Rogers Media plans to launch a bi-weekly magazine under the Sportsnet banner this fall, a move that expands the company’s presence in Canada’s increasingly competitive sports media industry.
The magazine will focus on major professional sports and be sold on newsstands and via subscription. Some content will also appear on the Sportsnet.ca website.
The editorial team for the magazine will be put together in the coming months.
The magazine gives Rogers another media plank for its Sportsnet brand, which it has built through its four regional broadcast channels and the national Sportsnet One station. Rogers also operates Toronto’s Sportsnet Radio Fan 590 station and the Calgary based Sportsnet Radio Fan 960 signal.
Ken Whyte, executive vice-president of consumer publishing at Rogers Publishing, said the magazine will be an attractive vehicle for advertisers.
“We think there’s a hole in the market from a publishing point of view. There aren’t a lot of national magazine opportunities for an advertiser with the male audience, and we think we answer that,” said Whyte. “Plus, it allows Sportsnet to go out and offer an integrated buy that no other sports broadcaster or sports brand can match.”
Sportsnet’s expansion into the magazine medium is the latest development in a busy several months in Canadian sports media. CTV-owned TSN, Sportsnet’s largest competitor, launched TSN Radio earlier this spring, a move that followed Rogers’ addition of the “Sportsnet Radio” moniker to its Fan radio stations.
“This is the first property we have at Rogers where it’s print, television, radio and digital, and there aren’t many media properties in Canada that have that level of integration on national platforms,” said Whyte.
“We aren’t able to put a dollar figure on it, but the value to Sportsnet of having hundreds of thousands of copies of a magazine with the Sportsnet name on it going out to Canadians… it’s a huge step forward for Sportsnet.”
Disclosure: Rogers also owns Marketing magazine.
