News

Mastermind behind NRL $1.2b TV deal joins Repucom amid plans to focus on media rights

Screen Shot 2015-07-20 at 12.46.20 PMThe man who negotiated the NRL’s five-year $1.2b rights deal with Nine, Fox Sports and Telstra has joined sports marketing firm Repucom as joint managing director with a remit to drive the consulting and strategy side of the business.

Shane Mattiske spent 15 years with the NRL, including nine years as director of strategy and special projects and nine months as interim chief executive before the appointment of David Smith.

He also held the role of head of strategy and investment before leaving the code in 2014 to become an independent consultant. Mattiske told Mumbrella he would use his experience at the NRL, and his involvement in the negotiation of rights deals, to build Repucom’s focus on media rights.

Exploiting the learnings from Repucom’s international sporting clients will also be a focus.

“What I see is a great opportunity to bring, with my skills, a deeper focus on media rights strategy,” Mattiske said. “And with the international network that Repucom has, bring more learnings and insights from the major sorts around the world. There are some great learnings that can be applied back into Australia.

“The focus for me is driving the growth of our strategy and consulting business and also bringing together the understanding and learnings the organisation has across international sports to the benefit of our Australian and Asian clients.”

Mattiske also said international clients can learn from the Australian sporting landscape which he described as “one of the most competitive in the world”.

“There is some real innovation in terms of how Australian sports drive fan engagement in a competitive environment. Australian sport has also adapted to new technology and that can be applied to strategies for sports overseas,” he said.

He added there is a balance to be struck by all sports between how to maximise the value from broadcast rights and how to “maintain and increase fan engagement”.

Mattiske described Repucom as holding a “unique position” in the Australian market “through their leading position in media analysis and the wealth of direct experience across virtually all the major sports around the world”.

“Working with Repucom brings the ability to drive a very deep understanding of the media value of sports and their broadcast properties and when you bring that together with the expertise in media rights strategy it delivers a very strong offering to the sports market,” he said.

“Repucom has got a broad service offering that covers media strategy, major events, impacts, and broader sports and strategy consulting, such as understanding how to drive fan engagement.”

Mattiske said his role will include “lifting all of those elements of our consulting offering”.

Steve Jones

Sports rights and fan engagement are two topics being discussed at the Mumbrella Sports Marketing Summit on September 9. Click the banner for details.

 

Sports Marketing Summit

ADVERTISEMENT

Get the latest media and marketing industry news (and views) direct to your inbox.

Sign up to the free Mumbrella newsletter now.

 

SUBSCRIBE

Sign up to our free daily update to get the latest in media and marketing.