Back when theScore operated a television network, it relied heavily on creativity to generate advertiser interest in programming that typically fell outside North America’s big four sports leagues.
According to chairman and CEO John Levy, that approach has carried over into the Toronto-based sports media company’s newest incarnation as a pure-play digital company (it sold its TV operations to Rogers Communications for a reported $167 million in 2012).
“We weren’t selling Hockey Night in Canada for $1 million for 60-seconds. We were forced to do partnership deals and be more creative, and I think that stood us in good stead as we moved into the digital space,” said Levy, speaking with Marketing after theScore revealed its fourth quarter and fiscal 2013 results last week.
With subscription revenues no longer available, advertising across its suite of mobile apps has become the company’s sole revenue source.
Advertisers are taking notice. Revenues for fiscal 2013 were up 26% million to $5.3 million, although profits remain stubbornly hard to come by, with EBITDA loss for the year $8.3 million compared to $6.5 million the year prior. Levy attributed the losses to increased investment in personnel related to the development of its mobile apps.
TheScore currently has advertising partnerships in place with Scotiabank, which is sponsoring the app’s launch page, as well as a deal with Coke Zero that includes mobile banners and targeted push alerts during key time periods such as NHL and NFL game days – all driving to its “Moment Zero” YouTube series. All of the content is viewable within the mobile app. TheScore is also providing a social media push to the series across its Twitter and Facebook accounts, which have more than 250,000 followers and fans.
In the U.S., which accounts for nearly three quarters of theScore’s annual revenue, the company has a deal in place with the jerky snack brand Jack Link’s. Other advertising partners include the likes of Budweiser, Bacardi and EA Sports.
“All the traditional guys are starting to come to us, and the trick is to continue to show value to them and try to create something for them that nobody else can,” said Levy. “Everything we do has got to be as little interruptive to the consumer as possible. We want to continue to build, to get our user base up, but we are sensitive to that.”
TheScore produces up to 300 original pieces of content per day, and has also hired data scientists to mine customer data and pass along audience insights to potential advertising partners.
“We’re more intelligent about who we’re delivering because we can be more targeted in terms of the type of people [using the app], their habits and where they come from,” said Levy. “We’re serving this up to our advertisers in a fashion they haven’t seen before – at least not from companies like ours.”
