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Whistle Sports Unveils Targeted Sports Communities and Content at IAB NewFronts DebutWhistle Sports, a digital sports entertainment community with an aggregate reach of 72 million fans across eight leading social media platforms, today made its first appearance at IAB NewFronts, an annual series of events committed to the creation of valuable partnerships between brands and native digital content. The first ever NewFront dedicated completely to sports, Whistle Sports' presentation took place from 9-11 a.m. ET at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square. "We've been researching consumption patterns and media preferences for our audience for the past few years," said John West, founder and CEO of Whistle Sports. "We can definitively say that moving away from somebody behind desks telling you what happened last night and moving toward an authentic community of creators, fans and brands creates engagement numbers that consistently outperform on multiple social platforms." During the presentation, Whistle Sports introduced brands and agencies to its existing pro-league partnerships, its roster of top digital sports creators, its successful brand integration and advertising campaigns already underway and its research into the buying and media consumption habits of its young millennial audience. Since its formal launch on January of last year as the first network of its kind focused solely on the sports vertical, Whistle Sports moved to build out individual communities around particular sports, including The Lacrosse Network which dominates the nation's fast growing sport and a basketball vertical with millions of fans. At the NewFront, Whistle Sports announced it will be launching two new sports specific communities - fitness and soccer. It also announced it will be producing dozens of short forms shows in the next year, including: Faceoff, an ongoing head-to-head competition against digital superstars Dude Perfect; The Ultimate Tour where world champion Ultimate Frisbee star Brodie Smith egages first hand with fans around the world, letting his millions of fans choose his itinerary; Running the Pitch with digital gaming star AirJapesFIFA, which brings top soccer gamers into pro soccer stadiums; Challenge Accepted where pro athletes like the NBA's Jeremy Lin and world lacrosse champion Paul Rabil compete in fun contests; Most Valuable Prank, an uplifting and inspiring show that begins as a prank but turns into making a young fan's sports dreams come true; Record Smashers, a comedy where digital superstars attempt to set increasingly absurd sports-based records; and Next Trick Shot Superstar, which taps the network's 72 million fans to find the next great trick shot artist and celebrity. "Whistle Sports began with a simple observation: millennials were moving away from traditional sports media," West said. "Asking people under 30 to spend hours sitting back on a couch and be broadcast to, in a one-way format, seemed a huge stretch. This generation wanted to lean in and engage. To share, comment and most of all connect. We launched Whistle Sports with that mission, built on three pillars: pro leagues, teams and athletes; a group of very talented emerging digital sports creators; and most importantly, all the fans." Whistle Sports' leadership team includes founder and CEO West, a successful entrepreneur who has started, grown and sold multiple companies; co-founder and President Jeff Urban, a former SVP of Sports Marketing at Gatorade; EVP of advertising and sponsorship sales Deirdre Lester, formerly of MLB Advanced Media; EVP of marketing and business development Laura Fortner, formerly of Time Warner (News - Alert) and Nickelodeon; and head of content partnerships Julie Kikla, a founding member of the YouTube Sports team. The company's phased launch began in January 2014 with its YouTube (News - Alert)-based, multi-channel network, which has scaled to 16.84 million subscribers and 285 channel partners, who have created over 75,000 videos that have been viewed over 3.1 billion times. Since expanding across additional social video platforms including Facebook (News - Alert), Vine, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter, its aggregate reach is now 72 million, and is growing by 2 million each week. Whistle Sports' rapidly growing library of videos covers a wide variety of sports including football, basketball, baseball, and soccer, alongside emerging sports such as football freestyle, skateboarding and Ultimate Frisbee. The short-form videos curate sports content surrounding live events, including trick shots, instructional videos, and behind the scenes footage. The content is entertaining and inspirational, with proven audience engagement and sharing. In January 2015, the company announced it had raised $28 million in Series B financing. Emil Capital Partners, an affiliate of the Tengelmann Group, led the round, which also included Sky Broadcasting, and Liberty Global (News - Alert), the world's largest international cable company. The Series B also included investors from the $8 million Series A completed in 2012, including recently retired New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. About Whistle Sports Whistle Sports, a sports entertainment network and community built across leading social media platforms, engages millions of young millennial fans worldwide, and in 2015 was nominated by Sports Business Journal for the Best in Digital Sports Media award and named by Fast Company as one of the world's 10 most innovative video companies. The network's owners, investors and content partners include pro league partners like the NFL, PGA Tour, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, Major League Lacrosse, AVP (pro volleyball), and the Harlem Globetrotters. Whistle Sports currently has studio offices in New York, Dallas, Los Angeles and London. |
