|
In the latest sports website profile, S&T speaks to Jefferson Slack, managing director of Italian Serie A soccer club Inter Milan’s digital arm Inter Active, about the club’s award-winning website, www.inter.it.  The official Inter Milan website generates 18m page views and attracts 1.4m unique users per month, of which 220,000 are registered users. With half of the website’s visitors hailing from outside Italy, it makes sound sense that the site is available in five languages – Italian, English, Spanish, Japanese and Thai. And according to Inter Milan’s managing director, Jefferson Slack, a Chinese-language site is next in line for roll-out when the correct partner is sourced. “Inter is an extremely popular soccer club in China due to Ronaldo and Baggio having played for us,” explains Slack, an American by birth, “and they are popular players over there.”
Prior to joining Inter Milan in September 2000, Slack cut his business teeth at the Pan-American Sports Network where he headed up its website PSN.com funded by Hicks, Tate, Muse & Furst. And before that he held senior positions at media, marketing and management agencies, The Muller Sports Group, Falk Associates Management Enterprises (FAME) and Proserv. “Basically I have brought some American sports experience to what is essentially a family-owned club; and I also have expertise in the Latin American and European markets. The website was already up and running when I joined and working well. Its technology and content have always been managed internally, and with my own strong belief in technology and the internet, I have been able to help develop the site further.” Vital communications Slack thinks it is a strength that the site is controlled in-house. “The club’s culture is integrated in what we do online. When you a farm a site out, you can often lose the sense that the site is a communications tool,” he explains. “How you try and leverage that, is what makes it a business.”
Inter Milan fans are famed for their passion adds Slack, which makes his job easier. “We don’t require registration on the site, but if they do, fans receive a newsletter and get access to the chatroom. It’s amazing how many fans are happy to receive information from us. Our fans just want to be involved at every level.”
But monetising that passion creates a challenge. “We apply our family philosophy to the site,” says Slack. “We haven’t sold any sponsorships on the site because we don’t want to cannibalise our relationships with our offline sponsors. Therefore we need to get better about leveraging our great content in other ways.”
Broadband streaming of matches is one revenue stream that Inter Milan has already explored successfully. Soccer portal Goal.com streamed four Inter matches last season at $3.00 per game. Much like Olympic broadband coverage however, Inter’s online video ambitions have been somewhat stymied due to rights deals with traditional broadcasters. Mediaset now owns the live games rights for the internet. Making money Alternative revenue streams have therefore grown in importance on the website. “We have various options on the gaming side of things,” explains Slack, “and we have looked at ringtone and SMS services.” Merchandising is a staple on www.inter.it with the site generating $1m in sales of Inter Milan kit and club goodies last season. Gambling however is unlikely to make an appearance on the site. “The club’s owners regularly turn down opportunities for a gambling platform on the site,” says Slack. “They don’t want to make money in that way.”
The Inter Milan website was revamped in 2001 and has since won several major internet awards. “We have debated changing the design since,” adds Slack, “but why change it when it is already working? We have deliberately kept it simple.”
News is the most popular area of the website says Slack. “Our fans want to know how the players are doing and what the coach is doing. We usually have around 25 pieces of main news that are refreshed daily. It’s very basic, but it works. Our philosophy is that our site is social rather than too commercial.” After the news section, photos and training details come out on top in popularity stakes among fans.
“Our biggest challenge as an individual club running our own website, is understanding the different technologies and implementing them. Clearly, there are lots of new technologies that we need to explore. The next challenge after that of course, is how to monetise them.” Turning passion into Euros is therefore firmly on the Inter Milan agenda while keeping the site relevant to the needs of the fans. See also this month's Infostrada Sports Databox for more Inter Milan facts.
This article was seen first by people who receive the monthly newsletter, join them.
|
