Perform’s Facebook deal: A model for the future?

Rhys McLachlan, business development director at Videology, says digital sports specialist Perform has been grabbing headlines recently but its smartest deal has not been given the recognition it deserves…

Perform is having a good time of it at the moment. First it announced an exclusive deal for connected TV inventory with my old agency, attracting a slew of positive publicity.

That deal was worthy of note, but it’s not as ground-breaking as its latest trick – integrating sports content with Facebook via their Livesport.TV platform.

The deal will make more than 50 digital channels available to view within the Facebook environment, with live and on-demand content from international sports competitions and minority sports. And Facebook gains because, of course, no-one has to leave its walled garden to watch their favourite sporting action.

Perform isn’t the first content publisher to do this – last year the BBC broadcast the first match in the 2011 FA Cup, Ascot United vs Wembley FC for example – but this deal is far more strategic than the BBC’s decision to find a low-cost showcase for the start of the FA Cup.

For a start, Perform’s content is perfect for Facebook. Coverage of football from South America, snooker, squash, mixed martial arts as well as hockey, darts and pool simply doesn’t exist in more conventional TV channels.

Facebook is where consumers talk about their passions, and these sports often attract high levels of participation and conversation. The total numbers may be small in relation to Facebook’s 850 million global users, but Livesport.TV coverage could unite these communities around relevant content.

Making it easy for these communities to watch coverage via Facebook, as well as share content, chat and more via plug-ins will also help build a sense of excitement around these sports.

By offering a freemium model, with video-on-demand content available for free and other content paid for, it will also build demand for its £2.99 a month subscriptions. The use of Paypal, and the soon-to-be-launched Facebook Credits, will also make it simple for consumers to stump up.

Further, by partnering with Facebook, Perform will gain access to a goldmine of data and personal information that will enable it to target its content much more accurately. Imagine if you could identify everyone who played or followed handball in the UK, either via what they posted on their wall or the relevant pictures they uploaded, it would dramatically reduce wastage.

Targeted advertising will enable Perform to reach potential viewers far more easily and build up a media property that other rights owners might want to use.

Finally, by creating such communities, Perform will enable small and relevant advertisers to reach out to their target markets with engaging video content, something that simply wouldn’t have been possible a few years ago.

For an equipment manufacturer in a minority sport or someone selling merchandise from a league in another country, wastage via conventional advertising creates inefficiencies that prevent investment.

Perform’s ability to pull together these groups, combined with the latest in smart addressable advertising technology, will ensure that such brands can reach out cost effectively and efficiently and reduce wastage to near zero.

Perform’s CEO describes the deal as “exciting” and for once that’s probably an understatement. Integrating with Facebook will not only create demand for Livesport.TV subscription channels but also virally increase viewership of video-on-demand content and boost its ad inventory.

Smart media owners should be looking at this deal as a model for the future.