By Whatever Means Necessary

One of the core concepts behind our new media strategy is taking the events to where the fans are regardless of platform. So, mobile platforms, traditional platforms, etc -- all running with the same content in methods suitable for the platform.

Perfect example -- last weekend's baseball. The fans will take the best available path. On Friday night, ESPN2 was in town and that cut down our interactive blog participation severely -- just under 600 readers when we've been averaging right at 1,000 -- but Saturday and Sunday were back to the big scores (1,500 and 1,300 roughly, respectively).

But doesn't the TV drop prove the point? You shouldn't have streaming video against broadcast video; no streaming audio in-state against terrestrial radio network.

No -- this overlooks the broader goal. That was still almost 600 Razorback fans who had no other outlet to stay up with the game in real-time (or a considerable number who wanted to have the interaction with the official website and other fans along with their TV watching).

As nature abhors a vacuum and seeks to fill it, fans will utilize the highest "bandwidth" feasible. To repeat, you don't watch on your computer if you have access to a TV, you don't listen on the radio if you could have sat down in front of the tube, you don't follow live stats unless you didn't have enough speed for streaming.

The exception to the rule is the interactive blog. As the person on the keyboard Friday, I can confirm that the majority of those folks were doing both -- watching and typing. Many also comment the rest of the weekend that they are listening and typing.

Interactive isn't the future; it's here.