MLB Advanced Media nears $400 million in annual revenue
Michael Gay June 17th, 2007
In a must-read article in Newsweek, MLB’s BAM details the start of the company and the successes they have enjoyed. The stats are impressive: a growth rate of 30%, 50 million uniques a month, 1 million paying subscribers, $80 million in merchandise, and a billion minutes of streaming video. MLB took an unusual approach to launching the operation in 1999 when it launched as a separate company. Each team invested $2.6 million to get it started. That leads to an obvious question: How much has your station invested in the online operation to make it succeed?
9 Comments Add your own
1. thedetroitchannel | June 17th, 2007 at 9:27 am
that is a great question that should be asked time and again…although “investing” doesn’t only mean $$$, ya’know?
it would be great to see stations “invest” a bit of time on the non-peak hours and even (god forbid) the weekends to keep their content fresh.
weather from saturday when it’s afternoon on sunday?
but a few more dollars kicked to the online side wouldn’t hurt either.
2. thedetroitchannel | June 17th, 2007 at 9:44 am
It’s always easier when you have a monopoly on content. BAM gets to use media that every other online operation is barred from using.
3. thedetroitchannel | June 17th, 2007 at 9:48 am
that may be true, but could you please not use my id?
i have a monopoly on it.
4. Eric | June 17th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Now that was weird. I’m the poster of the second comment. I have no idea how that happened.
When I clicked in to this post again “thedetroitchannel” defaulted in the name field. Normally it shows my name and I didn’t bother to check before posting.
Sorry about that.
5. Joel Price | June 17th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Ironically, the MLBAM model is much like NFL’s historic 1961 pact to distribute national TV revenue. Today the NFL is debating if they should bring all club sites in-house much like MLB.com. Look for the NFL to follow the MLB model that originated with eh NFL.
#2 I don’t understand your monopoly on content argument? Why don’t you go start your own baseball league and sell advertisement around it? No one is stopping you from that.
6. Eric | June 17th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
Joel,
My point was that MLB, whose stadiums are financed with public tax dollars and has been given a legal monopoly by our elected government, has banned other media outlets from using its content online.
I cannot put video highlights on my local news site because of their rules. How can I or anyone else compete with that.
The NFL is now doing the same thing with their draconian restrictions of video content online.
7. Joel Price | June 17th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Eric, Are you saying any event that goes on in a stadium should be free game? What about a rock concert in the same stadium?
8. Richard | June 18th, 2007 at 12:55 am
Eric can’t use Baseball’s video because it belongs to Baseball.
Baseball can’t use Eric’s lawnmower because it belongs to Eric.
This is not Monopoly.
This is Ownership.
9. Jak | September 28th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
myfreepaysite login
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