{"id":117663,"date":"2017-05-08T11:06:33","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T15:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/?p=117663"},"modified":"2017-05-08T11:06:33","modified_gmt":"2017-05-08T15:06:33","slug":"inside-time-inc-s-just-announced-sports-illustrated-ott-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/2017\/05\/08\/inside-time-inc-s-just-announced-sports-illustrated-ott-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Time Inc.\u2019s Just Announced Sports Illustrated OTT Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

The biggest name in sports journalism will soon launch an OTT video service. During its newfront presentation in New York City last week, Time Inc. dropped the news that Sports Illustrated <\/em>will debut an OTT service in the fall. That\u2019s all the company said. In a conversation with SVG, Time VP\/Head of Programming Ian Orefice offers more details.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ian Orefice, VP\/Head of Programming, Time Inc.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThis is the time for all of our brands to take the next step to where people are consuming content,\u201d he says. \u201cThat is more and more becoming the OTT space. You have to ask, if you get in that space, do you have the brand power to differentiate yourself and do you have the brands that can extend themselves to long-form storytelling? When you look at Sports Illustrated<\/em>, it checks all of those boxes and then some.\u201d<\/p>\n

With more sports leagues taking the direct-to-consumer route (and with ESPN laying off roughly 100 people because of declining viewership), this is a smart time for Sports Illustrated<\/em> to go OTT. The fledgling venture is so new, it doesn\u2019t have a name yet. Internally, it\u2019s called Sports Illustrated Network, Orefice says, but he doesn\u2019t think that will be the final name. Considering that it anagrams to SIN, the company seems likely come up with something else.<\/p>\n

The network won\u2019t offer live sports. Instead, it will provide the discussion before and after the game. It will feature both live and on-demand programming, analyses from SI<\/em> experts, documentaries, fantasy sports, and \u2014 naturally \u2014 swimsuits. Time Inc. promises more than 50 hours of on-demand video from day one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might be a bit biased, but Sports Illustrated<\/em> really is the original and premium brand in sports journalism,\u201d Orefice says. \u201cWhat has always made Sports Illustrated<\/em> great is going to be the same things that differentiates it in this space: award-winning journalism, exclusive access that no one else can bring. You match all of that up with swimsuit and fantasy sports, it\u2019s a really compelling package.\u201d<\/p>\n

On-air hosts \u2014 including Peter King, Grant Wahl, Tom Verducci, and Seth Davis \u2014will be familiar to SI<\/em> readers. Programming will cover sports journalism, storytelling, insight, and analysis.<\/p>\n

Although Time hasn\u2019t announced exactly what platforms the network will stream on, Orefice says it will be available \u201cwherever people are consuming content,\u201d and that means desktop computers, mobile devices, and set-top boxes.<\/p>\n

It will be the second OTT play from Time Inc., which announced the People Entertainment Weekly Network (PEN) during its 2016 newfront. With many of the SI details not yet public, PEN illustrates the model Time Inc. has created. PEN is free and ad-supported, offering four hours of live programming per day and plenty of video-on-demand (VOD). it\u2019s available on desktops, mobile devices, and set-top boxes.<\/p>\n

The formula seems to be working: the PEN app has been downloaded 1.6 million times. Time works with advertisers to create sponsored content but labels it clearly. The bulk of the video is editorial, according to Orefice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe People<\/em> and celebrity-entertainment audience is a little bit different than the sports audience, but the goal is the same,\u201d he says. \u201cHow do you create the most compelling content and distribute it to that specific audience? We\u2019re excited with all the progress we\u2019ve made with PEN. There\u2019s a lot of learnings that we now can take into Sports Illustrated<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sports Illustrated<\/em> is eager to use new mediums to engage its viewers. Last week, it debuted a story featuring stunning 360-degree videos from Mt. Everest. Called \u201cCapturing Everest,\u201d<\/a> the four-part series is available through the Life VR app or online through a browser.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe partnered with a great production company to literally climb from base to the top of Mt. Everest and be able to show you that in virtual reality,\u201d Orefice explains. \u201cSame DNA, same storytelling on whatever that next platform is. In this case, it happens to be VR.<\/p>\n

Although fans will find plenty on traditional sports on the upcoming SI OTT network, it\u2019s the commitment to the unknown that excites Orefice.<\/p>\n

\u201cSports Illustrated<\/em> brings you to places that you want to go but don\u2019t have the access yourself,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m never going to the top of Mt. Everest, but, when you watch that and you see them climb over this bridge with the 3,000-ft, drop, you feel like you\u2019re there. Whether it\u2019s walking out of the tunnel at Notre Dame or being inside the ring with Mike Tyson as he\u2019s explaining the next chapter of his life, we bring you to those places. We have to do the same thing with this new network.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The biggest name in sports journalism will soon launch an OTT video service. During its newfront presentation in New York City last week, Time Inc. dropped the news that Sports […]\n More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":117664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8899,9248],"tags":[6390,2575,8231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117663"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117663"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117667,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117663\/revisions\/117667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}