OT: Bleacher Report Sold For $200 Million

[Induveca]

It's hard to wait when you're running on a platform that is 12 years old......

The real issue is their complete inability to monetize their userbase. Licensing on a trade checker is minimal at best, possibly 20k/year per team (or even less, there are competing products).

However, if they have around 300k users in an extremely niche market....you better monetize the userbase as much as humanly possible. That's not banner ads. For instance, I have a capital one ad staring at me in the face right now. These aren't even micro targeted and are completely pointless.

On every page, each day of the week when there is a game there should be a link to buy tickets in partnership with Ticketmaster or individual teams. Season ticket packages should be available at a discount for RealGM members (they are more than willing, I've asked in the past). 15% commission cut off of ticket sales is a proven strategy to monetize.

Leverage stubhub, they'd pay a handsome upsell fee to access this userbase. As a matter of fact, i'd even go so far as to create a RealGM branded ticket marketplace, and license ENGINE ACCESS to the system to the highest bidder. That's an easy 3 million dollar license yearly and create a bidding war between Ticketmaster/StubHub/others.

Then there is NBA League Pass, the NBA is more than happy to offer 10% commission on all new signups. I suspect they'd offer 15-20% to access RealGM's signups. Far better than CapitalOne ads no one clicks. Make a special offer for RealGM users for a 10% discount on LeaguePass. It's 129.99 instead of 139.99, RealGM takes 20 bucks commission off each signup. I'd expect at least 10,000 signups yearly. Only 1.3 million yearly, but it's an advertising service which actually HELPS the userbase. You can do the same thing with related memorabilia via the NBA store etc.

So so easy to monetize this.......you could even put up a RealGM "getaway" events at deep discounts for things like the All-Star game.

I would HIGHLY SUGGEST Ryan (whom I spoke with years ago) obtain an outside consultant focused on monetization and licensing strategies. They'd have a field day making the user experience better by creating granular advertising and not the lazy approach they're taking today.

Love the site, just don't wnat to see them leave hundreds of millions on the table.

StubHub pays around $1.50 per new user acquisition in the advertising model. Offer them access to 400k users with a cobranded ticket engine, TARGETED by team/demographic/age group? That's a minimum 3 million license per year. Once you get that license, combined with other revenue, you can put a valuation of $250 million on the site quite easily.

That's the issue with MySpace/Twitter/Facebook. They're media darlings but they simply don't monetize their userbase at a level which is acceptable for the number of users. As soon as a major media outlet spins off the next big wave of social (which is highly targeted, think sports, fashion etc) 400k users will look anemic next to a social spinoff which picks up 5 million users in a few days.

I'm babbling, but the writing is on the wall for RealGM. I'll stick around no matter what, but when you see "Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group.." at the bottom of a commercial site it's dying.

[Induveca]

The RealGM trade checker product (one that is much more advanced than what is available here) is sold to at least half of the NBA teams. And I'm sure they have several other revenue streams. They are doing fine. Probably not $200 million fine, but pretty good for a couple dudes (Ryan Hoak, Michael Benbow) from the ESPN message boards who had an awesome idea.

You can't coast in business, RealGM could end- up like My Space.

And they are most certainly coasting. Again, I have it on authority that ESPN is launching a MAJOR niche social/group based site around teams. They are putting hundreds of millions behind it.....they realize their own network is going to die as well eventually. Cable subscribers are starting to leave en masse.

I give RealGM one year tops if they do nothing, before they hit a downward spiral which leaves them in a position of weakness at any negotiation table. 6 months of the correct strategy, and they could sell out for a solid amount of cash.

There comes a time when a site needs to stop being your "child". That attitude doesn't allow you to recognize the moment which comes in all businesses, especially online, the ability to sell out before you end up with significantly less on a desperation sale, or absolutely nothing.

[montestewart]

^
I'll say this for you Induveca, babbling or not, you sure can wrap your mind around possibilities. That's a pretty impressive off-the-cuff list of options.

[closg00]

A sports article I clicked on from CNN sports, opened in Bleacher Report, their tentacles are growing.