AOL, Players’ Tribune prep athlete showcase digital series


Details

Michelle Clancy

| 19 January 2016




The Players' Tribune (TPT) has announced a new digital series with AOL, Real Fan Life with Ben Lyons.



Hosted by TPT chief correspondent, Ben Lyons, and co-produced by AOL, Real Fan Life is all about giving fans access and going beyond the stats, scores and on-field occurrences.

The Real Fan Life series will feature light-hearted and entertaining stories and conversations with athletes in surprising, varied situations. The players starring in Real Fan Life episodes include Paul Pierce, Dwight Howard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Michael Strahan, LaDainian Tomlinson and Evan Longoria, with each episode focusing on one individual athlete. The show will also directly engage fans on the street, finding out what questions they want to ask the athletes featured on the show.

"The goal of The Players' Tribune has always been to strengthen the relationship between athletes and fans by giving athletes a platform to share their thoughts, stories, and personalities," said Jaymee Messler, president, The Players' Tribune. "Real Fan Life with Ben Lyons brings the relationship between fans and athletes to life, highlighting their mutual love of the game. AOL is our first co-production and distribution partner and we're excited to partner with them to bring the voice of the game to fans across their network."

"At AOL, we're focused on bringing consumers premium, unique shows across our brands and consumer products,” said Jimmy Maymann, EVP and president, AOL Content and Consumer Brands at AOL. “The Players' Tribune has done a great job of bringing the first-person voice of the athletes to their fans, and we're excited to make this first-to-market series available to the AOL audience. This series and our larger partnership with The Players' Tribune underscores our commitment to rethinking the opportunity for sports fans to engage with the athletes they love through premium content experiences."

As well as adding content, AOL has been working on its advertising proposition as well. AOL Platforms and Dailymotion recently expanded their working relationship to offer global, multiscreen, in-stream inventory.

Dailymotion boasts 3.5 billion video views per month, and the new partnership allows its advertisers to purchase inventory directly through ONE by AOL, claimed to be the first cross-screen programmatic advertising platform optimising campaigns from online to TV.