BARNEY FRANCIS LEADERS IN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE SPORTS BROADCASTING IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Transcription

1 BARNEY FRANCIS LEADERS IN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE SPORTS BROADCASTING IN THE DIGITAL AGE Good afternoon everyone and thank you for inviting me to speak here. We re here today after a truly fantastic summer of sport perhaps the best ever. There was the hugely successful Olympics and Paralympics right here in London. Bradley Wiggins became the first ever British winner of the Tour de France. Andy Murray the first British male grand slam event winner in 76 years. There was Euro There was the Ryder Cup. The list goes on. But it all kicked off back in May with the thrilling end to the domestic and European club competitions. Sky Sports was delighted to be there for it and it did, for me, capture what we do best at Sky. Our mission is quite simple. We keep our customers satisfied by doing two things providing great TV and offering the best viewing experience. That approach has driven our growth from a start-up to the company that Sky is today. And it applies as much to our football coverage as much as any other part of our business. 1

2 Today, the Premier League is more popular with viewers than ever. Last season, audiences were up 12 per cent year on year. We also saw three of our four biggest ever audiences. That s great news for us as the broadcaster. And you can imagine how happy the Premier League was to hear those numbers ahead of its rights auction But it s significant because it means that we re giving customers the great TV and viewing experience they want. I firmly believe we ve been able to do that because of the strong partnership we ve built with football. It s a long-term partnership, built on mutual understanding, trust and respect. And we know we have to keep on working together if we re to remain successful and help grow the game further. So I want to set out today how we can do so and also how football coverage is evolving as we take advantage of new digital opportunities. A WORLD-CLASS PRODUCT So, the first part of our mission was to provide great TV. That s right at the heart of what we do at Sky. If you re a customer, the main reason why you join us is a better choice of TV. I want to talk about the Chadha family. They re Sky Sports viewers. In fact, they re our closest viewers. They live on the corner of our West London studios. I drive past their house every day. 2

3 The Chadhas want to be able to watch all the biggest football matches and see their heroes on TV every week. Watching sport is something they do as a whole family and it s a distraction from the stresses and strains of everyday life. I imagine they re pretty typical in that respect. It s customers like the Chadhas we need to satisfy. If we do, they ll continue to reward us with their loyalty. I believe you face a similar challenge. In face of growing competition for their time and money, you have to ensure your fans can watch a great product and are treated with respect. If you do, they ll reward you with their commitment and continued support. You don t need me to tell you that. In fact, the only difference between us is that the people we call customers, you call fans. We both have a mutual incentive to listen to them and we both succeed if we keep them satisfied. Over the years, that s what we ve done and we need to carry on working together if we re to keep doing so. What we do For our part, we work hard to ensure your game gets the breadth and quality of coverage it deserves. Today, Sky Sports viewers have never had so much choice of high quality action. We now schedule around 50,000 hours of sport a year across our six Sky Sports channels. Over the last 18 months, we ve also secured no less than 16 new long-term renewals and agreements, covering sports like Formula 1, English domestic and international cricket, European rugby, European Tour Golf and the Ryder Cup. 3

4 Of course, it also includes new long-term deals that will mean Sky Sports remains the home of football, including those for the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Scottish Premier League, Football League and La Liga. We already offer unrivalled choice. This season, we ll show over 500 live international, European and domestic matches. Last weekend alone, the most dedicated football fans could have watched nine live matches on Sky Sports starting with a schoolboy international on Friday night before moving on to three Premier League fixtures, three from La Liga including El Clasico, one from the Championship and one from the Scottish Premier League. That s just a typical weekend for us. Once we ve invested in rights, we give your game the full Sky Sports treatment. Before, during and after a match, we aim to offer brilliant analysis. That s because punditry is an art form and we use respected ex-pros and managers to tell viewers what they don t see or know. Anyone who s seen Gary Neville dissect a performance during Monday Night Football will know what I mean. But believe me, he works hard to look that good. He s always in by 9 o clock on a Monday morning to review tapes of the weekend s matches and prepare for Monday Night Football. He even gets the coffees in at least, that s what I m told. I do know the summer before he started working for us, he had the full Monday Night Football set-up installed at his house so he could master it. It drove Mrs Neville mad. But it clearly worked. The FA was so impressed they offered him a job with the England team As well as our coverage of live matches, we surround your sport with a fantastic range of support programming. There s the new Footballers Football Show on Thursday; the Fantasy Football Club on Friday; Soccer A.M, 4

5 Soccer Saturday and Football First all on Saturday; and the Sunday Supplement and Goals on Sunday. On top of that, there s Sky Sports News, which is a great example of how we can build excitement around your sport. Who could forget Transfer Deadline Day? I m sure it s stressful for you. It s quite an operation for us too as we ve no idea where the stories will be especially now that Harry s not doing his incar press conferences. But fans love it and don t miss a thing on Sky. And if you had any doubts about the influence of Sky Sports News, you just had to be at the new national football centre at St George s Park yesterday, where every screen was tuned to it. So, we offer unrivalled choice, analysis and support programming, which all help football fans live and breathe the game they love. But we need your help too. What we need you to do It s only by working together that we can ensure fans continue to get a truly world-class spectacle. There s no doubt in my mind that the football we watch has been transformed over the last 20 years at all levels. The skill of the players; the excitement of the matches; the passion of the fans; the whole package is light years ahead of where it was. That s largely down to your investment on the pitch and hard work off it. Another area where you ve made huge progress is improving the fan experience. It s simply unrecognisable from what it was 15 or 20 years ago. 5

6 Since the start of the Premier League, no fewer than 30 new stadia have been built in England. The resulting improvements to safety, views and comfort all make for a better day out for fans and have helped make football more accessible to families. Our relationship with over 10 million homes enables your sport to reach an even wider range of fans at home. As well as seeing great action, they want to hear from players and managers. That s why we interview them, so please as clubs, sponsors or management carry on working with us to help tell those stories to your fans. In helping you do so, we never underestimate the power of sport to inspire. I want to talk about Tom Harrison. He s the club secretary at Hindley Juniors Football Club in Wigan a rugby league heartland with very few football clubs nearby. When he set it up, Hindley Juniors was a summer coaching scheme for 8 local boys. The same time Tom was starting out, Sky Sports began beaming live football into homes around the country. Today, Hindley Juniors operates all year round and has 500 players. Tom says the reason is the boys wanted to learn to play and be like their new heroes. He also firmly believes they re improving by trying out the skills they see players like Bale, Rooney and Hazard doing over and over again on Sky Sports. We need you as the guardians of the game to ensure that football remains an attractive product. 6

7 And like all good partners, we re committed and loyal. We ve now worked with the Premier League for over 20 years. We ve worked with The Football League for almost as long. We ve been working with UEFA for just under a decade. And we ve also supported Scottish football since we began. We recently renewed our deal with the SPL; they needed that commitment, we were happy to oblige. All these long-standing relationships demonstrate our commitment to you. And by working together, we ve been a force for good in your sport. Having that great product was the first part of our mission. We also need to provide the best viewing experience and digital technology offers us new opportunities to connect with fans. TAKING FOOTBALL INTO THE DIGITAL AGE Over the past 20 years, we ve always looked to keep pushing forward with our football coverage, to lead the way. Our aim is to be better this season than last and better next season than now. From innovations like the match clock and score at the top of the screen to red button interactivity and going from fewer than 5 cameras at games to over 30, those were all Sky Sports firsts. The quality of broadcasts has moved to widescreen, to High Definition, to 3D. Today, all the key moments are seen, replayed and scrutinised in remarkable detail and these new standards have been adopted around the world. 7

8 But perhaps the biggest changes are happening right now so we re moving ahead once again. A complete service In the digital age, the key word for customers is flexibility. If fans want to be able to watch nine matches a weekend and immerse themselves in your sport, we need to offer them a service that quenches their thirst. Equally, if they only have time to watch some highlights or read a report, we have to be able to cater for them too. To do so, we offer what I describe as a complete sports service. When fans watch at home, they get the big TV experience with the remarkable clarity of HD; the immersive experience of 3D; the chance to see stats and a choice of matches through the red button; and the ability to record programmes on Sky+. Our website skysports.com is now used by over a million people every day. When fans are out and about, they can watch Sky Sports on their laptop, smartphone or tablet on Sky Go. It gets over 10 million live views a week, the vast majority of which are accounted for by sport. And at home, they use Sky Go as a companion to the coverage or as a second screen in the same room. You watch El Clasico, while the family watch the X- Factor. To give you an idea of how that affects a big match, the most watched Premier League game on record, the Manchester derby in April, saw 4 million 8

9 people watch the match on TV at home; pubs had to shut their doors they were so full; and a further quarter of a million enjoy it via Sky Go. So while watching live sport used to mean remaining rooted to your sofa and the only alternative was recording the action, trying to get home before anyone could tell you the score and still knowing it had already happened fans no longer need to accept the trade-off between enjoying live sport and getting on with their busy lives. Instead, they can choose which of our options best suits them. Before I wrap up, I want to talk in more detail about how tablets fit into our service. The tablet We know there are around 6 million tablets in the UK. We also know a quarter of Sky Sports subscribers now have one. It s a great opportunity for us and for our viewers. Our Sky Sports app is the single most complete football service yet. As well as watching all six Sky Sports channels live, there s all the latest news, views and videos. Customers can also use it as a second screen to enhance their viewing of Sky Sports live coverage. For example, our UEFA Champions League Event Centre allows fans to watch up to 8 live Sky Sports matches including more than one at any one time. 9

10 Alongside that, our Barclays Premier League Match Centre also features OPTA player data and means fans can access virtually the same information that Gary Neville has sitting in the Sky Sports studio. Our Sky Sports app is already being used by around 10 per cent of our audience to follow the game. What s more, that s an additional 10 per cent of viewers who aren t watching on their main TVs. So it s not just an opportunity to connect with more fans with your sport but also with your sponsorships and with other marketing opportunities. If you don t have it yet, it s really easy to get. Just go to the app store or go to our web site. It s a good example of how we re taking your game into the digital age. And it s just the latest example of how we re developing our coverage and connecting with your fans. CONCLUSION In conclusion then, over the past 20 years, we ve built a winning partnership. The reason why is that we ve built it on solid foundations we have a mutual understanding of what each other is trying to do, we trust each other to fulfil our roles and we respect each other in the way we work together. We re not going to tell you how to run your sport. You re the experts. But we do want to help your sport move forward by telling your stories to our customers, to your fans. 10

11 And we will do so by continuing to offer the combination of a great game and the best viewing experience. Some broadcasters might run hot and cold on football. Not us. We ve been a partner to football for over 20 years. We want you and our customers to see us as the home of football for the next 20 years too. By working together, we can collectively remain a force for good. Thank you. 11