Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Hang Media Finds Success Connecting Fans, Players During Live Broadcasts

20/11/2023

Hang Media Finds Success Connecting Fans, Players During Live Broadcasts Virtual Hangs during ICC World Cup Final, MLB World Series deliver for Gen Z audiences By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Monday, November 20, 2023 - 11:31 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

ESPN's ManningCast has been a very successful virtual watch party for the broadcast media landscape but Hang Media, founded in 2021 by former CNN President Jon Klein, is taking virtual watch parties to another level by giving fans a chance to get even closer to famous athletes who are watching the game.

Says Klein: What could be better than dropping famous people into the palm of their hand to watch the game alongside them? Watching a game with your heroes was the inspiration.

Former Texas Ranger Ivan Pudge Rodriguez recently took place in a World Series Hang along with Roy Oswalt, Dan Wheeler, Ruben Sierra, and more.

That inspiration has led to an experience (click here to see it in action) where athletes are signed up to host a virtual watch party which fans can then register to watch. It isn't a simulcast, ala the ManningCast, but rather a dedicated second-screen experience designed to be watched on a phone, tablet, or laptop alongside a big screen that has the actual game.

Registration for fans is free thanks to the support of sponsors like Toyota, Coca-Cola, Dave & Busters, MolsonCoors, and more. Since launch more than 20 million fans have taken part in the watch parties which require nothing but a Webcam, laptop camera, or phone camera on the part of the athlete. When fans access the Hang, they are then watching a second-screen experience that complements their first screen experience which has the actual game.

Klein says a study by Deloitte that came out earlier this year showed why Hang Media is finding success.

The report said that Gen Z sports fans expect the viewing experience to be communal, he says. They don't want to just sit there alone in their living room. They want to be involved in a group situation. And social media has also made them expect to have authentic connections with famous people. Providing that through Hangs has been a real lure for younger viewers as 60% of our users are 18 to 44.

We've seen plenty of companies come and go who bought rights to incorporate the feed into their experience and they're now out of business because it doesn't hold up, he says. But we do think there's going to come a point where the leagues and the teams will want to have their feeds included in front of our audiences.

Klein says the average session is one hour and 19 minutes and attracts an average of 800,000 viewers.

We are pulling in users and keeping them, says Klein. That is really rewarding and we're just going to continue to keep on learning about what works and what doesn't to continue to drive that number.

Hangs are available as both live streams and as VOD for a week following the event. Klein says that adds additional viewers, driving more value for sponsors and more exposure for the athletes.

The athletes rave about this experience every time as they love the face-to-face contact with their fans as this isn't just a quick hit on a radio show, he adds. It's a shared emotional experience and they also share it with other athletes as we often look to bring teammates together or current players on an off-night or bye week as they tend to attract a younger audience.

The athletes also help promote the Hangs via short videos they run on social media. Those clips have links that take fans straight to the ticketing page and then the fans submit their phone number and email address.

We share all that with sponsors and then on game day we send a text with a link to the fans, and they can even sign up for an on-camera slot which are limited to about 200 per game, says Klein Those are cycled through at around 40 people per quarter, but then unlimited people can access the chat where viewers can post questions.

Hang Media also offers trivia contests which Klein says are fairly simple graphics insertions that add another level of engagement and are often focused on the athletes in the hang. And then the sponsors also make sure to get engaged as well.

Restaurant chain Smokey Bones will deliver food to the athletes, so they'll be there eating ribs, says Klein. Cris Carter was on for an Ohio State game as he went there, and he mentioned how much he liked Smokey Bones donuts and Smokey Bones delivered them during the hang. So, it's all very organic with respect to product integration and endorsement.

The most recent sponsor to sign on with HANG is Toyota. To introduce its first-ever Grand Highlander SUV to targeted Black and Indian expat consumers, Toyota and its agencies, Burrell and InterTrend, have leveraged HANG's unique second-screen experiences to power deep engagement across more than 1 million views during the Toyota HBCU NY Classic football game back in September, and October's India-Pakistan Cricket World Cup match. They also teamed up this past weekend for the Cricket World Cup Final between Australia and India.

This past weekend Toyota sponsored a Hang for the ICC World Cup final between Australia and India that featured Cricket World Finals with Unmukt Chand, Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Saiyami Kher, hosted by Ridhima Pathaki.

Klein says hangs are also a great way for athletes to showcase their personalities in a more meaningful way than a quick interview.

All athletes are acutely aware of how finite their careers are, and they want to position themselves for the next thing, he adds. We let them promote their podcasts or other products that they may be developing and that makes it a happy relationship.

The hang experience is focused on authenticity, fun, and being freewheelin
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/11/20/hang-media-finds-success-connec...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

30/07/2026

TVNZ Works with Evergent to Successfully Debut New Stream...

TVNZ and Evergent are celebrating a major TVNZ milestone - the evolution from a free-to-view, ad-supported business into a hybrid model, offering premium sport...

30/07/2026

WebMiere Adds Native VP9/AV1 WebM/MKV Import to Adobe Premiere Pro

WebMiere Adds Native VP9/AV1 WebM/MKV Import to Adobe Premiere Pro Brie Clayton July 29, 2026 0 Comments Brought to you by KawaiiEngine, WebMiere is a...

30/07/2026

Comments on FCC License Renewals for ABC Stations Top 150,000

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

CW Sports Live Streaming to Launch Aug. 4 on the ESPN App

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

Fox Advertising, iSpot Expand Measurement Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

GlobalM Expands Software-Defined Media Platform for Cloud...

At IBC2026, GlobalM will showcase the latest evolution of its software-defined media platform, enabling broadcasters, telecom operators and media organisations ...

30/07/2026

Digital Alert Systems at 2026 TAB Show

At the 2026 TAB Show, Digital Alert Systems will highlight and demo the new DAS-Link AIR, an over-the-air common alert protocol (CAP) dissemination system for ...

30/07/2026

OpenDrives Named to the 2026 CRN Storage 100 List

OpenDrives Named to the 2026 CRN Storage 100 List Company Recognized Among the 50 Coolest Software-Defined Storage Vendors for Unlimited Capacity, S3 Hybrid M...

30/07/2026

VIDA Brings AI Scene-Level Search to Media Archives Endin...

New Scene Search capability in VIDA Content OS makes video content itself searchable, letting broadcasters and streamers find key moments across millions of ass...

30/07/2026

Creedon's Musical Atlas of Ireland returns for another season of stories and songs

Broadcaster John Creedon explores Ireland's rich musical heritage Sunday 2 A...

30/07/2026

Best in Class: Stream PC Games and Study on the Same Laptop With GeForce NOW

Back to school means balancing assignments, deadlines and downtime. GeForce NOW makes it easy to have it all. With cloud gaming, everyday laptops used for clas...

29/07/2026

Grass Valley Op-Ed Series: Seven Paradoxes Shaping the Next Era of Media Production

In this series, Grass Valley explores the seven paradoxes shaping the next era o...

29/07/2026

SVG Students to Watch: A Look Back at a Year of Spotlighting the Emerging Talent in Live Sports Production

Thats a wrap on Season 1 of SVG Students to Watch! Across the country, these stu...

29/07/2026

DAZN to Become Exclusive DTC In-Market Streaming Home of YES Network, MSG Networks; Gotham App to Shut Down

The agreement will move Gotham Sports App subscribers to DAZN during the 2026-27...

29/07/2026

Big South Promotes Emily Dassel to Associate Commissioner for Brand and Creative Strategy

Longtime digital-media leader expands role overseeing conference branding, video...

29/07/2026

Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Gregg Araki, the Director of I Want Your Sex

By Bailey Pennick One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. ...

29/07/2026

TiME UK announce transatlantic partnership

Organisation team up with TI:ME USA Founded in 2019 with the aim of helping educators to embrace new music technology, Technology in Music Education (TiME U...

29/07/2026

Multiply 2: Free plug-in from Acon Digital

Doubling & chorus processor gets an overhaul Acon Digital have just launched the latest version of their free voice-doubling and chorus plug-in. Multiply 2 ...

29/07/2026

Origin Effects launch the EQDeluxe

New Pultec-inspired pedal revealed The latest addition to the Origin Effects line-up brings the legendary Pultec EQ into pedal format. Based on the EQP-1A, ...

29/07/2026

SBS Appoints Chief Commercial Officer and Director of Marketing and Audiences

SBS Appoints Chief Commercial Officer and Director of Marketing and Audiences 29 July, 2026 Media releases SBS is pleased to announce the appointment of Ni...

29/07/2026

Rohde & Schwarz showcases unified next-generation broadcasting ecosystem at SET Expo 2026 in Brazil

Rohde & Schwarz showcases unified next-generation broadcasting ecosystem at SET ...

29/07/2026

Central Christian Church Connects Remote Production Teams with Clear-Com's Gen-IC...

eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...

29/07/2026

Streaming Embarks on Annual Summer Ascent in Nielsen's May 2026 Gauge Reports

Streaming Hits 48.6% of Total TV Usage in May YouTube Leads in Media Distributo...

29/07/2026

WVIT's Joseph DiMaggio Named SBE Flanders Engineer of the Year

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

Amagi Appoints Martin Wacker to Lead Sales for DACH -- St...

Industry veteran joins Amagi to drive growth in Europe's leading broadcast market and advance cloud-native broadcast, FAST, and AI-driven operations. LONDO...

29/07/2026

WebTransport opens new route for broadcast-quality media...

Work is ongoing to specify how to run RIST over WebTransport. This will deliver secure, stable, broadcast quality video playback and origination to any platform...

29/07/2026

Offline Files Makes the Drive Shelf Searchable on Mac

Offline Files Makes the Drive Shelf Searchable on Mac Brie Clayton July 29, 2026 0 Comments A local Mac app for finding files, photos, and footage acr...

29/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Announces New UltraStudio Mini 12G

Blackmagic Design Announces New UltraStudio Mini 12G Brie Clayton July 29, 2026 0 Comments New extremely portable Thunderbolt 4 capture and playback ...

29/07/2026

Brightline Lighting Introduces the MOD1

Brightline Lighting, a premier manufacturer of energy-efficient lighting systems for broadcast, videoconferencing, government, education and corporate applicati...

29/07/2026

Applications open for IFFI/WAVES Film Bazaar in Goa - Producer Delegation

Applications open for IFFI/WAVES Film Bazaar in Goa - Producer Delegation 28 July 2026 Image credit: Four Years Later Screen Australia has opened applications...

29/07/2026

Brightline Unveils Compact, Suspended MOD1 LED Light

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

NAB Meets With Trusty on Ownership Caps

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

QuickLink To Feature New StudioPro AnywhereTally At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

HBO Max Launches Vertical Shorts to Improve Content Discovery

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

New Tool Identifies Sources Of Fake Videos

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

DNEG Migrates Editorial Workflows to Foundrys Hiero

Foundry today announced that Academy Award-winning creative studio DNEG has implemented Hiero to support its editorial workflows. Part of the Nuke product famil...

29/07/2026

QuickLink Unveils New StudioPro AnywhereTally Remote Tall...

The Latest Addition to the Brand's StudioPro Ecosystem Combines Simple Deployment, Cloud Control and Professional Grade Wireless Reliability QuickLink, a l...

29/07/2026

The Secret Master Adjustment Layer Hack in After Effects

The Secret Master Adjustment Layer Hack in After Effects Graham Quince July 28, 2026 0 Comments Trish Meyer (who literally beta-tested the original Af...

29/07/2026

Post Completed with Blackmagic Cloud for Shane Kosugi's Feature Film SEEK

Post Completed with Blackmagic Cloud for Shane Kosugi's Feature Film SEEK Brie Clayton July 28, 2026 0 Comments Cannes Indie International Film Fe...

29/07/2026

Isabeau Miller Named Chair of Berklee Songwriting Department

Isabeau Miller Named Chair of Berklee Songwriting Department The Berklee alumna, who previously served on the Songwriting faculty, will begin her new role on ...

29/07/2026

Comscore to Announce Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results

Comscore to Announce Second Quarter 2026 Financial ResultsRESTON, VA, July 29, 2026 Comscore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a trusted partner for planning, transacting...

29/07/2026

SES Launches Multi-Orbit Satellite Connectivity on LATAM Airbus, Embraer Fleet

Luxembourg, July 29, 2026 - SES, a leading space solutions company, was selected by LATAM Airlines to provide multi-orbit inflight connectivity service to its g...

29/07/2026

Hayu is coming to Sky, bringing fan-favourite franchises The Real Housewives, Below Deck and more to customers, at no extra cost

Wednesday 29 July 2026 Hayu is coming to Sky, bringing fan-favourite franchises...

29/07/2026

New RT true crime podcast launches today

RT launches Unsolved, a true crime podcast, presented by crime journalist Barry Cummins and presenter Katja Mia. Unsolved is a weekly podcast exploring unsol...

28/07/2026

LiveUs World Cup Record: 1,700 Units Support Wide Range of Transmission Needs

LiveU, the pioneer in IP-video transmission and cloud-based remote production, today detailed its historic performance records set during the 2026 FIFA World Cu...

28/07/2026

Case Study: How the Dallas Cowboys Removed Bottlenecks in Off-site Content Production

The NFL franchise rebuilt their off-site content operation for an era when teams...