i3 - November/December 2017 - 12

Tech
transformative steps for us. The result will be the ability to adapt to new business models - whether it's direct-to-consumer, ad-supported or transactional.
Personalized networks, video-on-demand playlists and content
discovery/playback with social media are just some of the capabilities
we already have or are in the works. Very soon, we'll have the ability to create
a viewing experience that resembles Spotify around personalized playlists.
We have set ourselves up to lead the industry around this whole notion of
personalized content.

Our responsibility is to
inform and entertain the
world, and we take that
responsibility seriously.

Q The growth of esports, the rise in recreational professional gaming

viewing, shows that Turner is attracting the 16-35 year old viewers with
Turners' ELEAGUE. How will you expand the base in the U.S. and are there
plans to bring back the Road to Vegas ELEAGUE finals to CES?
A One of the great things about Turner as a whole, and something that is
great for our long-term business is that we reach more than 70 percent of millennials every month. And our audiences in many cases are getting younger.
In a very short period of time, ELEAGUE has established itself as a premium tournament and content brand that has been widely embraced by
the esports community. We're very committed to growing the brand. This
fall alone, we featured our third Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO)
season and our first-ever Injustice 2 World Championship, among other
high-profile events. We also expanded the brand through the creation of
the GEICO ELEAGUE Amateur Series.
For us, the key metric is fan engagement and that couldn't be more
true with esports. We recognize it is a digital native property and we've
seen great response across Twitch and other digital platforms. For last
year's ELEAGUE Major Grand Final, we set a new all-time record on
Twitch with over one million concurrent streams. And with TBS, we have
an opportunity to showcase this content and reach a broader audience,
including some that may be new to esports. As a result, we are also seeing
new, younger viewers coming to TBS. We couldn't be more pleased with
the initial success of ELEAGUE and will continue to grow our esports
portfolio both domestically and on a global scale. Our CES plans are still
being finalized, but our presentation of the Sports Business Innovation
effort will be something folks will want to attend.

Facebook, The Chris Gethard Show on
Reddit, and aired Adult Swim's Rick and
Morty on Instagram. And CNN is doing great
things on Snapchat. My daughter doesn't
watch TV - she's 20 - but she is still getting
her news from CNN. Just via Snapchat. The
key for us is having platform experts who
drive the creative process and content
creation specific for each platform.

Q At CES 2017, Turner introduced Turner

content. Will Turner be providing content to this group?

Ignite Sports. How has branded content on
social channels brought new value to Turner?
A Marketing today is extremely difficult, and
even more difficult to do well. Audiences
are on all sorts of platforms and devices,
and the ad tech and marketing services
underpinning all of those ecosystems are
just as fragmented. Turner Ignite, and our
extension into sports in Turner Ignite Sports,
delivers data and content solutions that tap
into Turner's massive content footprint, ultimately leading to a more engaged fan experience, as well as better return on investment
for clients. With all of the ways consumers
can access premium content, brands now
have an opportunity to be "always on" and
connect with fans in a genuine, contextually
relevant way like never before. In that sense,
we are not only re-imagining TV at Turner,
but we are re-imagining marketing as well.

these platforms are with our fans. It is why we are always exploring new
touchpoints for our fans. For example, we premiered truTV's I'm Sorry on

Q Anything else you would like to add?
A Our responsibility is to inform and enter-

Q Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter are all in the market for episodic
A It's amazing how quickly our industry is evolving and how popular

Bleacher Report is reaching fans that were underserved by the
big networks. The Bleacher Report and Turner union seems to work.
What have you learned from each other?

A When industry insiders heard that we wanted to buy Bleacher Report
back in 2012, a lot of people thought we were crazy - they just couldn't understand
why we would be interested in an online platform, but it really has become one of our
greatest investments. We saw it for the brand and sports destination it wanted to
become. While TBS and TNT are home to sports programming, we weren't considered
a go-to for sports fans on a regular basis. So, we are really proud with Bleacher's success
and what they bring to our business, and it is clear Bleacher has benefited too. We have
been able to provide them with significantly more resources, a new business strategy
and the opportunity to use sports events on our networks to drive fans to Bleacher
Report's mobile app and their Instagram account - which is now the number one
destination for sports video consumption.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

tain the world, and we take that responsibility seriously. To do it well, we as a company
have to accurately reflect the world around
us and our audiences. That is why one of our
signature corporate efforts is to increase
diversity and inclusion in media and technology. Improving diversity and inclusion within
the tech and media industries are extremely
important to me and critical to our success
as a company. If we want to be a successful
global company, then we have to ensure that
our workforce reflects our fans. That is why
we have cross-industry partnerships with
organizations such as the Anita Borg Institute
to increase the representation of women and
people of color in tech. I'm incredibly proud
of the progress we have made and look forward to working with my colleagues to make
a lasting impact across our industry.
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

i3 - November/December 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i3 - November/December 2017