ESPN: Maximizing Audience Data to Drive Revenue Growth

We have partnered with ESPN for over four years to build a Fan Relationship Marketing (FRM) capability and culture within the organization.  What does this mean to them?  It means maximizing audience data to drive revenue growth for the benefit of marketing, ad sales, and editorial.  That's a tidy little sentence with a tremendous amount of team effort behind it.  But it is achievable, with the right plan, focus and discipline. 

Let's start with key drivers of value and Forrester's recent case study on our joint efforts. Then, in a series to follow I will cover the "what" and "how" of getting started.

In our experience, there are four key drivers of value in the Media industry:

1. Data volume, quality and value: The ability to build a complete view of the customer offline and online.  This will support meaningful, primary segmentation for the benefit of ad sales, marketing and editorial, and reduce dependency on 3rd party data providers.
2. Targeted ad packages that are easy to sell: The ability to package and deliver distinct segments of value that scale.  This will reduce remnant and ROS inventory with targeted packages that can command 2-3x the CPM, be sold in addition to branded sponsorships, and reduce or eliminate dependency on third party ad networks that deteriorate CPMs and brand equity.
3. Value models that prioritize your CRM efforts: The ability to define engagement and value by segment to ensure maximum investment in the 20% of customers that drive 80% of the revenue.  This will drive decision making for ad sales, marketing, content development, paid content strategies, and CRM programs.
4. The right infrastructure: The ability to support data volumes, run complex ad hoc queries, automate online campaigns, and provide industry-leading campaign reporting that will improve performance with reduced effort and cycle times.

Easy, right?  Next we'll break it down with "Getting Started 1.0", how to build on what's in place before you make any major investments in technology.