The brand-new TRACE Sports (DStv 129) channel launched in South Africa at the end of April, bringing a great new addition and a unique concept - sportainment - to South African viewers as the channel is being rolled out aggressively all over the world.
I asked Olivier Laouchez, the chairperson and the CEO of the TRACE group responsible for this new channel, more about TRACE Sports - and he shared some fascinating and insightful answers with me.
The global roll-out of TRACE Sports has been nothing short of extremely remarkable. Nobody's said it but in terms of a new channel launch, TRACE Sports must be the fastest acquired new TV channel globally by operators if one looks at the very quick rate in which TRACE Sports landed on platforms from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.
Is this because of management, or because platforms instantly recognised the unique and appealing format and value proposition of this channel?
I believe that TRACE Sports' quick success can be explained through the fact that the channel is unique on the market. Sports people are not just athletes anymore: they inspire us. What we have realised is that "traditional" sports channels are either focused on live events or on giving news related to sports competitions results.
With TRACE Sports we give viewers the opportunity to get to know their favourite champions better, with a more intimate approach. We also give the opportunity to share their messages and commitments with their fans. In short, TRACE Sports starts where other sports channels stop and TRACE Sports stops where other sports channels starts. This is why many pay TV operators in many different countries were so excited in offering a complementary offer to their sports fans.
Furthermore, 2012 is a very important year for sport; the Euro will take place in June and everyone around the world is excited for the Olympics in July and August. There is also the Afcon taking place in South Africa in January 2013. So obviously, it is not a coincidence that TRACE Sports is launching in so many countries in 2012. TRACE Sports proposes unique and exclusive content with many of the sports starts that will shine during these great competitions. Many platforms that will broadcast these events live were seduced by the possibility given by TRACE Sports to create a unique emotional connection between the players and the fans. Once you know the real lives of sports stars, you are more likely to switch on your TV to watch them perform live.
TRACE Sports is a wonderful fusion of the world of sports with infotainment and entertainment. How did the concept come about initially?
Sports content is a major driver to generate TV ratings and subscriptions. The TRACE brand is already very important in the music entertainment business and many of TRACE music channels loyal viewers are sports stars. Through the direct relation I have with sports stars, I realised they have more to share than their live sports performance. They inspire us, they have great lives, strong messages, committments and visions they want to talk abouot. Obviously, once this is said, the difficulty was to translate it into a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week TV channel.
TRACE Sports wants to get access to sports stars for instance for profiles programmes - for which you have to play a bit nice and be not too invasive. Yet when they mess up you cover that too - for instance their personal lives and divorces. How does TRACE Sports strikes the tone between hero worship but also being grounded in giving the facts but without then losing access, and remaining credible and entertaining?
We promised our viewers behind-the-scenes access to sports celebrities and a gateway to their intimate lives. This includes profile programmes, in which celebrities can share whatever they feel like with us, but this also includes programmes such as Sporty News, covering the latest gossip.
The purpose of TRACE Sports is to satisfy the viewer, who wants to know all about his favourite athlete. Being a bit invasive is not a major issue if we are not "trashy", and if the sports stars are okay to share. Most of TRACE Sports content is very aspirational, infotainment and TRACE Sports will not be the TV version of some UK tabloids.We all know the News of the World story and we do not want to position TRACE Sports like this.
We do believe that champions have great things to share with their fans, and this is the whole purpose of TRACE Sports. Of course, viewers love gossip and TRACE Sports also covers some of the "verified" gossips about sports celebs - but TRACE Sports' aim is to share a real message, and not simple gossip about champions. And when we consider the great feedback we have had so far in South Africa, it looks like our viewers are actually convinced by this positioning.
How did the on-air look come about and the colours? Why black and blue and white and does it signify anything specifically? The look is very clean, understated and dynamic. How long did the work take in creating the entire appearance and feel of TRACE Sports?
TRACE Sports belong to the TRACE family and shares the DNA of TRACE branding as far as the fonts and on-air look for instance. The blue, black and white colours were chosen because these are very well recognised and identified in the universe of sports. Orange is our corporate colour and the colour of our first music channel, TRACE Urban (DStv channel 325).
We have been working on TRACE's visual and on-air identity with a design and creative agency for the last three years. When I started working in the music business in the 90's, I was already working with the creative team of 360. They are certainly among the best to design a concept around urban music and sports people.
TRACE Sports has been launched just one year ago, so we consider it just the beginning of its global expansion! We are of course very pleased of the fact that the channel is already available in over 70 countries, but this is just the beginning. We are planning to launch in other countries in the next couple of months with more and more localised feeds.
I believe that TRACE Sports has a huge potential and I am confident that it will have as much success as TRACE Urban if we manage to stay fpcused on the two pillars that make a TV channel successful - great content, both local and international and great marketing.
We are working on new quirky entertaining programmes for the channel, and believe me, there will be new shows coming up soon with some South African and the world's biggest sports celebrities.
Anything else interesting?
Because of the importance of sports here, South Africa has been defined as one of TRACE Sports top 5 priority markets and the TRACE group is now allocating significant resources to make more and more South African content with local sports celebs. In order to accelerate this local content generation, TRACE will soon develop partnerships and co-production agreements with brands and other TV broadcasters who share our vision regarding the new generation of sport content.
We have already started producing the show In the Name of Good with a South African presenter Joelle Mayembe. TRACE Sports in South Africa will also benefit from digitaldevelopments we are doing to provide a deeper and richer experience around the sports celebs life through smartphone, PC and tablets.
I believe that TRACE Sports has a huge potential and I am confident that it will have as much success as TRACE Urban if we manage to stay fpcused on the two pillars that make a TV channel successful - great content, both local and international and great marketing.
We are working on new quirky entertaining programmes for the channel, and believe me, there will be new shows coming up soon with some South African and the world's biggest sports celebrities.
Anything else interesting?
Because of the importance of sports here, South Africa has been defined as one of TRACE Sports top 5 priority markets and the TRACE group is now allocating significant resources to make more and more South African content with local sports celebs. In order to accelerate this local content generation, TRACE will soon develop partnerships and co-production agreements with brands and other TV broadcasters who share our vision regarding the new generation of sport content.
We have already started producing the show In the Name of Good with a South African presenter Joelle Mayembe. TRACE Sports in South Africa will also benefit from digitaldevelopments we are doing to provide a deeper and richer experience around the sports celebs life through smartphone, PC and tablets.
