The Future of Sports Media

I believe that the future of sports media will be dominated by choice.  Sport media organizations will seek ways to offer their viewers as much choice as possible in what sport programs they consume.  They will need to do this because of the fragmentation of sports media.  The Internet along with the fragmentation of cable programming has forced sports media to find alternate ways to reach their audience.  As we can see through ESPN's implementation of their ESPN3 network online.  This program offers viewers with certain cable subscriptions the ability to watch a variety of different college football games online even if they are not being broadcasted in their local market.  ESPN is giving their viewers a choice by allowing them to log in online and view the game of their choosing.  It allows ESPN to reach more viewers and in turn create profits for their organization.  ESPN showed a commitment to innovation by creating their ESPN3 online network. 

Sports media organizations will also have to find new ways to reach audiences.  This will require an innovative management team, that is unafraid to take chances.  We have seen the proliferation of mobile phone companies and their partnerships with different sports organizations.  ESPN and The NFL have partnered with cell phone companies to offer their services through the mobile phone providers service.  Subscribers now have the ability to access programming with the touch of a button on their cell phone.  This has created more competition within the market.  I believe in order to reach new audiences sports media organizations will look for ways to close the gap between them and their audience, and make their programming more user friendly.  They will also make their programming more interactive for the consumer, and search for ways to create an environment that promotes interaction between organization and consumer.  We see this currently in the sports media, as most sports writers, analysts and anchors have their own Twitter account, which allows them to communicate directly with their consumers. 

Due to the billions of dollars at stake within the sports media industry, we have seen different sport organizations become their own media entities.  The Yankees really began the trend by creating their own television network, so that they could show their baseball games.  This allowed them to create programming, attract sponsors, and create mass amounts of profit, which they funnel back into their organization.   The NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL have all created their own television networks with their own programming.  This has allowed them to reach a larger audience, and be able to promote their organization the way they want to without any outside interference.  I believe in the future we will see more individual teams taking this same path and become more of separate entities that are part of larger organizations.  They will create their own networks because they see there is a lot of profit to be made, and it will allow them to control the product that is sent to their consumers.  The technology is now there that will allow them to do this, while making a profit. 

The future of sports media will be dominated by the sports media organizations and their need to reach audiences.  They will need to find ways to continue to proliferate their content through a variety of channels. They will also need to offer multiple choices to the consumer, so that they can retain their audience.  Technology has had a huge impact on the way viewers, readers and listeners consume their sports.  Even in the last few years, we see a huge impact on the interaction between consumer and sports media organization.  These changes will only become more pronounced as time progresses and technology improves even further.  The future of sports media will be dominated by those organizations that are creative in their ideas and aggressive in the way they attempt to improve their business model.