Digital sports media company Perform has established a joint venture with American City Business Journals (ACBJ), the publisher of the Sporting News service, to target the US and Canadian markets.
Perform Sporting News Limited, which will be 65-per-cent owned by Perform and 35-per-cent owned by ACBJ, will combine the media assets, content, technology, sales, editorial and management of the two companies in the North American market.
The venture will combine Perform’s ePlayer video-on-demand service, which streams highlights and news from all of North America’s major leagues plus other sports properties, and Sporting News, a long-established editorial sports news service that is now available via internet, mobile and tablet platforms after having ended print production of its magazine at the end of last year.
Perform said that it expects the joint venture to have an immediate reach of more than 33 million individuals per month.
Juan Delgado, managing director of Perform Americas and the newly-installed managing director of Sporting News Media, said: “The synergies between Sporting News and Perform provide attractive immediate opportunities and position Sporting News Media among the leading sports media brands in the US market. The scale and reach of this business alongside its deep technical, editorial and content capabilities will provide US sports fans with great news, video and data content and, as importantly will offer brands the opportunity to reach and engage with these fans in unique ways.”
Perform joint-chief executive Oliver Slipper added: “In Sporting News we have found the right partner that will enable us to accelerate the growth of our US business. The transformation of the Sporting News brand from all print to all digital over the last few years has truly been remarkable. With growth in digital reach of 950 per cent and digital revenue growth of almost 300 per cent, Sporting News has accomplished something many legacy brands only aspire to achieve.”