iWorld
Sky & Whistle Sports launch social media channel for original football content
MUMBAI: Sky Sports and Whistle Sports have launched a new social media channel dedicated to creating original football content. Using Sky’s Soccer AM brand, it will go live today (18 September, 2015) and be available to watch on multiple platforms, with its own YouTube channel and a presence on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Vine.
The content produced will feature new faces such as England Women’s footballer, Alex Scott as well as bringing together existing Sky Sports on-screen talent Adam Smith from Soccer AM and Laura Woods. There will be original programming, entertaining videos and posts covering football topics, such as gaming, fantasy football, stats, and skills.
It is the first collaboration since Sky’s $7 million investment in Whistle Sports in October 2014. Since then the two companies have been working together on creating exciting new content, aimed at young millennials.
Sky Sports director of digital media Dave Gibbs said, “Whistle Sports has led the way in producing entertaining digital sports content in the US for some time now with hugely engaged audiences. The new Soccer AM channel on social media is going to do something very different to what football supporters are used to from Sky Sports. We will produce new types of content, with new presenters for new audiences. By combining our expertise and talent, we hope to produce something that will really excite young football fans.”
Whistle Sports CEO John West added, “Young millennial sports fans increasingly use social media to drive their engagement with live sports. Our community of compelling creators have grown to serve that need and engage a growing generation of global sports fans,” pointing out that Whistle Sports recently broke an aggregate 100 million global fans and followers across social platforms.
“Sky makes a perfect partner for our international expansion due to their commitment to innovation. This new brand, new content and new approach around the world’s most popular sport is a great new offering,” he said.
The Soccer AM channel on social media will feature a number of original content strands including event weeks, with quarterly programming focused on specific themes, as well as new regular shows. On a Monday morning, it will take a fun look at the quirky stories from the weekend’s football, and the Friday evening show will use data and stats to debate the key upcoming games.
The launch will see the first event week focused on the release of FIFA 16, bringing together some of the biggest names in vlogging to look at the characters that surround the game, its evolution and role in sports gaming. The partnership brings together Sky’s expertise in producing sports output including football, rugby and cricket with Whistle Sports’ proven capability in combining youth-orientated celebrities, innovative programming ideas and formats to make sport more accessible for younger audiences.
The partnership with Whistle Sports is part of Sky’s ongoing programme of investing in innovative startups that help Sky bring new ideas, insight and services into its business.
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Snapchat parent Snap cuts 16 per cent of workforce in AI-driven restructuring
The Snapchat parent is axing around 1,000 jobs and closing 300 open roles to save $500m, as artificial intelligence makes smaller teams the new normal
CALIFORNIA: Snap is snapping. The Snapchat parent has confirmed plans to cut around 1,000 employees, roughly 16 per cent of its full-time workforce, as it bets that artificial intelligence can do what headcount once required. Shares jumped more than 10 per cent in premarket trading on the news, a brisk vote of confidence from a market that has watched the stock shed about 31 per cent this year.
The restructuring, which also closes more than 300 open roles, follows pressure from activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which holds an economic interest of about 2.5 per cent in the company and has been loudly pushing Snap to tighten its portfolio and lift performance. The firm got what it asked for, and then some.
Chief executive Evan Spiegel told employees the cuts would reduce annualised expenses by more than $500m by the second half of the year. The company expects to incur charges of between $95m and $130m related to the layoffs, mostly severance, with the bulk landing in the second quarter. Staff in Snap’s North America team were asked to work from home on the day of the announcement.
The financial backdrop is not without bright spots. Snap expects first-quarter revenue to rise around 12 per cent to approximately $1.53 billion, broadly in line with analyst estimates. Adjusted core profit for the January to March quarter is forecast at about $233m, comfortably ahead of Wall Street’s expectation of $186.8m.
The harder question surrounds Specs, Snap’s augmented reality smart glasses subsidiary, which Irenic has urged the company to spin off or shut down entirely. The unit has absorbed more than $3.5 billion in investment and burns through approximately $500m in cash annually. Snap is pressing ahead regardless, with a consumer product expected later this year, even as Meta leads the market in the segment.
Spiegel is betting that leaner teams, smarter machines and a consumer AR play can restore Snap’s credibility with investors who have run out of patience. The redundancy notices have gone out. The harder restructuring, the one that requires a hit product rather than a headcount reduction, is still very much pending.
