On the seventh episode of the Sports Content Kings podcast, Aviv and Shaka Arnon sit down with Jeff Gerttula, Executive Vice President of Digital at CBS Sports. They discuss how CBS Sports has been using WSC Sports’ technology to engage with fans more effectively.
Jeff explained that initially, he was just a fan with no intention of entering the business side of sports, but eventually he got his start at Sporting News where he started working on how to better engage with fans by pioneering a social media platform tailored for fantasy league fans. Since then, Jeff’s spent the last 14 years at CBS, where he now serves in an EVP capacity in charge of digital strategy around sports.
Starting in 2019, CBS acquired the rights to broadcast UEFA and UEFA Champions league competitions. They’ve gone on to expand their soccer portfolio, which now includes coverage from the CONCACAF region, the Brazilian and Argentinian Primera División, Italy’s Serie A, the AFC (Asian Football Federation), and more. With a huge volume of games to cover, Jeff touched on the necessity of using the WSC Sports platform to mine and distribute the most interesting plays and highlights from all matches.
“Everything for us is about how we can automate more workflows, how we can be more efficient in our processes, and how we can produce the highest quality at scale with the lowest possible cost structure.”
Looking to the future, Jeff gave listeners an insider’s view on the 2024 Super Bowl, which will be televised nationally by CBS. He said that the same principles mentioned above will be employed to produce the big game, although it does require additional strategies including a different look and feel on social, and even a unique audio strategy. To get a taste of all of CBS’ top-notch sports programming, fans can tune into the network on standard television, Paramount+, and Pluto TV.
