Cologne, 5 June 2013 – Pay TV broadcaster Sky has won the 2013 Sports Media Innovation Award for its live advertising concept. The prize was conferred today during the SPONSORs Sports Media Summit that took place in Cologne. 

 To attract new subscribers for its live sport offers, Munich-based pay TV broadcaster Sky turned to the competition to place an ad where new potential customers can be found: on free TV. “90 per cent of the population does not subscribe to Sky,” says Martin Michel, Managing Director of Sky Media Network. Six adverts were aired during the UEFA Champions League match between FC Arsenal and FC Bayern Munich and showed live scenes from the match that was not broadcast on free TV. One live scene even happened to feature the final goal scored by Lukas Podolski for FC Arsenal!

The idea of a live advert was conceived “in house and together with the agency, Serviceplan Campaign,” reveals Michel, who is responsible for marketing at Sky Media Network. Michel attributes the positive development of subscription figures at Sky to “the high quality of German football. It would be presumptuous to attribute this development entirely to the live advertising, though the phone did of course ring after the adverts were broadcast!” 

Second and third place for “RanOn” and splink app 

Second place went to “ranOn – Die Webshow” campaign, which took a cross-media approach to combine the advantages of TV, online and social media. Implementing digital communication options turned previously linear sports coverage into an interaction with the viewers. Media were skilfully combined to extend the rare commodity of ‘football’ into the digital world, and thus access and win the trust of new target groups. 

Industry players awarded third place to the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) for its splink app. The German Sports Badge, which has existed for some 100 years now, has been extended to the digital world through this app and allows athletes to plan, record and review their training. The integration of networking functions and linking with social networks allows for achievements to be shared and compared with others. 

Countless applications were submitted to SPONSORs by reputable media, companies and associations for the third Sports Media Innovation Award. The jury comprising management executives and leading editors from SPONSORs selected five projects for the final online voting according to the three criteria of technical innovation, strategic reorientation and transferability to third parties. The top three projects were announced at today’s SPONSORs Sports Media Summit and the winning project honoured in a ceremony. 

 The Sports Media Innovation Award 

Sport has always been a driver of new technologies, yet never before has it been as versatile and varied as it is today. While industry players are continually facing new challenges, they are at the same time being provided with countless opportunities through the new world of media.

Whether an entrepreneur, club, association, agency or developer, all those active in the sports media industry with an innovative idea were invited to submit an application for the award – regardless of whether for a project of their own or that of a third party.

As a driving force within the industry, SPONSORs wishes to provide aspiring industry players with an opportunity to showcase their innovations to leading sports media representatives. Not only a project’s degree of innovation is decisive, but also its potential to provide new impetus. The Sports Media Innovation Award was first awarded in 2011.