Excerpt: “They have made significant strides in diversifying their offering beyond the confines of a traditional digital media property to stay relevant among the Gen-Z and millennial audience,” said Josh Spiegelman, managing director of sponsorships, overseeing the agency’s work within sports and entertainment, for Mindshare U.S. Spiegelman said Bleacher Report is at the top of Mindshare’s consideration set within the sports media world. “Specifically, they’ve clearly made a significant investment in building opportunities for brands beyond banners.”
Increased competition is a challenge
Bleacher Report’s revenue growth comes at a time when the publisher is facing more competition for the time and attention of younger sports fans.
ESPN has been spending time and money on creating original programming for platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat; upstart brands such as Overtime are capturing the attention of social video viewers by focusing on areas such as high-school sports; and even well-funded news startups such as The Athletic are managing to drive people to pay for content — and expanding overseas.
“It’s becoming harder for [sports] publishers to truly differentiate themselves,” said Spiegelman.
For more insights from Josh and others, read the full piece in Digiday.
