The Harlem Globetrotters hadn’t had a tv collection because the Nineteen Seventies—that’s, till Keith Dawkins got here alongside.
The enduring basketball exhibition crew—based in Chicago in 1926—has lengthy relied on its dwell excursions to interact a passionate fan base, with its legendary performances showcasing twists on conventional NBA guidelines. However to maintain the century-old model related, Dawkins, who joined the group in early 2022 as president, got down to set up a brand new presence in a vastly modified media panorama.
“Content material in all kinds is basically essential for us as a result of it permits us to have a 365-day-a-year dialog with the viewers and activate on that in whichever form we select,” stated Dawkins, who might be showing at Brandweek on Sept. 12 to speak concerning the evolution of the model.
TV was an apparent selection. In any case, the CBS Saturday morning Harlem Globetrotters cartoon from the ’70s grew to become a cult hit. The animated Globetrotters even palled round with Scooby-Doo and the gang in a number of Hanna-Barbera-produced motion pictures after the present’s cancellation.
Although launching a profitable TV collection is less complicated stated than performed, Dawkins had substantial expertise within the house.
Along with operating his personal model as founder and CEO of Rock Hill Media Ventures, the Globetrotters president beforehand spent practically 18 years at Viacom, launching sports activities initiatives at Nickelodeon to domesticate strategic partnerships with leagues such because the NFL, Nascar and the MLS.
The content material conversations which have opened up, the sponsorship conversations which have opened up … its visibility and success has been a giant a part of that.
Keith Dawkins, president, Harlem Globetrotters
So Dawkins tasked himself with bringing the Globetrotters again to the TV airwaves, introducing them to a brand new era in what he advised Adweek was a “seismic transfer for the group.”
“It was a possibility to inform the story of the Globetrotters off the courtroom when it comes to the Goodwill Ambassador work, the social influence work,” Dawkins stated.
And that transfer paid off.
Scoring with TV audiences
The TV deal closed “rapidly,” in response to Dawkins, and the collection went into manufacturing in summer time 2022, debuting late final yr.
In partnership with Hearst Media Manufacturing Group, the 30-minute present, Harlem Globetrotters: Play It Ahead, airs throughout NBC’s The Extra You Know programming block on Saturdays and seems on NBC’s digital properties. It additionally brings in outdoors expertise, with comic Craig Robinson lending his internet hosting expertise to the collection.
So far, Harlem Globetrotters: Play It Ahead reaches 800,000 viewers per week, with some episodes surpassing 1,000,000.
