FEATURE — MEDIA & NEW TECHNOLOGY
DigiTAR has
transformed theSports Revolution Portfolio
way Sports
Revolution can sell
Alongside the technology of digital pitchside and advertising to
concourse TV, Sports Revolution has continued to provide prospective clients
the full range of advertising and marketing initiatives globally.
that their business was founded upon.
With a client portfolio that ranges from blue chip
corporations to local advertisers, they offer a range of
solutions, including field marketing and activation,
integration and advertising on stadia jumbo screens, text
response and Bluetooth campaigns, concourse six-sheet
posters, restroom A3 posters, and programme advertising.
Digital Pitchside Advertising Kourentis, is a former Business Develop-
Sports Revolution’s business was tradi- ment Manager at Manchester United FC
tionally based around selling poster for- and was at the club when the first pitch-
mats, but with the advent of digital side digital infrastructure was installed
pitchside advertising at stadia in the Pre- five years ago. His experience has been
mier League, this is one new area which vital in Sports Revolution’s approach to
they have entered into and see significant digital pitchside, and understanding the
future potential. ways that they, and the clubs, need to
Marcou explained: “Pitchside, the stat- approach it.
ic model with say twenty advertising part- “Clubs have been a bit guilty about
ners on boards just became wallpaper. just following a model without necessari-
With digital you give sponsors the whole ly thinking about ‘What does it really take
TV arc, not just one board, so on average to really sell this commercially’. The top
you are getting more coverage and with a clubs put it in, and then everyone else
dedicated message. You’ve also got frag- said, well they’ve got it, so we have to
mentation of conventional media and the have it, without much thought as to how
death of the traditional 30 second com- do you value this space, and then how do
mercial spot with the likes of SkyPlus and you sell it internationally. When we got
TiVo where people fast forward through into this space, the competitors were
the ads, so digitising ads and having mov- valuing it on a UK audience base only,
ing images within the content becomes with the guarantee of a say five live Sky
much more compelling.” games each year,” explained Kourentis.
For clubs as well as advertisers the
switch to digital has made commercial Introducing DigiTAR
sense, and this is largely due to the huge He continued: “We said that there are prospective client and you are selling this
global reach that the league now has more people internationally watching the space, you don’t just say that is costs ‘x‘
through its TV contracts. Latest figures game, so for every game there is an inter- pounds per minute for a season
show that the Premier League is broad- national audience and we are going to because... You’ve got to have had a back-
cast in 211 territories to 662 million put a value on that. But, in order to do it, ground in trading media to understand
homes, all of which deliver an estimated you have got to get the audited TV data how you are going to sell it to the big
global audience of 126 million viewers for all of those international markets. So brands globally, and football clubs just
per week. we invested time and money in our own aren’t set up that way. Clubs tend to
“The investment in the infrastructure system, DigiTAR (see sidebar), which uses think they need an ad person, but actual-
if you are a Premier League club makes data we buy in from audience ratings ly it’s about media planning and buying,
commercial sense because the global bureaus.” and trading media.”
footprint of the Premier League is now so Using DigiTAR, Sports Revolution has Marcou commented: “If you are a
big. This allows you to speak to bigger transformed the way that advertising can brand based in the Far East, and your dis-
global brands, and that makes the model be sold to prospective clients globally. tribution is half a dozen territories, then
self-financing because you are attracting “With DigiTAR we can advise clients the value that you place on the Premier
more money from your camera facing on how to use UK football as a truly effec- League is only based on those half a
estate. You are bringing brands to this tive marketing tool, and we can deliver dozen territories, and anyone watching in
space not based on the audience, which intricately planned exposure that truly other territories has no relevance to you.
is domestic, but which is international — understands how international audiences So it comes down to what is the price of
there will be more people watching the consume UK football,” added Marcou. TV airtime in the six territories that you
games in say Asia, than here in the UK,” But the way in which potential adver- are in.”
Marcou added. tisers are approached is also fundamental One recent example of how this focus
This switch from domestic to global to the process of generating and max- has led to new advertisers signing up to
and regional advertisers has been key to imising pitchside revenues, as Kourentis digital pitchside is the recent deal that
making digital pitchside work. Sports outlined: “You’ve got to understand that Sports Revolution signed with the Cyprus
Revolution’s Commercial Director, Vange when you are sitting in front of a Tourist Organisation. They have agreed a ➲
WINTER 2009/10 P ANS TADIA 125
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