| Page 2 of 4 < > |
Can Youth Sports Coverage Pay Off Online?
Former Baltimore Sun reporter Lem Satterfield interviews a player after a high school football championship game for his new employer, DigitalSports.
(By Zachary A. Goldfarb -- The Washington Post)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Those family members can be loyal.
"I just check that site almost every day to see if they have new highlights," said Peter Athens of Dunkirk, 16, the quarterback on the St. Mary's Saints.
His father, Art Athens, who works for the Naval Academy, checks the site's videos after each game. "If I wanted to be inspired by my son's play, I would watch it again," he said.
To make money, DigitalSports primarily sells advertising. But in contrast to most online companies -- which focus on gathering as much of a national audience as possible to get big advertisers -- DigitalSports wants to crack the local advertising market.
For instance, on the Northern Virginia section of the site, a plumbing company and a copy and printing company have ads.
"The rub for me is: How do we get in front of a lot of high schools and booster clubs at a really targeted micro level?" said Peter Beveridge, owner of Eyeblack, a company that provides anti-glare strips with logos.
Chasing Advertising
Local ad dollars make up 13.4 percent of total online spending, according to research firm eMarketer. The company estimates that local online advertising, a $2.9 billion market, will grow to $7.8 billion in the next four years.
Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, assistant managing editor for sports at The Post, said some newspapers have assigned multiple reporters to cover single schools, without reaping much financial gain.
"I would question their ability to come up with a financial model," he said. "High school sports has been a loss leader forever."
That hasn't stopped many newspapers from beefing up their local sports presence.
Tim Wheatley, assistant managing editor for sports at the Sun, said among his paper's offerings now include a weekly two-page spread dedicated to high school sports and a new product called MyTeam, released by parent Tribune Co., that will try to offer team-by-team, school-by-school coverage.
The Post also has stepped up coverage. At its new LoudounExtra Web site serving Loudoun County, The Post is offering video coverage of games, a sports blog and galleries of photos.
