Sportel 2017 Posts Gains

(ATR) The marketing and media rights convention closes with record numbers in Monaco.

"This years’ convention exceeded our expectations with 3,045 participants, 1,048 companies representing 78 countries and new companies representing 23.5 percent of the exhibitors," said Sportel CEO Laurent Puons.

The annual Sports Marketing & Media Convention is in its 28th year, the principality the only place it’s been held. Head of state, IOC member and sports fan Prince Albert is a big supporter of the event and spent time visiting the four-day show at the Grimaldi Forum.

"Since the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which brought us sport’s first international television appearance, media coverage of sports events has continued to grow. It will never stop," declares Puons about the ongoing potential for Sportel.

"Together, sport and television form a very special partnership. With this union boasting limitless potential, rest assured that Sportel’s best days are yet to come," he says.

David Jones, marketing and sales agent for Sportel, says the convention occupies a niche on the calendar that is unique.

"Sportel is helping and shaping the industry on the marketing and media side. What we do, is to go ahead and try to put in more value and business opportunities to the participants. Every year, we have new exhibitors, we have new participants, that do business with each other which, of course, increases the interest of everybody else and that is a natural progression," says Jones.

Puons notes that Sportel is now experiencing the influence of social media as platforms for sports media.

"While the event has always been based around sales of sports content and rights, we are increasingly seeing technology companies and social media platforms such as Facebook, who exhibited for the first time this year. I believe in the coming years, we will be seeing even more digital media platforms attending the market such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu who have joined us as visitors over the last two years," says Puons.

The annual Sportel awards, handed out in a gala earlier in the week included two new categories reflecting social media influence: Technical Innovation and Second Screen Content.

The next year will bring the launch of the Sportel Summit in Miami Beach from May 13-15.

SportelAsia 2018 is set for March 13-15 in Singapore.

SportelMonaco 2018 is scheduled for October 22-25.

With reporting in Monaco by Heinz Peter Kreuzer.