ll find out which media company will reign supreme.
Bold moves increase its sports content and send its conventional network into more homes across the country
The Bachelor
Last year, Rogers Media Inc. scored a late goal with its acquisition of a 37.5% stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment to become Marketing=’s Media Player of the Year.
While it made some big plays in 2012 – the yet-to-be-approved $167-million acquisition of sports specialty service Score Media, expanding Citytv’s geographic footprint into Western Canada and Montreal, the acquisition of elite curling competition series the Grand Slam of Curling and accompanying creation of a new events division – this year also saw a series of smaller, but no less effective, achievements.
Those include the recent hire of veteran sales executive Jack Tomik, the extension of rights deals with the NFL, Indy Car and UEFA soccer, ongoing development of “replica” editions of its consumer magazine titles for the iPad (creating digital paid circulation of 26,000 on 500,000 app downloads across 18 titles before year’s end) and the creation of a real-time bidding exchange called CPAX in partnership with Shaw Media and CBC/Radio-Canada.
This year also saw the completion of last year’s deal for MLSE, making Rogers and its chief telco rival, Bell, co-owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors and Toronto FC.
Growth has been hard to attain for traditional media companies in a less-than-kind advertising market, but Rogers Media president Keith Pelley says Rogers’ diversifi ed portfolio and the ongoing development of non-advertising revenue streams—such as digital subscriptions and a growing e-book play that has produced some 50 titles to date—is enabling the company to o set declining ad revenue.
“What I think is most important in this environment is strong brands,” says Pelley. “If we catapult ahead 15 to 20 years, the media companies with the strongest brands that can go across platforms will be the ones that come out on top, and I believe we’re positioned very well for that.”
Pelley, who first began quarterbacking the company in 2010, is unequivocal about his objective for Rogers. “Our goal is creating the number one sports media brand,” he says. “Sports was a strategy that we not only continued in 2012, but… made an even more significant priority. It’s a key content pillar and something advertisers continue to desire.”
Like a veteran in a crucial playo game, sports carried Rogers Media on its back this year. The media division’s revenues for the three months ended June 30 increased a modest 1% to $440 million, with the company noting that Sportsnet played a key factor.
And the Nov. 1 arrival of Tomik – whose career has included stints with the CBC and the former Can West – demonstrates Rogers Media’s commitment to centralizing sales and integrating its diverse collection of assets, say media buyers. He has stepped into the newly created role of chief sales o fficer.
“Keith Pelley is implementing his vision of an integrated media company,” says Mindshare Canada CEO Karen Nayler.
“[Tomik’s] role will be key… to making it easier for media agencies and clients to work with them,” she says.
“This sounds simple, but it means more than leadership and reporting lines. Its success will reside in financial key performance indicators, cost allocation and revenue recognition.”
Rogers has also increased Citytv’s footprint—and therefore its advertiser appeal—through a series of acquisitions and strategic partnerships. The purchases of Saskatchewan’s SCN and Métro14 Montréal, as well as a partnership with the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group to deliver approximately 90% of Citytv’s programming on its western Canadian stations, pushed City’s penetration from seven million to approximately nine million households—moving it closer to becoming a truly national broadcaster.
Citytv also began airing the Canadian version of the popular The Bachelor format in the fall. The love-’em-or-leave-’em reality show features football player Brad Smith and attracted a roster of strong brand partners, including Coty and Kraft Canada.
Pelley says Citytv’s ongoing expansion continues to attract advertisers and is growing its audience in all key demos.
“That is going to bode really well going forward, [but] not as well for our competitors as we steal audience and become another legitimate [national] advertising player,” says Pelley.
To read more about the companies that made the Media Players of the Year and Marketers of the Year shortlists, check out Marketing’s Nov. 19 issue, which is on newsstands now.
