Innovation

How FloSports Quickly Became a Major Player in Live Sports

Dec 14, 2018 | 12:50 am

UPDATED Apr 28, 2019 | 10:19 pm

Photo credit: FloSports

Sports fans are one of the last bastions of viewers who need to see their content live in order to best enjoy it.

In fact, 63 percent of sports viewers would pay for an all-sports streaming channel. FloSports has been on top of this trend in 2018, thanks to the support of Phil Wendler, SVP of global rights acquisition and subscription, and David Weiss, executive vice president of multimedia sales.

In 2018 alone, FloSports has secured more than 150 new rights deals, helping to accelerate the company’s growth which now delivers more than 10,000 live competitions per year. This covers 24 separate streaming channels with coverage of nearly every sport under the sun —from football, to softball, to bowling, to marching-band competitions.

After a number of years working together at ESPN and USA Today Sports, Wendler and Weiss felt compelled to reunite at FloSports for the chance to do something innovative within the sports streaming landscape. With their combined strengths, they were confident that they would achieve success.

“We saw FloSports was in a position to be ahead of the curve,” Weiss said. “It also gave us an opportunity to help mold a product that was sort of a first in the space. It’s kind of a win-win for us that we could align ourselves with a product that we really loved, but still had an opportunity to put our mark on it and be part of building something really special in live sports.”

On top of the new rights deals secured in 2018, the rights acquisition team for FloSports plans to keep up the pace in 2019. Wendler and Weiss attribute their team’s success in the last year to being able to quickly read potential clients and customize packages to suit their needs.

“I think once we have a chance to sit down with people and have them understand what we’re looking for and understand their needs, we’re usually able to quickly determine if it’s just not a fit,” said Wendler. “If it is a good fit, we figure out we can dig in and move quickly to go to market together.”

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On customizing partnerships, Weiss says that this approach seems to be resonating with their community. Weiss also says that this “involves a little bit more content support and marketing, which seems to be valued by our rights holders. I think that probably contributes to a lot of the growth we’ve seen over the last 12 months.”

When determining the validity of a possible partnership, Weiss and Wendler ask a few simple questions: Is there a mutually beneficial opportunity here? Can FloSports help the client help the client accomplish their objectives? Can they add to the sport/league’s community?

The team also looks to see if there is a way that they can tell a clients’ story in a unique way.

“We’ve got to have room to do some of the other things,” Wendler stated, “whether that’s marketing, editorial, or storytelling to make sure that we’re expanding on the awareness and engagement in their brand.”

With 24 separate channels, as well as a great social media approach, expect FloSports to continue expanding in the next year and continue bringing value to its new partners.

“We’re constantly looking to see how we add value to those channels with rights opportunities,” Weiss said. “We see a lot of opportunities both in the existing channels that we’re in, as well as potential new channels.”