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Time Inc.’s (NYSE:TIME) Sports Illustrated has teamed up with Minute Media, parent company of digital publishing brands 90min, 12up and DBLTAP, for a new content collaboration to enhance SI’s global coverage of soccer on its digital platforms. Under the deal, 90min, the world’s largest and fastest-growing digital football (soccer) platform, will supply Sports Illustrated’s soccer channel, Planet Fútbol, with global soccer content developed by 90min’s editorial staff and fan contributors, offering on-the-ground coverage of leagues, teams and players from around the world. The new content from 90min supplements Planet Fútbol’s in-depth coverage of the sport from premier soccer journalists like Grant Wahl and Brian Straus.
The new coverage section recently launched on SI.com as “Planet Fútbol, Powered by 90min.” In September, the first full month of the content collaboration, traffic to soccer coverage on SI.com was up more than 160% in unique visitors from the previous year while achieving triple-digit percentage increases in other key areas, such as video views and site visits. As part of the agreement, 90min also supplies Spanish language coverage for SI’s newly launched “Planeta Fútbol” channel, the first-ever Spanish language-specific coverage section for Sports Illustrated. This deal is the latest move to strengthen SI’s position in the international soccer landscape as both companies prepare for the 2018 World Cup.
“Soccer is truly a global sport and continues to grow in popularity in the United States. We want to provide our readers with the most in-depth soccer coverage possible, and working with 90min and its team of global soccer experts is the perfect fit to help bolster our offering to fans,” said Mark McClusky, Sports Illustrated Digital Editor. “We have seen extraordinary recent growth in our soccer audience, and we expect this to continue as more and more people engage with the sport.”
Beyond adding unique coverage of the game to SI.com’s growing digital audience, the two companies will work together to secure advertising partnerships that extend across their platforms. The combined global digital audience for SI.com and 90min.com reaches approximately 100 million average monthly users.
“We are excited to be partnering with Sports Illustrated to expand the reach and influence of 90min’s global content. With fan interest and excitement growing as we approach the 2018 World Cup, now is the perfect time for big sports media brands to take their soccer coverage to the next level. We are proud to be recognized as the industry leader in global soccer editorial and are pleased to share our content with such a respected name in the sports publishing world,” said Rich Routman, President, Minute Media.
Planet Fútbol can be accessed online at http://www.si.com/planet-futbol or via the Sports Illustrated app.