Victory+ has been a supreme hit for A Parent Media Company (APMC) CEO Neil Gruninger.
After partnering with the Dallas Stars to kickstart the over-the-top media service, Victory+ also locked down the Anaheim Ducks prior to the 2024-25 season. It was a huge coup for fans of both teams, who had expressed frustration with the poor quality and lack of accessibility from the Ducks’ and Stars’ previous broadcast provider, Bally Sports.
In Victory+, broadcasts for both the Stars and Ducks were provided online, free of cost to viewers in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth and Southern California areas. A successful debut season was capped off by a partnership with the Western Hockey League to broadcast over 700 games along with the CHL Playoffs and the Memorial Cup. A partnership with the MLB’s Texas Rangers also demonstrated that Victory+ can provide more than just hockey-based media.
“It was a bit of a domino effect once we had the Stars engaged,” Gruninger said. (We) immediately proved up the model in the preseason and showcased record viewership even then. But, I'll start with Texas in general and again, the Anaheim Ducks were an important part of our strategy to showcase the space and the sports industry that we are tackling the local problem with clubs and multiple sports and leagues. With the Anaheim Ducks coming on board, it was an indication that Victory+ was going broad as opposed to Texas-focused. And it's an important part of our strategy to bring great content onto the service from a local standpoint and a national one with the WHL and the CHL and a combination of other leagues that are coming on board here over the next few months.
I think what really triggered the Texas Rangers coming on to Victory+ was a combination of the amount of viewers and app downloads we had already here in Texas. The Dallas Stars have the exact same footprint and jurisdiction that the Texas Rangers have outside of Houston and some of the areas. And again, we were proven in the marketplace, specifically with no real downtime. (We had) one little hiccup the first game. So, we really solved the problem and they could see streaming at the quality that I don't think they've experienced even at the stage of their time frame with other partners. So quality of streaming was higher definition, speed of the actual video itself and loading. (That is a) really important part of the streaming experience and we've really focused on that coming from our kids and family era (Kidoodle.TV). So, I think because the Texas Rangers had full access and (a lot of their fans are) Stars fans, it just really gave us that ability to approach them. They had other potential opportunities, and in the end chose us because we were true-tested and proven. So, all of that made a huge difference for them.
Gruninger said that they are still in conversations with other clubs and looking to expand into the local markets to continue solving the problem of reach digitally. He pointed to the fact that clubs that are embracing that digital path are going to see the benefit of viewers, and that brands are looking for that too.
“In the old model, viewership wasn’t necessarily the number one priority, I would say. And now, with sponsorships in a position of wanting to see reach in a local market, it's becoming a priority for the clubs and for ratings to increase dramatically within that local market. The Ducks have done an incredible job. They have the over-the-air play (on KCOP-13), simulcast with digital. And so that created another environment for us to test in to really understand how that affected our viewership from this Victory+ side compared to what we did with the Stars, which is strictly digital. We did a few OTA games at the very end of the season just to test, ‘OK, how would this affect our viewership and would it cannibalize the digital side or are there viewers that still are only on OTA?’ There’s a combination of growth in viewership that we can attain together. So that's an important strategy as well. We're going to continue to use data as a way to kind of form that decision and build towards the most impact within a local market, so viewership is at its high.
“But again, it's very important that we are Victory-focused first, because having the data and understanding who your viewers are is the Holy Grail, right? That truly allows our clubs to sell tickets differently (based on) how many times a viewer came on, how many games they watched, one game, two games, nine games, 20 games, all the games, right? It gives you a different perspective and how you can promote and ensure that fans are being communicated with at a level that gives them clarity on when the games are happening.
“People's lives, there’s always something to do and they're busy. I think fans really appreciate that we have a really good communication channel directed back to them as well. So all that has been working in our favor, digital-first, gives us the data that the clubs are looking for, gives us the reach because everyone's connected one way or another, and we're doing some very cool things to kind of break through the noise here with this next season. It'll have a lot of different gamification of the viewing experience, which will allow for additional prizes and fun ways to kind of engage the game throughout the season as well.”
Per Sports Business Journal, the Ducks increased their OTA viewership by 75 percent. Gruninger estimates that the Ducks comfortably eclipsed a 150 percent in viewership between their digital and OTA viewership.
“Our model showcased 50-100% on the high side and so we were really good with that,” Gruninger said. “Digitally, we increased the Ducks’ viewership by like six times, almost 10 times digitally because they didn't have much of a digital audience from last year. But overall with OTA in the mix, we were definitely over 150%. And we're focused on growing digital as much as possible because that's where we're getting the (viewership) data. We don't know who the viewer is on the OTA side. This way, the more digital audience comes to the equation.
“We have access to ensuring that they're winning prizes with us. All that is really important and we want our fans to win. You can win prizes on our service. It's important to me. I want any fan that's supporting us, I want them to have a chance to win on the service. We have to market that and really communicate that to the masses. Our whole thesis was 50 to 100 percent increase. We've quadrupled that on the Stars front and had a much higher increase than we were expecting out of the gate. So it was super important.”
Just like the Ducks had been connected to Victory+ through a mutual acquaintance, so too was the WHL through the Ducks. Daniel Near, commissioner of the WHL, contacted Ducks Club President Aaron Teats to get an idea of how Victory+ had worked for them before engaging in a deal to make over 700 WHL games available to view at no cost.
“It was very important that the Anaheim Ducks were on Victory,” Gruninger said. “Dan Near, the commissioner, actually called Aaron Teats first to kind of get feedback on how well they were performing and just how we were interacting. Because we have a close tie with the Stars, it could change the dynamic of the answer, so he wanted to hear the true nature of what we've done. Aaron's just like, ‘Man, it's been incredible. We're growing in viewership and they're supportive and they're putting the time and energy into us and they're proving up what it is that we all believe to be true.’ And again, we're just getting started. So when Dan called me, he definitely did his due diligence on all of the groups that we were working with at the time. He’s very passionate, same with the club owners there on growing junior hockey globally. And it's been an important part for their families to discover the game. The playoffs were unbelievable. It was at 750,000 viewers on the service within the first round of playoffs. It was pretty incredible. (The Ducks were a) very important part of how we were able to get (the WHL partnership) up and running right out of the gate and having the Canadian family experience Victory+ for the first time.”
The Rangers have a paid subscription, a noticeable change from free-to-view media for the Ducks, Stars and WHL/CHL. Part of that is due to the MLB’s distribution model with DirecTV. Because the Rangers are utilizing broadcast and digital media versus digital and OTA media like the hockey side, a subscription is required. But Gruninger says he intends to keep everything else free.
“Our belief is free is really the key for scale and growth in a market, in a local capacity. I think it's important that we're working towards growing national-like reach in a local environment, which we've proven up this year. Over 250,000 viewers were watching the Dallas Stars. That doesn't happen from a national perspective. And I think what we feel is as we continue to see the shift from broadcast advertisers and those linear spins that were always in sports move into the digital market and the connected TV space, that’ll increase not only the budgets on this side of the coin, but it’ll allow for us to build with brands that are looking for viewers here. They are looking for their attention, and their attention is typically on 10 services that they use digitally. We look at social and attention as what we're trying to capture and so by solving the digital problem in a local market and being free, you're giving back to the fan. The club is doing something incredible for the community by connecting the community through their game, through their sport, through the passion of their sport and we can grow viewership by doing so.
“What does that do for the club's revenue streams across their entire ecosystem? Ticket sales go up. Merch sales go up, all this stuff. So these case studies are being built out as we look at our results with the Stars, with the Anaheim Ducks. The WHL and what we've done there, we got their content out, their playoffs up within three days of kind of just going after it and saying, ‘Hey, we want to create a digital way for your users to watch (and) it's going to be free. We're going to go out, bring all the brands, you know that are looking for fans at this capacity, and everyone wins.’ The clubs grow in viewership, the sport grows in viewership. The fans get what they're looking for and they're entertained and they're getting something for free. And the brand loyalty that comes from that is incredibly important for the club and the fan. And then now the brands that are supporting us get that same representation within a free ecosystem where that brand loyalty becomes a part of the fan and them putting them first, right? So it all seems to click.
“In my opinion, we generate more revenue that way than we do from a subscription-based service that locks down the actual content itself. We want to build the top funnel approach. The super fan will always be there. We want fringe fans to come in to watch the games first and then as we build more feature sets into the digital viewing experience, there will be a reason to potentially subscribe for something that enhances the experience. But you have to keep the game free in that environment. And so that's our core belief and we've proven up the model with the Stars going digital only. We grew their audience by five times, sometimes 10 times, depending on the game. And so it's important that we continue to put fans first with our clubs that create just an environment that everyone is supporting overall. So, my short answer is free is what we still believe is the way to go from a local distribution model.”
Gruninger said that a big announcement is coming in June, with similar tactics expected to be deployed in California as the ones that APMC has executed in Texas.
“We have some cool things coming right away. If it was a week from now, we'd be having a different conversation. We’ve been able to kind of take on Texas a little bit differently just because of our core connections here and now showcasing the success around it, we're going to be able to replicate that within each market. (This) is a really important strategy for this upcoming season.”
Featured image caption: Mar 18, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson (91) and Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston (53) battle for control of the puck during the first period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images