by Katie Dean
Wired
Baseball, America's traditional pastime, is best enjoyed on a summer day with a hot dog and beer in hand. But many fans who can't make it to the ballpark are watching and listening to games on their PCs.
Like an outfielder charging a sinking fly ball, MLB.com, the Internet arm of Major League Baseball, has been aggressive in the options it offers fans on its website. Analysts say its strategy is a case study for other sports.
The casual fan can retrieve free daily audio and video highlights, as well as scores, statistics and pitch-by-pitch updates on games in progress. Visitors can also access video of memorable moments, like Arizona's Randy Johnson's recent perfect game against Atlanta, where clips of all 27 outs are seamlessly fused together. Diehards can sign up for Gameday Audio, which runs 15 bucks for the season. A subscription to MLB.TV includes video of all games for $15 a month; MLB All Access costs $20 per month and includes both the video and audio.
"They have a textbook product to be sold online. It has incredible universal appeal," said Allan Weiner, research director at Gartner. "It fits the Internet model of content distribution to a T."
Baseball is a natural fit with the Internet because of the sheer number of games each season, and because of the sport's long history, devoted fans and rich statistics, analysts said. Games are played every day and no two are alike. The Internet can also be a boon for the faraway baseball fan. For a Milwaukee Brewers fan living in San Francisco, for example, paying to hear Bob Uecker call the game is an attractive option, especially when local television and radio stations rarely carry the games.
"Baseball fans cannot get enough baseball," Weiner said. "They could turn it into a year-round sport using the Internet."
Other sports like football and basketball don't have as many games or the rich history that baseball does. While football was the first major sports website online -- NFL.com will celebrate its 10th year this season -- it cannot offer full videos of games because of lucrative television contracts.
"The NFL is very rich and they don't want to muck with anything," said David Card, an analyst with Jupiter Research. Its "programming on the Net is more about complementing the game rather than carrying the game itself."
Football fans can listen to games on the Net and see behind-the-scenes videos. NFL.com has also capitalized on the booming fantasy sports trend, where subscribers can pay for video highlights of their fantasy players. Baseball has a similar feature.
MLB.com had 500,000 paying subscribers last year, including 150,000 who paid for audio and 150,000 who subscribed to video, according to MLB.com spokesman Jim Gallagher. The remaining 200,000 paid for other features like videos of condensed games or a collection of great moments in the sport. This season, the company projected 350,000 would sign up for MLB.TV, prior to signing a number of content-distribution deals with MSN, Charter Communications, Comcast and Cablevision Systems.
One new free feature this season is video box scores that enable a fan to watch clips of each player's at-bats, hits, walks or strikeouts. If Cubs' pitcher Carlos Zambrano strikes out five batters that day, for instance, one could watch a video of each whiff. A stringer at each ballpark video-logs each event in the game and then posts it to the website.
"No one has ever done this before," said Bob Bowman, CEO of Major League Baseball Advanced Media, which runs MLB.com. "We're actually seeking a patent on it."
Earlier this month, the company cut a deal with Sprint to offer live game-day audio through cell phones for an extra 10 bucks a month. MobiTV, which created the service, also sells video highlights of games to fans through their mobile phones. Celecast offers college basketball broadcasts over cell phones, too.
"It's perfect for someone in my position," said Greg Robinson, a Boston Red Sox fan who moved to the West Coast five years ago and recently signed up for the Mobi-MLB Gameday Audio.
He's listened to about four games per week since signing up for the service, and said "it's definitely come in handy when I have to leave work and (the game) is a close one. I don't have to get back online to check the score. It's like listening to the radio."
MLB.com has been profitable since 2002, Bowman said. Its success has fueled rumors that the company may go public at some point. Bowman declined to comment on the subject.
Jupiter's Card said that the company mission is to use the Internet to further the game and make money, so "an IPO would be one way to do that. I'm sure they're exploring the idea."
Wired
Baseball, America's traditional pastime, is best enjoyed on a summer day with a hot dog and beer in hand. But many fans who can't make it to the ballpark are watching and listening to games on their PCs.
Like an outfielder charging a sinking fly ball, MLB.com, the Internet arm of Major League Baseball, has been aggressive in the options it offers fans on its website. Analysts say its strategy is a case study for other sports.
The casual fan can retrieve free daily audio and video highlights, as well as scores, statistics and pitch-by-pitch updates on games in progress. Visitors can also access video of memorable moments, like Arizona's Randy Johnson's recent perfect game against Atlanta, where clips of all 27 outs are seamlessly fused together. Diehards can sign up for Gameday Audio, which runs 15 bucks for the season. A subscription to MLB.TV includes video of all games for $15 a month; MLB All Access costs $20 per month and includes both the video and audio.
"They have a textbook product to be sold online. It has incredible universal appeal," said Allan Weiner, research director at Gartner. "It fits the Internet model of content distribution to a T."
Baseball is a natural fit with the Internet because of the sheer number of games each season, and because of the sport's long history, devoted fans and rich statistics, analysts said. Games are played every day and no two are alike. The Internet can also be a boon for the faraway baseball fan. For a Milwaukee Brewers fan living in San Francisco, for example, paying to hear Bob Uecker call the game is an attractive option, especially when local television and radio stations rarely carry the games.
"Baseball fans cannot get enough baseball," Weiner said. "They could turn it into a year-round sport using the Internet."
Other sports like football and basketball don't have as many games or the rich history that baseball does. While football was the first major sports website online -- NFL.com will celebrate its 10th year this season -- it cannot offer full videos of games because of lucrative television contracts.
"The NFL is very rich and they don't want to muck with anything," said David Card, an analyst with Jupiter Research. Its "programming on the Net is more about complementing the game rather than carrying the game itself."
Football fans can listen to games on the Net and see behind-the-scenes videos. NFL.com has also capitalized on the booming fantasy sports trend, where subscribers can pay for video highlights of their fantasy players. Baseball has a similar feature.
MLB.com had 500,000 paying subscribers last year, including 150,000 who paid for audio and 150,000 who subscribed to video, according to MLB.com spokesman Jim Gallagher. The remaining 200,000 paid for other features like videos of condensed games or a collection of great moments in the sport. This season, the company projected 350,000 would sign up for MLB.TV, prior to signing a number of content-distribution deals with MSN, Charter Communications, Comcast and Cablevision Systems.
One new free feature this season is video box scores that enable a fan to watch clips of each player's at-bats, hits, walks or strikeouts. If Cubs' pitcher Carlos Zambrano strikes out five batters that day, for instance, one could watch a video of each whiff. A stringer at each ballpark video-logs each event in the game and then posts it to the website.
"No one has ever done this before," said Bob Bowman, CEO of Major League Baseball Advanced Media, which runs MLB.com. "We're actually seeking a patent on it."
Earlier this month, the company cut a deal with Sprint to offer live game-day audio through cell phones for an extra 10 bucks a month. MobiTV, which created the service, also sells video highlights of games to fans through their mobile phones. Celecast offers college basketball broadcasts over cell phones, too.
"It's perfect for someone in my position," said Greg Robinson, a Boston Red Sox fan who moved to the West Coast five years ago and recently signed up for the Mobi-MLB Gameday Audio.
He's listened to about four games per week since signing up for the service, and said "it's definitely come in handy when I have to leave work and (the game) is a close one. I don't have to get back online to check the score. It's like listening to the radio."
MLB.com has been profitable since 2002, Bowman said. Its success has fueled rumors that the company may go public at some point. Bowman declined to comment on the subject.
Jupiter's Card said that the company mission is to use the Internet to further the game and make money, so "an IPO would be one way to do that. I'm sure they're exploring the idea."
