OneUp Sports Aims to Establish a Foothold in Local Digital Sports – Wall Street Journal

The digital video firm OneUp Sports is quietly trying to make a run at becoming the brand of choice for millennial, social-centric sports consumers who mostly care about their local teams.

The company, which is based in Toronto and New York, has acquired Insider Sports Inc., a web publisher that produces Basketball Insiders and Football Insiders, sites which cater to rabid sports team fans. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

That move follows up on last year’s acquisition by OneUp of CineSports, a video distribution company which had long delivered sports highlights to local newspaper websites.

Now, OneUp says it has established a network of over 2,000 local sites—mostly newspaper-tied digital properties like Philly.com, Boston.com and AJC.com—through which it distributes local sports-oriented video content. OneUp produces the content—think in-depth analysis of the New York Giants offensive line problems or retiring Red Sox star David Ortiz’s legacy in Boston—in conjunction with in-market beat reporters and editors.

In August, OneUp launched a consumer-facing website as a daily Facebook
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Live series as the company looks to evolve from a business-to-business entity into a brand that resonates among sports fans.

The plan is to establish “the hyperlocal digital sports network and do it in every major market,” said OneUp Chief Executive Daren Trousdell.

While OneUp delivers its daily national show via Facebook, that content is often comprised of clips produced locally with local sports beat reporters such as Boston sports columnist Eric Wilbur. Mr. Trousdell sees that as a big differentiator for fans.

“They are getting access and local knowledge,” he said. “If you’re an Eagles fan, you are going to get into that locker room. You’re not going to have two guys on ESPN arguing about it.”

OneUp now has 75 employees, 500 contributors and has raised $25 million in funding to date. With the Insider Sports deal, OneUp will look to ramp up its content by creating more video segments with local journalists, while gaining increased distribution. “They bring a new perspective and will help us reach another level,” said Mr. Trousdell.

However, tackling the digital sports market won’t be easy. Not only do you have ESPN, which is majority owned by Walt Disney Co.
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, looming as a giant, but incumbents like Yahoo Sports and traditional media players like Time Inc.
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’s Sports Illustrated are pouring money into web video.

Recently, the digital sports startup 120 Sports, which has backing from the likes of Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League, has struggled to gain traction as a mobile destination with live video, highlights and analysis for a generation of cord-cutters.

Even live sports—once thought to be the one type of content immune to the broader shifts in TV viewing habits—have struggled in the ratings of late. Viewership of the NFL, the most popular sport on TV in the U.S., is off more than 10% so far this season.

In terms of advertising, OneUp sells both standard video ads and branded content clips it produces for paying marketers. The company generally splits its ad revenue evenly with its local content partners, according to people familiar with the matter.

Jon Dupuis, executive vice president of marketing at the ad agency DigitasLBi, said he liked the fact that OneUp Sports produces lots of local content at a quick pace.

“It blends context with scale…and advertisers now have an opportunity to capitalize on sports moments with the agility they need to deliver the most relevant message to their audience,” he said.

That said, given how crowded the sports market is, OneUp will have to prove to marketers that it can help them drive sales, Mr. Dupuis said.

Mr. Trousdell acknowledged that when it comes to cracking local sports on the web, “some have tried and have failed,” he said. “We think video is the key, but it’s often too expensive for media outlets, and you need scale. That’s the number one problem in the digital business.”

He noted that among its distribution partners, OneUp’s network of partner sites collectively reaches 50 million users, and its local reporters boast of over 5 million Twitter
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followers. “We’ve built this from the bottom up.”

Write to Mike Shields at mike.shields@wsj.com