Turner Sports' Seth Ladetsky on Debut of Live Sports Streaming Platform

With advertisers eager to engage with viewers in a trusted transparent environment Senior Vice President of Salesamp160Seth Ladetskyamp160pictured below believes the platform is the best possible playamp160 amp8220Sports stands out because of fan engagementquot he saysamp160 Ladetsky spoke to MediaVillage about why live sports video is so valuable for advertisers how it soothes clientsamp8217 concerns and how online sports viewers differ from TV audiencesAlli Romanoamp160 What was missing in the market that motivated Turner to build this platformSeth Ladetskyamp160 Itamp8217s what our clients were talking to us aboutamp160 They want live sports and we deliver thatamp160 On the linear side of the business live sports has been an amazing vehicle with great audiences client interest and demand and great engagementamp160 The digital side was a more decentralizedamp160and a more complicated way of buying across the entire landscapeamp160 We have an unprecedented combination of live sports content on TV and online and now we can combine them as an option for clientsamp160 Each one has its own amazing engagementamp160and adding them up you can achieve massive scaleamp160 Itamp8217s very easy to buyamp160and you know exactly what you39re runningRomanoamp160 Of all the video online for advertisers to choose from what makes sports so attractive to brands amp160Ladetskyamp160 Sports stands out because of fan engagementamp160 When people are watching digital sports itamp8217s longformamp160 Usually in digital most clips are two or three minutes Sports is an anomaly because youamp8217re spending a half hour or hour per sessionamp160 Youamp8217re engaged with the content and you39re staying with it just like you would on a television but now it39s on another screenThe other benefit is sports ads on digital can be big beautiful 15 or 30second ads Usually digital ads are preroll with mixed resultsamp160 Butamp160with sportsamp160they can be midroll because there are natural breaks in the action like between innings and timeoutsamp160 They are the perfect times to run really great commercials and have a user who39s passionately engaged watch themamp160 If youamp8217re watching Duke vs UNC you39re not going to close the browser you39re going to watch the commercial You39re getting a very deep passionate fan base that39s sticking with our contentamp160 And thereamp8217s other content surrounding the video thatamp8217s compelling too and keeping people engagedRomanoamp160 Why are you launching this now amp160Has the technology caught up or is demand at a tipping pointamp160 Ladetskyamp160 Weamp8217ve had these assets like March Madness the NBA and the MLBamp160for five years or longer and some newer ones like UEFA or Bleacher Report Live amp160Whatamp8217s changed is the demand sideamp160 Thereamp8217s a real need for live sports video with scale and the transparency of knowing where youamp8217re running and the confidence of having brand safetyamp160 This has gotten more and more importantamp160 To know with 100 certainty that you have brand safety around great audiences and mass scale makes live sports pretty compellingamp160 Also there haveamp160been increasing budgets for live videoamp160 With all that happening we have a pretty good solutionamp160Romanoamp160 How are brands going to use your live sports videoamp160 Do you anticipate it will bring in new advertisers or mainly offer existing clients a new assetLadetskyamp160 We see three distinct ways it39ll be usedamp160 The first one is incrementalamp160 These are people who are existing clients and maybe they have sponsorshipled or contentled programsamp160 This offers them a way to engage in video as well at scaleamp160 The second would be efficiency which brings in deals with clients on the fenceamp160 The third is standalone or new businessamp160 Thatamp8217s for clients who maybe arenamp8217t in sportsamp160but want to be and they want to dip their toe in or experiment just a littleamp160 Then if they have a great experience they may look at more on the sponsorship side or a little deeper into a specific sportRomanoamp160 How do the audiences and consumption patterns differ between digital video and linear TVamp160 Ladetskyamp160 A few years backamp160digital would have skewed a little younger a little more tech savvyamp160 Now with the advent of smart TVs and the changing digital usage that difference is getting smalleramp160 We actually see it as more of a difference in dayparting vs different audience segments We are seeing massive digital consumption during the day whereas TV sports is still a primetime experienceamp160on the couch with your big screen TV amp8211 which we love tooamp160 For example March Madness Live is really a great daytime product and UEFA which is coming in August will be at 100 and 300 pm ET in midweekamp160 Thatamp8217s where we see the atwork and onthego audience as a digital daypartamp160 When youamp8217re at home on the couch in the evenings thatamp8217s a strong place for TV sportsamp160 Soamp160it is very complimentaryamp160Photo credits Turner SportsClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Turner Sports' Seth Ladetsky on Debut of Live Sports Streaming Platform

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Alli Romano

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Turner Sports' Seth Ladetsky on Debut of Live Sports Streaming Platform

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