Now I’m not here to sound the death knell of traditional television — but the ability to inexpensively bring cameras, people and scripts together in a room, studio or out to the field to produce content that is interesting, funny, targeted and timely is indisputable.

I experienced this first hand during my time in LA at Fox Sports Interactive as we scaled an original programming operation relatively far from the Fox lot.  Those were still very much “walk before you run” days, and the evolution has continued as more of the traditional TV folks have leaned in to see what the “digital guys” are up to.  And now at Bleacher Report, video has increasingly become part of our DNA and is an extension of our next gen digital publishing platform.

Video certainly opens up the creative opportunities to a meritocracy of ideas and talent.  The barriers of entry are no longer access to studio infrastructure and big time budgets.  Throw in mobile distribution and the opportunities are endless in terms of the corpus of original video that can be created for consumers across thousands and thousands of topic interests.  And it can all be done for far less than $500MM.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2011/12/22/how-publishers-can-ready-themselves-for-digital-medias-evolution/

So here goes, three predictions, actually more like “trends”, that will thematically connect the worlds of sports sponsorship with digital media – entertainment.

Pent-up Demand Unleashed in 2012

Let’s face it, 2011 has been a bit of a drag in the sports world.  Two lockouts, no great positive news stories to keep us enthralled (where’s Brett Favre when we really need him?), and enough global debt crisis black clouds to scare off even the most optimistic media buyer.

So just playing the law of averages means that 2012 will be a big year.  Labor peace pervades the NFL, NBA and even MLB.  Marketers can actually now build long-range marketing plans around the properties that they are investing.  In the case of the NFL the TV deals are going to run for the next 10 years – imagine how many ad impressions Tim Tebow might get over that span?

Layer on top of this the fact that 2012 is an Olympics year and that Tiger Woods won a tournament in late 2011 (imagine what happens to golf if he wins a Major next year?), and the macro outlook for sports sponsorship and advertising spend looks very positive in the coming year.

Leaping to Emerging Digital Platforms

On the digital front, marketers will turn their focus to where sports fans are going – and that means mobile and social platforms.  With another big holiday season of new smartphone and tablet purchases, more fans will be accessing sports content and entertainment through these smaller screens so sponsors will be smart to figure out how to embed their brands and messages into those experiences.

From a social media perspective, Facebook and Twitter will continue to explore ways to connect top tier content publishers with brand advertisers.  Part of this will take place on those dominate social platforms directly, but a big part of the experience will come through the smart integration of social elements within the publisher’s digital media experience.

Of course the perfect storm here for marketers will be the opportunity to partner with content publishers and properties around experiences that combine the social and mobile consumer experience.  Expect to see a major shift towards innovation around this theme in 2012.

Sports and Entertainment – Lines Continue to Blur

Ok, we’ve been talking about the confluence of the sports and entertainment worlds for years – how long ago did ESPN Hollywood launch – and sunset?  But we know how much entertainment stars love to hang out at sporting events and be around athletes, and in turn, athletes all want to be entertainment stars (e.g. case in point, Shaq’s latest ad promoting the NBA on Turner).

But 2012 truly feels like the year this sports-meets-entertainment theme really takes off.  Part of it will driven by the two trends above:  labor peace means athletes will have their public stages for a full year without distraction and no group has embraced social media more than the athlete cohort.  We should not overlook other data points that infer an inflection point here — thank you Kardashian sisters for helping to really define “NBA Entertainment” and thank you to the WWE for pushing for your own TV channel.

Why does the acceleration of this sports-meets-entertainment trend matter for sports sponsors?  Well, many advertisers have smartly caught on to the fact that by connecting with this theme they can keep a 24×7 narrative going with fans that doesn’t have to end when the game ends.  For example, it’s great for Visa to be associated with what happens on NFL fields, but it’s even better if they can figure out how to stay in front of fans through an association with athletes and teams when they’re off the field or court – which will increasingly take place in that arena we’ve traditionally considered an “entertainment” setting.  Consider the lines officially blurred in 2012.

So there you have it.  Three trends to wrap your head around if you’re sitting anywhere on the spectrum between sports sponsor and publisher/property.  Happy sports new year to everyone!

And while big time schools continue the game of conference musical chairs, the activity swirling around periphery of college athletics continues to amaze.  On one hand mighty programs like the University of Miami and the University of Oregon are under investigation for dealings with a now imprisoned booster and a questionable recruiting service respectively.

Yikes!  Why would any sane marketer associate their brand with college sports right now?  Well, here are a few reasons to consider:

Capturing the Next Wave of Consumers

Brand marketers know that the next wave of consumers that they want to reach — that digital savvy, social media influencer type, is on campus right now — shuttling from an Econ 101 study group to the tailgate before the big game.  The tailgate party and in stadium experience delivers thousands of targeted impressions to 17-22 year olds in an environment that is more engaging than just about any other window of a student’s day.  Talk about being able to create some real brand affinity.

College Sports Spans a Broad Demographic

No matter what conference the University of Texas plays in next year, a good chunk of the state of Texas — plus thousands of displaced UT alums — will tune in to all their football and basket ball games, plus consume thousands of hours of media dedicated to the Longhorns, whether it be via national coverage on ESPN, local coverage from the Longhorn Network, or the hundreds of stories that will be written about the crew in burnt orange day in and day out.  Unlike the targeted student demo on campus, however, the beauty of college athletics is that it appeals to men and women, young and old.  Heck, even my wife (a Cal alum) pays attention to the Bears now and again, something that doesn’t happen with her with respect to local pro sports teams.

Brands Love Going Hyper Local

Sports in general is a hyper local phenomenon, but college sports holds an edge to pro sports when it comes to really connecting with fans at the local level.  When was the last time a college sports football program packed up in the middle of the night and moved to another town?  How frequently does a player get traded to another school?  (Ok, sometimes they do leave school early to go to the Pros, but there again it’s the Pro sport fans chide, not the poor old college team that lost their All-American).  In fact, one of the reasons MillerCoors invested in a 23-school “integrated marketing program” as reported by the Sports Business Journal earlier this month, is the opportunity for the beer company to enable their local distributors and retailers to create a deeper connection with local fans.

Media Rights Going Across All Platforms

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the dynamic state of college athletics is the fact that media rights are being revalued and in turn enabling more and more college sports product to make it’s way to fans.  The Longhorn Network is an extreme, but good example.  Now those UT fans can get more than college football and baseball, they will get access to UT’s stellar swimming, baseball and track teams.  Likewise, the Pac-12 will eventually rollout several regional cable networks as well as their own digital platform which will collectively put hundreds of hours of live and on demand sports content on TVs, computer screens, iPads, and smartphones.

And who benefits big time from the broader reach of college sports media besides the fans and schools?  Brand marketers of course.  MillerCoors, State Farm, UPS, and the ever growing list of college sports sponsors all get more touch points to connect with the fan bases they value — whether they be students on campus, alums living out of state or local residents following the team’s every move.

So embrace the wild ride that is college sports right now and trust me, on the other side of today’s hectic pace will be a landscape that is good for fans and brands.  Now about that BCS set up?

Hey, if the TV guys who are used to “winner takes all” negotiations can figure out a way to partner up on deals – imagine what the digital world could look like rolling forward as content producers, distributors and sponsors figure out changing roles and business models on the fly.   Consider what kinds of working relationships we might see given the shifting landscapes.

Content Producers and Distributors

This is the relationship you’d expect to be the most secure.  You know, distributor pays content producer for content, and then monetizes it by bringing in sponsors and/or charging fans directly.

But what happens in a world with rapidly shifting and expanding distribution outlets?  Think of Google/Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Hulu and the tens of millions of smartphones and tablets consumers carry around all as content consumption devices – or distribution.   Combine this plethora of digital distribution with the ever declining cost of content creation – a camera and a talking head, a blog post, and even a “professionally produced” show all cost a fraction of what they cost to produce yesterday let alone a year ago.

So the content producer and distributor dynamic is changing.  Content creators can go direct to consumer (and hope someone can find them on the Web or via the App Store) or, more likely, they can wade into this expanding sea of distribution that awaits their creations and let their content creations flow through as many distribution outlets as make sense.

And in a lot of cases, content producers will attempt to also become distributors – the University of Texas can make video content available directly to fans through their own website – and likewise, distributors will become content producers – Netflix and Hulu moving in to “originals” production are but two examples here.

Distributors and Sponsors

Here is another traditional working relationship that is under re-construction.  Digital distribution doesn’t mean a walled garden network that owns audience in the way three television networks used to dominate the airwaves.

Distribution still matters for sponsors, it will just be defined differently and more fluidly.  Channels like Search powered by Google’s ongoing improvements in delivering high quality content to users, and Social powered by Facebook’s and Twitter’s respective focus on turning their audiences more efficiently towards content will be increasingly relevant to sponsors.  And Mobile will no doubt be the consumption platform that dominates the future – the combination of Search and Social on Mobile opens up a whole new distribution playing field for sponsors.

Savvy advertisers will embrace these changes in the context of their traditional distributor partnerships.  It won’t be sufficient to park a sponsorship exclusively on a single distribution outlet to reach a desired audience.   Pepsi, for example, will need to reach NFL fans where those fans can be aggregated and engaged across several distribution outlets.  Sponsors who can efficiently map their brand messages across a diverse set of distribution opportunities will find that their ROIs respond accordingly.

Content Producers and Sponsors

Of the three unique relationships in the content-distribution-sponsorship chain, the dynamic between content producers and sponsors may be the one that we see transition the most as digital media continues to evolve.  New and meaningful distribution outlets give content producers and sponsors more options to partner directly to create powerful experiences.

Some might call this the next wave of “advertorial” or “branded content”.  Whatever term gets coined, the opportunities will continue to expand for brands to define the audiences they want to connect with and then partner with content producers to create experiences that don’t feel forced and fake.

A key aspect here will be sponsors and content producers having a smart perspective on distribution on distribution.  For example, Chevy could come up with the greatest creative concept in concert with a content producer, but running the content solely on Chevy.com and/or a single media website will significantly limit the potential for Chevy to engage all the potential fans who might be impacted by the campaign.

Ultimately, great content concepts, smart distribution and innovative sponsorship groups will all be part of the mix going forward.  Just expect that the ways they have historically worked together will evolve almost as fast and the digital media landscape is moving.

This weekend’s example came in the context of our team (the Twins) suffering through a lambasting by the White Sox.  After each inning on defense we group up the kids and get them in for a 1-2-3 cheer to get them amped up for our turn at the plate.  Well, after the 3rd inning we were down 12-0.  (Yes, you’re actually wondering how I am keeping my job as the head coach but that’s a separate topic.)

So during the lead up to our cheer I said to the players how lonely I was coaching 3rd base since none of our players had made it over there yet while we were batting.  You know, a little light humor in the context of getting our butts kicked around.  Later that evening, after the game had ended I was at home with my daughter who is on the team and she mentions how she and one of the other players were concerned that I was really lonely coaching 3rd base.  She said they thought I was really serious.  Then she says the other player looked over in my direction just as I was bending over in a light stretch.

Then my daughter says to me:  ”We saw you doing yoga and then we said that you were probably ok.”

Priceless.

Friday night was Little League practice with the younger daughter in the Presidio — which is on the opposite end of town from where we live.  When we got back to the house, the elder daughter was home from her futsol game — along with a friend who was staying overnight — a sleepover?  Nobody cleared that one with me.  Two girls fine, they’re mine I guess.  But adding the “friend sleepover” seemed like I was being tested by someone — my wife perhaps.

Saturday started pretty easy — I let the girls lounge around the house while I took care of a bunch of errands and did a bit of work.  But by mid-day we were on our way for the activities of the rest of the day and evening.  First it was over to Treasure Island for the epic Twins vs. Yankees Little League game.  While I coached the Twins (to a rousing victory over the Yanks I might add, not that we are keeping track of wins or loses of course), my older daughter and her friend stayed in the car the entire time!  What the hell could they have been talking about for nearly two and a half hours sitting in a car?  Okay, not sure I want the answer to that rhetorical question.  They did actually get out of the car once apparently — in order to walk to the next field over that had the snack shack so they could get some healthy ballpark grub.

After the game it was back to SF to drop the little one off at a friend’s house where she’d be going to one of those “drop your kid off for 4 hours, we’ll feed them pizza and run them ragged while you and your wife have a date night”.  Well, my date night was taking two sixth graders to Pasta Pomodoro and then to a movie.  The movie was the one about the female surfer who had her arm taken off in a shark attack — but still aspires and succeeds in becoming an accomplished professional surfer.  Great story, bad acting (when did Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt decide to pack it in as actors?).  From the movie back to get the second grader, take the friend home (no second night sleepover thankfully) and then get the daughters to bed — of course by 11 PM barely.  And it’s only Saturday night mind you.

Then came Sunday — and I brought some of this on myself.  First, off to Haight Street at 8:15 AM.  Who does that?  Nothing’s open that early except a couple breakfast joints.  Thankfully we found Pork Store not too crowded and sat at the counter together.  The little one ate a sausage patty as round as her face.  From there we knocked out some weekly food shopping at Whole Foods.  It’s always a bit disconcerting when the grocery has two armed police officers roaming the aisles.  After WF, a shot across town to Sports Basement — new baseball cleats for the little one, a new lacrosse mouth guard for the big one.  Back to Haight to hit Kid Robot store — the purpose in going to Haight in the first place — where the younger daughter bought a couple things she’ll probably lose by this Wednesday.

Ugh!  Then to the house for 45 minutes of chilling.  Back in the car.  Pick up the same girl who was over for the sleepover Friday night (don’t ask, it’s complicated) to take the older girls to Golden Gate Park for a birthday party.  After that drop off, the little one and I shoot up to Novato for her lacrosse games.  Nothing like second graders scrambling around with face masks and lacrosse sticks.  Back in the car to SF.  Drop little one off at Rain Forrest Cafe to meet friends for dinner — the same one’s she played with at that “drop your kids off for 4 hours” place Saturday night.  Are you getting the repeating themes here?

Then back to the Mission to pick the older one up from her friend’s house post-birthday party.  Back to our house.  Clean the kitchen.  Head out to get the little one and dart to SFO to pick up my wife at the airport.  Of course she’s texting incessantly and impatiently wondering why I’m late?  Of course I don’t get mad.  It’s nice to have the reinforcements.  And all complaining aside, this goes down as one of my greatest weekends of all time.  Thanks girls.

Interesting story in today’s NYTimes highlighting the decline in blogging amongst the younger demo as they migrate to Facebook, Twitter and Tumbler — platforms that put a premium on short, visual posts versus deeper thinking and writing. Perhaps this is a sign that portends a sad future where the next generation loses their ability to think critically and express these thoughts through well formed written presentation.

If you believe in Darwinism, maybe this is a natural evolution whereby writing actually declines as a genetic capability — replaced by the ability to communicate in short, rapid-fire bursts heavy on photos and video creations. I promise to not be a luddite here and be open to this future. Heck, I live with two kids who are clearly wired for this new world.

Now we’ve heard this story before.  Big brand thinks they can go direct to consumer, bypass the mobile Carriers (e.g. Verizon et al) and become the gatekeeper to all revenues that flow in from said consumers.  Well, turns out it’s a little harder than that — just ask ESPN, Google or even the well funded upstarts Amp’d Mobile and Boost Mobile.  So why in the world would Facebook even have a chance to pull it off?

Couple reasons…or say 500 million reasons to start.

Talk about an amazing low cost promotional platform to upsell from, Facebook just has to get every marketer’s favorite “1%” conversion and all of a sudden they’re in the game.  Then there’s the not so small fact that a whole generation of digital users have shunned traditional email accounts for the Facebook inbox.  If this batch of Internet users is fine with the FB stream, wall and inbox as their communication threads, then a Facebook mobile phone will feel like an obvious extension.

And then of course there’s the insatiable appetite that marketers have to get social and be on the Facebook platform.  Imagine how Facebook can leverage this influence to pump out all kinds of co-marketing, cross-marketing deals with big brands to push the FB phone while at the same time seeding the FB Mobile Ad Network.  AdMob and Quattro what?

Ok, so the Facebook phone seems like it’s got a real shot, even if it’s not officially on the Facebook “to do” list.  Now how long until we get the specifications for the Twitter mobile phone?