talkSPORT and Sport magazine restructure sales teams
talkSPORT and Sport magazine have announced this week that their sales teams have undergone a restructure, moving from platform based teams to agency focused ones.
The sales teams will be aligned under three Group Business Directors, Tom Kelly, Laura Wade and Iain Duffy. Each team will work to offer cross platform solutions to their agencies, covering radio, print, online and digital. talkSPORT and Sport’s sales teams were previously arranged by brands and platform, with separate teams for Sport magazine, talkSPORT and online.
The restructure reflects the fact that the majority of the company’s partnerships with advertisers are now running across more than one platform and aims to offer more holistic solutions to the market.
talkSPORT’s Creative Sales team, led by Anthony Hogg, will continue to run separately, but feed expertise into each of these business units. In recent weeks they have signed significant partnerships with brands including Ford, Heinz and Dove Men+Care which are all multiple platform deals.
This restructure has been supported by office redevelopment with increased meeting room space, and dedicated digital production and filming areas to accommodate talkSPORT’s growing content business.
Calum Macaulay, Managing Director for talkSPORT and Sport magazine, said: “This restructure is a natural progression for us, reflecting our increasing multi platform business. The move allows us to broaden our reach within agencies and build strong relationships with our key customers from top to bottom.”
Sport remains UK’s biggest sports magazine
Sport, the weekly free magazine published by UTV Media (GB), is still the country’s biggest dedicated sports magazine according to official industry figures released on February 14 by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
For the period 1 July 2012 to 31 December 2012, Sport recorded a circulation 302,466 making it the biggest sports magazine and the second biggest men’s magazine in the UK. In addition to its print circulation, Sport’s iPad edition continues to grow and now has close to 30,000 subscribers.
Calum Macaulay, Managing Director of Sport magazine said: “It’s fantastic to see that Sport is still sprinting ahead of the competition and is by far the biggest magazine in this genre. Our digital expansion in the past six months has been significant, with the magazine now available on multiple devices and with exclusive content. As these figures show, Sport is a hugely attractive publication to readers and advertisers alike.”
Simon Caney, Editor, Sport magazine, said: “The second half of last year was huge for us particularly with the 2012 Olympics on our doorstep. We had some brilliant interviews with some of the very biggest names in sport, including every single gold medal winner of Team GB, and these figures reflect our top quality content.”
Sport was the first mass distribution free magazine in the UK market when it launched in 2006, and attracts a predominantly male ABC1 readership. The magazine was awarded Cover of the Year at the 2012 PPA Awards. Sport is also available to download for free for iPad, Kindle Fire and Android devices at www.sport-magazine.co.uk/apps.
Sport magazine partners with Royal Navy careers
Sport, the UK’s biggest sport magazine, has agreed a partnership, through Carat and M4C, with the Royal Navy to promote the organisation’s recruitment drive.
The partnership, which will run for three months, includes advertising, sponsorship and cover wraps in both the print and iPad editions of the weekly magazine to make readers aware of the varieties of job opportunities available in the Royal Navy.
Iain Duffy, Head of Sport Sales, said: “The Royal Navy’s campaign is to make more people aware of the roles that it offers potential recruits and Sport’s readers are the perfect demographic for this. Partnerships like this one show just how important the growing free magazine market is to advertisers. The scale of both our print and digital offering mean that we are able to offer brands, and organizations like the Royal Navy, the opportunity to reach a high number of males with an interest in what they have to offer.”
Lieutenant Commander Lee Thorne, Marketing Manager for Captain Naval Recruiting, said “Sport magazine offers the Royal Navy a fantastic opportunity to create a genuine partnership. Sport’s readers are the ideal fit to our target market and conversely the Royal Navy offers great career and lifestyle opportunities, which would appeal to the Sport’s magazine demographic.”
With a weekly print circulation of over 300,000, Sport is the country’s largest sport magazine and the second largest men’s magazine. Sport was the first mass distribution free magazine in the UK market when it launched in 2006, and attracts a predominantly male ABC1 readership. The magazine was awarded Cover of the Year at the 2012 PPA Awards. Sport is also available to download for free for iPad, Kindle Fire and Android devices at www.sport-magazine.co.uk/apps.
Sport Magazine wins Sport Magazine of the Year 2012
Sport magazine was last night named the Best Sport Magazine of the Year at the Digital Magazine Awards 2012.
The magazine was recognised for providing amazing coverage during a year packed with sport, bringing exclusive interviews with every Team GB gold medallist including Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis, Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Bradley Wiggins and Andy Murray as well as the big names in football, rugby, cricket and Formula One.
SPORT NOMINATED AT THE DIGITAL MAGAZINE AWARDS 2012
Sport magazine has been nominated for Sports Magazine of the Year at the Digital Magazine Awards 2012.
The winner will be announced on December 6 at the annual awards showcase, and the event will be attended by the cream of the digital magazine industry and include a keynote speech by Alan Rutter of The Guardian Masterclasses and an award presentation by Carla Buzasi, the Huffington Post UK’s Editor-in-Chief.
Sport magazine will be up against Fitness First, Scuba Diver, Triathlon & Multi Sport, BiciSport English Edition, Netball, GolfPunk and ActivInstinct for the prize.
Sport Magazine iPad Edition Attracts 23,000 New Subscribers
Sport, which was the first freemium magazine in London when it launched in 2006, has announced its iPad edition has attracted 23,000 new subscribers since it launched just seven months ago on Newsstand. The free app has also been downloaded more than 65,000 times. The Sport Magazine App is available as a free download from Newsstand on the App Store.
The iPad edition has built on the unique Sport print format, with extra content including behind the scenes videos with sporting stars and exclusive video interviews, as well as audio and extra pictures in addition to the full print edition. Mark Cavendish was the cover star for the first iPad edition and featured in an exclusive behind the scenes video for the magazine. In recent weeks the digital edition has included exclusive video content with Nemanja Vidić, Sir Steve Redgrave and Ian Poulter on the Ryder Cup.
Commercially, the iPad edition has attracted brands including Gatorade, Davidoff, LG and Calvin Klein who have built on their advertising in the print edition to create bespoke and innovative digital campaigns.
Kurt Edwards, Commercial Director, talkSPORT and Sport Sales, said: “As the biggest sports magazine in the UK, we were confident that developing an iPad version was the correct step to take bringing the magazine to readers outside our usual distribution area. The clear positive reaction from readers and advertisers alike has been very encouraging throughout the past year. We’re looking at the best way to expand the brand and continue our digital offering.”
With a weekly print circulation of over 300,000, Sport is the second largest men’s magazine in the UK and attracts a predominantly male ABC1 readership. Sport was the first mass distribution free magazine in the UK market when it launched in 2006. The magazine was awarded Cover of the Year at the 2012 PPA Awards.
SPORT MAGAZINE TEAM RACE IN THE SQUARE MILE RELAY
A team from Sport magazine (along with a few guests from talkSPORT) put in a valiant effort at the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay last night, and completed the race in a fantastic time of 67 minutes.
The unique course saw Ian Cruise, Graham Willgoss, Mark Coughlan, Ged Colleypriest, Dan Dawson, Charlotte Simmons, Matt Jarvis, Tony Hodson, Simon Caney, and Luke Nicholson each tackle a tough mile through alleyways, up staircases, over the top of London Wall and through an arcade of shops, before handing their baton to a teammate.
Olympic silver medalist Mark Hunter was among the competitors and two of the GB rowing team, Tom James and Alex Partridge, were in the crowd to cheer him on along with Paralympic gold medalist Liz Johnson.
Sport magazine was the official media partner for the annual event, which takes place at the heart of London’s financial district.
Sport Magazine Celebrates Team GB Olympic Success
This week’s issue of Sport magazine is a special issue to celebrate Team GB’s record-breaking performance in the London Olympics.
Every gold medal winner has been exclusively interviewed (in team events at least one representative of the team) to bring the personal story of their achievement to Sport’s readers.
The issue has been produced to preview the victory parade taking place through London on Monday, September 10, and as well as the magazine’s normal Friday distribution, will be handed out at key locations on the parade’s route on Monday.
The edition dedicates 26 editorial pages to exclusive interviews with every Team GB gold medallist including Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis, Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Bradley Wiggins and Andy Murray. The front cover is an illustration of the 2012 Olympic medal created from all of the Team GB gold medallists’ names and was designed exclusively for Sport by illustrator Sarah King. The magazine’s cover wrap sponsor is BBC Worldwide advertising the official London 2012 DVD.
Simon Caney, editor-in-chief of Sport said: “As a magazine we have been squarely behind the London Olympics ever since we launched in 2006 and it was wonderful to see Team GB’s athletes perform so brilliantly. This issue is our way of recognising some of their fabulous achievements. And with the successes of Paralympics GB at the moment, I look forward to Sport also celebrating their achievements in future issues.”
Iain Duffy, Agency Sales Director, Sport Magazine said: “Our last Olympic gold edition following Team GB’s success in Beijing in 2008 was one of our most commercially successful issues ever. The triumphs of Team GB make this issue a very attractive prospect for readers and advertisers alike and to have secured BBC Worldwide as a cover wrap advertiser is a perfect fit.”
SPORT TAKES UP BLOOMBERG SQUARE MILE RELAY BATON
Sport magazine will take the next step in its journey as a staple of London life as Official Media Partner of the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay – to be run in the capital for the sixth time on 20th September.
The magazine, which has a circulation of more than 300,000 in the capital, was the first large-scale free magazine in London and has grown to become synonymous with the London commuter experience.
Its special relationship with the Square Mile’s sports fans is one that it shares with the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay, which sees the City’s fiercely competitive professionals swap their suits for tracksuits and form teams of ten to carry their relay baton around a demanding run taking in alleyways, staircases and shopping arcades over a unique and challenging one-mile course. More than 1,000 runners have already confirmed their places in the annual event.
Sport’s coverage of the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay will include both the magazine and iPad edition of Sport, with bonus content to be available to race participants both on the night and in advance. A unique early edition of the magazine with a special Bloomberg Square Mile Relay cover will also be given to spectators and participants in the week of the race.
Simon Caney, the Editor-in-Chief of Sport, commented: “Sport believes in delivering quality to London’s sporting-mad commuters, and the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay achieves that year on year. We’ll have a team of ten taking their places alongside more than 1,000 other runners in this year’s event, and we’re confident we won’t drop the baton.”
Nick Keller, CEO of Square Mile Sport, added: “Sport sits right at the heart of London life, especially for those working in the City. Almost every runner in the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay picks up a copy of the magazine every week, and the incredibly competitive and talented athletes we have competing in the event will be excited at the fact that a winning performance will end with their names in print on the desks of their colleagues and peers throughout the City.”
Every year, the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay’s winning team also receives a cheque for £5,000 to go towards the charity of their choice. In 2011, the Down’s Syndrome Association was presented the cheque by Wales and British Lions legend Scott Quinnell.
The Bloomberg Square Mile Relay’s other Official Partners include Virgin Active – a brand, like Bloomberg and Sport, at the heart of London life. For Virgin Active’s latest video training tips or for more information, visit www.squaremilesport.com
SPORT MAGAZINE INCREASES OLYMPIC DISTRIBUTION
Sport, the UK’s biggest sports magazine, will be available in the Olympic Village including athletes’ accommodation and the press centre for the duration of the games. In addition Sport will be increasing its distribution in London during the Olympics.
The print magazine, which is distributed at stations across London on Friday mornings, will also be handed out on Friday afternoons with a focus on mainline stations and key tube stations leading east towards the Olympic park on the Jubilee and Central lines. The magazine will also be available within the athletes’ village for those competing in the games. The increased distribution will run throughout the Olympics, starting on Friday 27 July, the day of the opening ceremony.
Sport will be providing in depth Olympic coverage throughout the games. The issue on the day of the opening ceremony features a cover interview with Usain Bolt and an exclusive interview with Lord Sebastian Coe. The 27 July issue will have a tier one Olympic sponsor as the magazine’s cover wrap advertiser.
Iain Duffy, Sport Magazine Sales Director said: “Sport has been fully behind the London Olympics since our launch in 2006 and had an edition guest edited by Sebastian Coe last year. It’s fantastic that we’ll have more opportunities to bring our award winning magazine to the city’s extra visitors over the next couple of weeks. It’s a great coup from our distribution team to ensure that we will be in the athletes’ village.”
With a weekly print circulation of over 300,000, Sport is the second largest men’s magazine in the UK and attracts a predominantly male ABC1 readership. The print edition is distributed by hand on Friday mornings in close proximity to selected mainline and underground stations within London, as well as nationwide at gyms and sports clubs, major corporations, hotels, universities, in airports, on selected airlines and 1st class train carriages. Sport was the first mass distribution free magazine in the UK market when it launched in 2006. The magazine was recently awarded Cover of the Year at the 2012 PPA Awards.
