The Challenge

Grow and expand the US Open’s audience beyond traditional tennis fans.

The Insight

A tournament like the US Open is on every tennis fan’s radar each year, driving millions to tune in live and hundreds of thousands to attend. Live competition isn’t always enough to attract the attention of a more casual sports fan, though. But the pop culture elements surrounding this massive tournament offered another way in.

The Idea and Execution

To reach an audience that wasn’t obsessed with live competition, we created alternate programming specifically geared toward casual sports fans. With a focus on the event’s culture, US Open Now was born.

The idea was to go live daily over the course of the two-week event, featuring everything from the on-site experience with its unique food and beverage options to exclusive interviews with celebrities and influencers in attendance, and lots of behind-the-scenes moments that couldn’t be seen anywhere else. We recruited a diverse group of hosts and contributors from inside and outside the tennis world, many with large social media followings, such as Ally Love. We also created a set that could be used for interviews with actors like Ben Affleck, athletes like Yankees player Giancarlo Stanton, and many more.

Apart from the show’s content, its distribution and promotion were also key. We developed a partnership with X (then Twitter) to carry the first part of the day’s programming live, which opened up plenty of opportunities for live interaction between show hosts and social users through Q&A and polling. Those elements only helped expand the show’s reach and the event’s buzz.

The full day’s live stream of US Open Now aired on the tournament’s official website, with programming also made available to broadcast partners around the world.

Results

Over the course of the two-week tournament, we produced and aired 91 hours of live content with more than 5.5M viewers, who we wouldn’t have otherwise reached, tuning in.

The production also provided another way to create value for US Open sponsors. Hosts wore official Ralph Lauren gear, and sponsored content segments were seamlessly woven in throughout the broadcast.

My Role: Content Strategy & Direction, Digital Distribution, Audience Development, Sponsor Integration