Setting the screens

Through the partnership with DAZN, TNT Sports has been able to offer those advertisers more in-game options, including two-box ad presentation (or squeeze back) during player substitutions, water breaks or other pauses in the action, and a game-clock feature that lets a brand take over all on-screen graphics for 10 seconds before putting its logo next to the clock for two minutes.

But TNT Sports sees opportunity in its digital and social media platforms for Bleacher Report and House of Highlights, which enhanced its Roland-Garros coverage a few weeks ago by bringing sports figures like Odell Beckham and Derrick Rose in for cameos and commentary. Diament noted that TNT Sports’ coverage of U.S. Soccer and its work with veteran soccer talent like analysts Luke Wileman, Brian Dunseth, and Melissa Ortiz have made it familiar with soccer’s younger viewership in the U.S. and helped its broadcast and social strategy to a daylong event not dissimilar to March Madness or Roland-Garros.

That monopoly on fans’ attention hasn’t gone unnoticed by event advertisers.

“There’s a lot of push notifications, people signing up for what they’re interested in, they have a good feeling for how to create excitement before and after the matches themselves,” Diament said. “This is one of the great things about social media, it’s 24/7 and it’s just not when the live games are happening, so people are carrying around their phones and that younger demo stays connected.”