NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE LAUNCHES OFFICIAL SLOVAK WEBSITE
Slovak Website Joins 5 Additional New NHL Websites In
Czech, Finnish, German, Russian and Swedish
Will Emphasize Territory-Specific Video Content And Showcase European-Born NHLers
NEW YORK (October 6, 2011) ─ The National Hockey League™ (NHL) today announced the introduction of a new official website published in Slovak as a complement to the English-language NHL.com. The NHL™ has also introduced websites in Czech, Finnish, German, Russian and Swedish.
The NHL is the world’s top professional hockey league, with more than 26 percent of its players hailing from outside of North America. As a result, NHL™ digital media – including broadband experiences and mobile applications – enjoy significant demand from fans around the world. Now, as part of a larger cross-media strategy to better activate International fans of the NHL, the League has created the most relevant, country-specific NHL media experience for the Web.
“The NHL is a true global sport and we continue to see a growing demand from International fans across broadband, mobile and tablet devices,” said Perry Cooper, senior vice president of digital media. “These new sites are programmed and customized to optimize the fan’s experience by emphasizing the local-born players with video-centric content.”
Slovakian Fans Crave Player Content
The content strategy for the Slovak NHL Web site is to prominently feature Slovakia’s local-born players such as Zdeno Chara, Marian Gaborik and Jaroslav Halak, providing regular video interviews of these players in their native languages, special highlight packages of their performance on the ice, and localized versions of their traditional NHL.com player pages.
As with the original NHL.com, the new Slovak site also will include abundant amounts of video to feed the demand from Slovakian fans who historically consume more video compared to North American fans.
The site will have local staff writers and special guest bloggers throughout the season in the form of players and coaches whose native language is Slovak. Other features include the traditional modules currently found on NHL.com, including Featured Stats, Frozen Moments, Polls, Scores, Standings, Schedule, Photo Gallery, Stats and Players.
More than 20 percent of the overall digital audience for NHL hockey comes from counties outside of North America, with six countries – Czech Republic, Germany, Finland, Slovakia, Sweden and Russia – representing 50 percent of the International digital audience. Each of these six countries experienced double- or triple-digit year-over-year growth for video starts on NHL.com last year, demonstrating the opportunity for native-language NHL Web sites.
About the NHL
The National Hockey League, founded in 1917, is the second-oldest of the four major professional team sports leagues in North America. Today, the NHL consists of 30 Member Clubs, each reflecting the League’s international makeup, with players from more than 20 countries represented on team rosters. According to a Simmons Market Research study, NHL fans are younger, more educated, more affluent, and access content through digital means more than any other sport. The NHL entertains more than 250 million fans each season in-arena and through its partners in national television (VERSUS, NBC, TSN, CBC, RDS, RIS, ASN and NHL Network™) and radio (NHL Radio™ and Sirius XM Radio). Through the NHL Foundation, the League’s charitable arm, the NHL raises money and awareness for Hockey Fights Cancer™ and NHL Youth Development, and supports the charitable efforts of NHL players. For more information on the NHL, log on to NHL.com.
NHL, the NHL Shield and National Hockey League are trademarks of the National Hockey League. All Rights Reserved.
### (10/6/11)
For more information, contact:
Kerry McGovern, NHL
212-789-2172, kmcgovern@nhl.com
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