In the wake of the recent, and by all accounts successful, summer Olympic games in Beijing (despite early talks of various boycotts), gyms and sport centers worldwide have reported record attendance. TV viewers were apparently inspired by athletes such as American Michael Phelps –– who proved himself to be one of the greatest swimmers of all time –– to get into shape. Now, organizers of the 19th edition of SPORTELMonaco, which itself is taking shape as we speak, are hoping for a larger influx of TV sports executives — execs who were similarly stimulated by the events in Beijing — to their programming market, which will be held at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum, October 20-23, just three days after MIPCOM in nearby Cannes. Now that it’s all over in Beijing, the game moves to another exhibition floor, that of SPORTEL, where 500 companies will take advantage of the trailing effects of the XXIX Olympiad to find more TV time for countless varieties of sports, even more than the 28 sports that made up the 302 events of the Olympiad. As proof of the fact that all things sports are firmly entrenched on the entertainment industry’s radar, in the weeks leading up to the market one thing quickly became clear — it was going to be a packed house. As VideoAge went to press, 98 percent of the exhibition space had already been sold out, leading the powers that be at SPORTEL to predict that 2008 would be its biggest year ever. “Based on contracts already received and verbal commitments from new and returning exhibitors, we surely will have our second consecutive sell-out at SPORTELMonaco and perhaps our third consecutive largest-ever market in terms of overall attendance,” said David Tomatis, CEO of SPORTEL. “Virtually all of our core group of major exhibitors will be returning, along with a number of first-time exhibitors. We are seeing a good mix of companies involved in traditional sports television, along with those involved with the Internet and mobile technologies. SPORTEL is certainly reflective of a rapidly developing marketplace.” Bill Vitale, chairman of New Jerseybased Vital Communications, the exclusive worldwide Sales and Marketing representative for SPORTEL, added: “We’ve got a bunch of new companies this year, which means new opportunities for attendees.” Due to the overwhelming response, market organizers have had to once again put stands in the lobby area, something they did for the first time just last year. “As an organizer, it’s gratifying to know that we’re selling out two years in a row.” In fact, sports programming has become so popular that the company runs two other sportsrelated events, SPORTELAsia and SPORTELAmerica. As for all the sports markets within the SPORTEL family, Monaco will see an estimated 500 buyers of sporting programs from all over the world. Traditionally, television devotes a good part of its schedule to sports, especially football (soccer), tennis, racecar driving, cycling, rugby, American football, golf, baseball, basketball, hockey, boxing and wrestling. Audiences for sports programming are largely made up of males. But the Olympics bring in record numbers of a demographic that’s been known to largely shun sporting events: young women. According to an online study conducted by Lieberman Research Worldwide, a global market research company with offices in L.A., London, Shanghai and Tokyo, 51 percent of women are interested in the Olympic brand. A 2007 ESPN Sports poll found that 71.1 percent of females are interested in the summer Olympics, while 72.7 percent are interested in the winter games, which translates into big money for television. In fact, the International Olympic Committee, a Switzerland-based non-profit, nongovernmental association that supervises the organization of the Olympics, reported $1.6 billion in TV revenue from the Beijing games alone. One individual who was at SPORTEL to witness last year’s sell-out and will be on hand once again at SPORTELMonaco 2008 is Matthew Ody of eponymous firm, Tennesseebased Matthew Ody & Associates. “SPORTELMonaco is a niche market meant specifically for sports,” said Ody. “So you really get some quality time out of it instead of wasting your time meeting up with people who aren’t necessarily into sports.” Ody, who also plans on attending MIPCOM the week before SPORTEL in order to have all his bases covered, is confident that his time in Monaco will be well spent. “Asia and Africa are big into fight shows,” he said. “And there are some new channels in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and India [where my programming would be a perfect fit]. There are more and more general entertainment channels that are buying sports shows each day. SPORTEL is the place to connect with them.” Fred Haber of New Jersey’s Alfred Haber Distribution will also be manning his firm’s stand in the Grimaldi Forum. “It’s important for us to be there because we’re expeditiously becoming a player in the international TV sports marketplace,” he said. “Our core business is series and specials, but we’re focusing a lot on sports now too.” Alfred Haber Distribution will bring a number of sports specials to the market, including World Poker Tour, which, in recent years, has begun to be thought of as an actual athletic event — despite the fact that poker players rarely leave their seats. “Ten years ago we couldn’t have called this a sport,” said Haber with a laugh. “But now, we have interest from all over the world, including Scandinavia, Russia, France and the U.K.” Like Ody, Haber also plans to go to MIPCOM and then on to Monaco. And he, for one, likes it that way. “It’s really convenient, almost seamless,” he said. “Your head’s still set on selling. But you get that weekend in between to finish up with one market and start preparing for the next.” In addition to the business of buying and selling, SPORTELMonaco 2008 will feature a slew of sessions designed to get people talking. Panels include: “The Digital Revolution,” which will take a look at the proliferation of formats and rights segmentation; “Olympic Games and Television: From Beijing to London,” which will examine the recently concluded summer games; and a special press event entitled “The New International Rugby.” “I’m most looking forward to the post-Olympics sessions,” said Vitale. “Beijing was terribly interesting on a number of levels.” But Vitale is also keyed up about a new aspect of the market, the first-ever “SPORTEL Football Workshop,” which will be held on October 22. Switzerland’s SINERGI Sports Consulting has partnered with SPORTEL for the launch of this oneday seminar. Topics to be discussed include: generating, managing and monetizing online and mobile media content; optimizing business models and strategies for new media; and increasing revenues through new media, with a focus on the sale of mobile and Web-TV content. Last year’s SPORTELMonaco drew 2,362 participants representing 977 companies from 79 countries. And numbers are expected to be up this year. LHR V I D E O • A G E OC T O B E R 2 0 0 8 50 S P O R T E L M o n a c o Beijing Reignited Sports On TV. Biz Will Benefit At last year’s SPORTELMonaco
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