Eric Marks of American Sports Network on What’s Ahead for Broadcasting

The American Sports Network ASN is just two years old Eric being the fifth member to join the team and is continuously growing its offerings and touch points with Millennials in the arena of college sports Having moved three times before the fifth grade Eric is no stranger to fluctuating environments He expresses excitement for disrupting the content model seemingly thriving in the commotion of it allWhen Eric was younger his father Steveamp8217s career as a General Manager with Sinclair Broadcasting Group the parent company and over theair home of the American Sports Network required frequent travel As a result Eric has roots all over the east coast in his hometown of Columbus Ohio as well as in Baltimore and Tampa Steve Marksamp8217 30 years with the company now puts him in charge of 167 television stations in 80 US markets currently serving as Chief Operating Officer along with CoCOO Steve Pruette amp8211 as well as Senior Vice PresidentEricamp8217s mom dad and older brother David instilled in him a penchant for hard work Eric age 7 is pictured at right with David age 9amp160In addition to spending his summers attending Crane Lake Camp a culturally Jewish camp for 16 years where he made lifelong friends Ericamp8217s childhood consisted of the pursuit of several monetary ventures amp8220I always found an opportunity to make money growing upamp8221 he says amp8220Even as a kid at 8 years oldamp8221 Eric describes his amp8220lemonade standamp8221 as a smorgasbord of anything he could find around the house He sold soda hats and batteries from his culdesac in Baltimore He also picked up odd jobs along the way such as raking leaves babysitting and being a parttime caddy for his dad amp8220Anything to make a buckamp8221 he recallsI wondered what inspired his desire to make money at such an early age and Eric explained his fatheramp8217s work and work ethic as a motivator amp8220I saw the wear and tear that goes into running a business like my dad did every dayamp8221 Eric says amp8220He had been working for this company for 25 years and he did very well for himselfamp8221This businessminded spirit followed Eric to college at the University of Central Florida where he studied marketing and finance with additional coursework in entrepreneurship One of Ericamp8217s most rewarding college experiences was creating his own business Order Knight a local food delivery service see image below Eric and his business partner invested three years in the endeavor serving a campus of over 55000 students Eric also honed in on his knack for comedy writing telling jokes and making those around him laugh often riffing with his close friends and roommatesAfter college Eric moved to New York City to work with Katz Media completing their ninemonth sales training program before transitioning to a Sales Marketing Associate position He is pictured below second from left in the front row with the team from Katz TVamp160He learned the ins and outs of working with clients developing multiplatform campaigns and selling digital marketing solutions Eric is grateful for his foundational experience at Katz learning a tremendous amount on that side of the business He then sought out the opportunity to flex his entrepreneurial muscles by establishing a project of his own The business plan and pitch that he developed for a commercialfree Millennial network incorporated his love of comedy and short form content ultimately landing him a meeting with a Sinclair executive that saw a place for his ideas within the newlyformed American Sports NetworkHe came to the team with ideas in hand working closely with his supervisor and collaborator Craig Haffner In addition to his father whom Eric cites as a mentor he learned a great deal from amp8220production wizardamp8221 Haffner amp8220Itamp8217s exciting to work with someone with his knowledgeamp8221 Eric says amp8220I had a first class seat to seeing how he handles talent versus agencies and production people Iamp8217m learning full circle how to produce sell and distributeamp8221Eric has great enthusiasm for his work at ASN a network that reaches anywhere between 30 to 85 million households live in 16 markets amp8220My goal here is to really incorporate the idea of competition and shining that light as we do on athletes to the whole student populationamp8221 he says of his role as a content producer His daytoday involves creating and managing targeted marketing initiatives to attract sponsors and drive traffic to the network Eric also spends time crafting a multitude of projects such as a collegiate take on the show amp8220Shark Tankamp8221 Unlike the ABC production his show aims to give college students a platform to get exposure and funding for their ideas prerevenue There will be a crowdsourcing element as well as additional sponsorship benefits as students progress through the rounds Other ideas he and his team are working on include a sketch variety show with upandcoming comedians and a ballroom dancing competitionAs for the content landscape Eric is the first to say that things are changing Heamp8217s excited about the future of broadcasting and content with the Millennial and Gen Z generation in mind amp8220The whole entire ecosystem is evolving to where I think cable should be a little bit more worried than broadcastamp8221 he says amp8220Most people my generation donamp8217t even realize that broadcast is over the air itamp8217s free and soon to be in 4K resolutionamp8221Sinclair is already anticipating these trends amp8220Our company is on the forefront of developing the new technology standard ATSC 30 which is going to revolutionize the industry in lots of different ways that people canamp8217t even fathom yet So itamp8217s really exciting to actually be part of the company thatamp8217s building the next generation of broadcastingamp8221He presents his idea to address amp8220cord cuttersamp8221 and amp8220cord neversamp8221 with the impetus that itamp8217s time to amp8220cut the cord but keep the antennaamp8221 noting that some younger consumers don39t want to pay for content when itamp8217s been unrestricted their entire lifetime amp8220Give them an antenna for free put your brand on it and bring awareness to a generation that doesnamp8217t even know thatamp8217s an optionamp8221 Eric concludes1stFive features personality profiles of upandcoming media professionals and emerging juniorlevel talent from top media brands and organizations Interested in having your young talent showcased Email whitneymyersbiznetcom for more informationThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageMyersBizNet management or associated bloggers

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Eric Marks of American Sports Network on What’s Ahead for Broadcasting

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