Just caught wind from Pete Vlastelica at Yardbarker, that Yardbarker will be collaborating with Versus to produce Fanarchy a new Versus series that kicks off on June 7th.
Below are some details from a Variety article and I’ll link the Yardbarker press release when I come across it. “Fanarchy” will debut at 11 p.m. Sunday, June 7, but will subsequently air regularly at 10:30 p.m. Tuesdays. It will feature seven hardcore fans who are given the opportunity to state their opinions on topics of the day in a frenzied back-and-forth format. Zach Selwyn, runner-up of ESPN’s 2004 reality series “Dream Job,” in which a “SportsCenter” anchor gig was top prize, will host. Series will shoot in Los Angeles. Contestants appear via their own webcams and, at the end of each episode, Selwyn will eliminate two contestants. The remaining five return the following week to argue some more and two new fans are selected by producers and brought in to spar.”
Initial impressions are that they picked a great host in Zach of ESPN Dream Job and G4( infamous Point Break Live skit below). Also love the name of the show as it sets the expectation level that the show is going to be a little chaotic and random.
From what I know, Yardbarker will be producing a segment on the show . The content for this segment will probably center around content on yardbarker.com like athlete blogs/videos, quizzes, and recaps and reactions to popular viral videos and blogs. What this Means for Versus/Comcast: Versus (owned by Comcast) have been on the prowl the last 2-3 years trying to establish Versus as the next closest thing to ESPN. With the NHL and college football in their content portfolio, they have a nice base but bull riding and cycling is a pretty big drop off after that. They made a big play to have NFL games (NFL network’s current package), but lost out when a rift occurred between Comcast and the NFL which was actually squashed this week. Meanwhile Comcast has recently purchased a lot of local Fox Sports affiliates and rebranded those cable channels as Comcast Sports (insert local market). These channels have a lot more original programming then Fox did, as Fox ran a LOT of infomercials. By adding Yardbarker to their Fanarchy efforts, Versus gets a pretty popular and web savvy partner who can provide a lot of viral air cover for the show through their network and Yardbarker.com. The athlete component is the most intriguing as it gives athletes an unfiltered back channel into mainstream media and will probably be the most compelling content Yardbarker can serve up. This actually isn’t Comcast first foray into this realm as last year they had a run of shows called “Blog Show” hosted by Jaime Mottram and Dan Steinberg in conjunction with the The Washington Post.
The show was well received but came to an end when Mottram moved away from the filming location and Steinberg (I’ll do a show with someone if Comcast wants to re pick it up). Still though Comcast and Versus have stayed hungry looking to expand their footprint. Comcast has added affiliates, Versus has sniffed around for more live sports, and both seem to think that going viral is a great way to out maneuver ESPN who seems to be stuck with a stale digital strategy. With the launch of more league owned networks like MLB Network, NHL network, Big Ten Network, etc, the ability to get live content for Versus is going to be a lot harder and ESPN is going be aggressive in protecting their content relationships. That being said, a show like this will hopefully be a great grassroots way to make inroads for Versus as their channel placement (kind of in the boondocks and distribution is still not 100% through some providers) and modest brand awareness still has them as a secondary cable channel (unless you are a NHL fan). What This Means for Yardbarker: Big win for Yardbarker as this gives them a larger platform to promote their eco system of content. Yardbarker has a plethora of great network content, athlete blog content, and original content like this video below.
Its TBD just how the Yardbarker content/segment will blend with the show or how compelling/engaging the format and content will be, but its good that Yardbarker will not only be helping on the content side but also on the marketing/distribution side. Also if the show is a success, it opens up the door for more collaboration and partnerships between Comcast/Versus and Yardbarker. Recently Bleacher Report reached a pretty nifty deal with CBS, but one that was strictly for online content. If this show takes off, I would imagine the two companies would look for additional ways to collaborate or maybe even prospects of an acquisition down the road. All in all a very solid partnership. Can’t wait to see initial show on June 7th followed by Blogs With Balls the weekend after. Don’t look now but Sports 2.0 seems to be getting its footing and traction with main stream media regardless of the economic conditions.
