Surfing Catches A Big Wave
Two years ago Paul Speaker realized the sport of surfing, governed by the Association of Surfing Professionals, was coming up way short of its potential as a business because competitions were sold individually, leaving an untapped gold mine of media rights and sponsorships. As a result, sponsors wanted out and surfers’ earnings were falling.
So Speaker got the deal of a lifetime. He bought the ASP–for nothing. In 2013, Now unified under Speaker the ASP is growing and profitable. Samsung is now the title sponsor. n 2013, the ASP generated revenue of about $12 million with $2 million in operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).
Surfing is made for the digital and hand-held device consumption of content. The ASP produces more live sports event coverage on the web than any other sports entity, with ann average of 1 million hours watched online per event in 2014, three times more than 2013. About 40% of surfing fans consume ASP content on phones and tablets, and surfing fans use social media 2.3 times more than sports fans and 8 times more than the general public.
There are also live TV broadcasts to 10-million homes w/ Fuel TV in Australia, ESPN in Brazil and MCS Extreme in France, and ABC event recaps reach an average of 824,000 viewers per show.
I recently caught up with Speaker for an interview on Forbes SportsMoney, the three-time Emmy Award winning show on the YES Network and Fox Sports 1.