Considering its 100-year-plus history, Major League Baseball’s mobile efforts are pretty cutting-edge. MLB.com offers a host of ways for fans to follow the sport on their phones, from text alerts to radio broadcasts to video highlights, which debut this year. We talked with Dinn Mann, MLB.com’s executive vice president of content, and Adam Ritter, VP of wireless for Major League Baseball Advanced Media, about how sport is using wireless to reach fans – and how it’s dealing with the steep learning curve of mobile advertising.
Major League Baseball just added another pitch to its mobile arsenal.
The big leagues celebrate Opening Day this week – last week’s Boston/Oakland teaser in Tokyo notwithstanding – and will officially debut its mobile video alert service for mobile phones. A new add-on to a $4-per-month text alert service, the feature will deliver highlights several times a game to subscribers with video-enabled handsets.
The latest offering expands an already impressive lineup for phone-toting seamheads. MLB.com targets fans on their phones with everything from “pull” updated SMS scores – which require users to send the name of their favorite team to the short code MLBGO – to a full-on multimedia offering that sells for as much as $9 per month. The latter service couples radio game broadcasts with an online graphical interface that tracks games in real time, presenting an information-rich simulation.
Fan immersion
The desktop version of of the interface is ideal for fans looking to monitor the game – or, perhaps more frequently, their fantasy baseball squad – while stuck in the cube. The interface provides an astounding amount of information, including a scoreboard of other MLB games, full lineups, up-to-date pitch counts and the trajectory of each pitch as it crosses the plate, allowing users to check the action as they work. But while the mobile version includes such detailed information as pitch speeds, MLB’s content team understands that fans consume content differently on their handsets than on the PC, according to Dinn Mann, MLB.com’s EVP of content.
“We have dedicated editors who are working in this space,” Mann said, “and we recognize the difference between reaching fans on a flat-screen monitor and a handheld device. We try to replicate the site but not do so literally. We understand the difference between squinting at a device and looking a little more passively on a monitor. We . make it even more user-friendly (on the phone) so you’re not daunted by a lot of small bits of information.”
Like most content providers in mobile – and like every player who brought an already high-profile brand to the medium – MLB began exploring wireless content from the on-deck side, leveraging its familiar name to secure prime real estate. But baseball is quickly growing a following for its off-deck channel, which was overhauled last fall, according to Adam Ritter, VP of wireless for Major League Baseball Advanced Media.
Moving to off deck
And while an on-deck presence is still crucial, the direct-to-consumer route is an important avenue to reach fans who may be a little more rabid when it comes to following their favorite teams – and may be willing to seek out content and pay to project their alliances with personalization trinkets like ringtones and wallpapers.
“I think on-deck is still strong” when it comes to marketing and distributing content, Ritter said. “But we’re seeing off-deck grow considerably. . If you’re a Yankees fan, you’re always going to be looking for Yankees content.”
It’s no surprise, then, that traffic to MLB’s WAP site is increasing at a greater clip than that of its Web site. Much of the content on the wireless Web site is free – and much of it, like scores and news feeds, can be found elsewhere on the mobile Internet. But MLB.com executives compare both the PC and mobile destinations to brick-and-mortar ballparks, where fans can either simply sit and take in the action or get out the wallet and buy all sorts of goodies.
“They’re more like a venue,” Mann said of the wireless and traditional sites. “When a fan visits a venue, they are not offended by the opportunity to shop, to buy a ticket for another game, to get a better seat, or to see that highlight on the scoreboard. . We know we have (intellectual property) that’s appealing, so we don’t apologize” for charging for it.
Competition abounds
As valuable as that intellectual property is, however, several startups are working to lure baseball fans with compelling – and free – mobile services. 4INFO, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm, targets fantasy baseball players with a sponsored text-alert service that allows users to choose individual players and receive alerts each time they steal a base, score a run or knock one out of the park, for instance. CBS’s Sportsline.com offers a free service that provides mobile access to fantasy teams, allowing players to check stats, set their lineups and view standings.
Those kinds of services are sure to become more popular as fans grow more accustomed to accessing information on their phones. Unsurprisingly, Mann and Ritter say that MLB.com differentiates its products.
“If you take the old-fashioned print media, there were free weekly shoppers, 25-cent newspapers and papers that were a buck-fifty,” Mann said. “We’re not shy about the emphasis we place on quality. There are lots and lots of brains and muscles and fans in our factory who work very hard to deliver a variety of services that can be tiered into the premium realm. We make no bones about approaching the business that way.”
Mobile ads possible
Which is not to say that baseball’s mobile executives – like nearly everyone else in the space – aren’t dipping their toes in the wireless advertising waters. MLB.com is selling inventory on both its Web and WAP sites, and is teaming with sponsors on interactive mobile campaigns such as text polling. Like other players, baseball’s wireless brain trust is treading carefully so as not to annoy fans with intrusive ads. And they’re learning from their mistakes as they struggle to grasp the new medium.
“You’ve never stuck the landing entirely. There’s a fire drill every now and then when we react and reassess and listen not only externally but internally about going too far” with mobile ads, Mann conceded. “We’re not afraid to throw some paint against the wall, but generally you’ll see that we are somewhat conservative in our approach. But we haven’t solved the riddle.”
