The Continuing Failure

of The Players’

Tribune

By: Kaili Simien

Market Analysis

TARGET AUDIENCE“The content will be aimed at a broad audience and there’s no specific breakdown by demographics. It’s for anyone who loves sports, who are fans of the game.” - Mark Grande, VP Content Strategy .

Ideally it is understand that this will reach anyone who is a sports lover. It will be people who have access to some form of the internet, which cuts out some of the older population; however, the audience will grow as time goes on.

PREDICTION FOR SPORTS MARKET AS A WHOLE

This graph shows the overall North American sports market size growth with projections into 2021. It is obvious that the sports market is on an uprise, predicted to have more money each year.

Sports market is divided into 4 sections: media rights, gate revenues, sponsorship, and merchandising. Media rights are expected to grow at the fastest rate growing to $22.7 billion in 2021 from $19.1 billion this year. That’s an average growth rate of 4% each year or 19% by 2021.

INTERNET AUDIENCEThe sports world captures around 182,995 of the total internet audience. While this includes the total sports market, this is a significant amount considering the total internet audience is 257,108. The Players’ Tribune is not on the list.

Competitors

The Players’ Tribune

ESPN CBS FOX/SI/Perform MSN Sports

November 2017 Unique Views (ComScore)

2.6 million 102 million 67 million 67 million 15.4 million

TAM Analysis

Average Revenue Per User = $3.76

Median Average Revenue Per User = $1.72- These numbers were obtained from

a Forbes article as average user worth to online platforms.

Unique viewers in December 2017 = 2.6 million

2.6 million x 12 = 31.2 million unique viewers

31.2 million x $1.00 = $31.2 million

● This is a rough estimate because there is no guarantee they generate that many new users each year.

● Also, only $1.00 was used as the revenue per user because the average came from companies like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and it is safe to assume a user to The Players’ Tribune is worth less.

“

Value and Product Proposition

What is The Players’ Tribune?

“It’s like the Go Pro of sports journalism, offering an inside first-person perspective”, said Jason Marks,

executive creative director.

“We’re giving the athletes that fans know and love a voice. This is longform social, to tell stories with content

in a natural way”, added Mark Grande,VP content strategy.

“It will be a platform where athletes control their own voice. It’s meant to complement what’s out there and provide opinions, POVs and perspective”, said Jaymee Messer, CMO, Excel Sports Management, Derek Jeter’s

agency.

What is The Players’ Tribune not?

“It won’t be a promotional website, and we’ll guard against that”, said Gary Hoenig, editorial director, Jeter

Publishing.

“We want to make sure this has a higher purpose and isn’t a payback site to get back at reporters. It’s not a

fan site, either”, Marks added.

“The last thing we need is for The Players’ Tribune to be construed as a vanity project for athletes”, Grande

emphasized.

Rationale for Launching“There’s a gap between fans and athletes since athletes aren’t as open when they sit with reporters, who then select story

headlines”, Messer said.

“When we did research we found that now there are more fans talking to other fans. This gives a voice to the players so the fans can get back to the game”, Marks added.

Value and Product Proposition Analysis

✘ There is no overarching parent to help with their value

✘ Have signed numerous sponsorship and branded content deals

✘ Has used their website in ways other sites haven’t (ex. Signing Day broadcasts with University of Michigan)

✘ First-person athlete content✘ Nothing on the site that could seem

extremely offensive (works well when working with brands)

✘ Focus on videos instead of articles

Business Model Analysis

Business Model- Started out with a few dozen contributors writing about their

experiences in the sports world. - Now has more than 1,200 athletes generating content.- The company does not pay any of its athlete contributions.- The company also has a great ability to sign on brand partners.

Analysis- They are not building the website on banner ads. (Thinking more

broadly than the CPM model, which charges advertisers per ad viewed)

- Not making money from athletic content creators is an interesting take; however, imagine the money they could be making if they did this.

- Signing brand partners is a good way to make money; however, not every brand is going to want to sign with you.. Some brands may not want to sign with you just because you signed with another brand.

Financial Funding Profile

Founded: October 1, 2014

Funding Status: Late Venture

Last Funding Type: Series C

Series A Round -> 1 investor of $3 millionSeries B Round -> 1 investor of $9.5 millionSeries B Round -> 2 investors of $5.5 millionSeries C Round -> 6 investors of $40 million

Total Funding Amount: $58 million in 4 rounds

Because the amount of money has invested over the years, it is safe to say that investors think The Players’ Tribune has great potential. Some people may look at this as though they have too much optimism though because the site does not make that much money. Maybe the new amount of funding will allow for the new improvements the site needs to make more money.

Conclusion - Failure

✘ While The Players’ Tribune offers a new look into the sports world from a unique experience, they are not making money from these stories.

✘ Partnering with various brands is an effective way to make money; however, there are only so many brands to reach.

✘ There are too many competitors already in the market they are trying to enter.

✘ While they received a lot of money from this last round of funding, it really depends how they spend the money that will determine if it was worth it.