Sun Sports’ HEAT Week a South Florida Success

Four months removed from a championship parade celebrating the Miami HEAT’s back-to-back NBA World Championships, FOX’s Sun Sports turned up the temperature on South Florida in the days leading up to Miami’s regular season opener. 

HEAT Week, a week-long celebration on the network, began on Tuesday, Oct. 22 with a robust programming lineup and a grass-roots activation that kept HEAT fans buzzing about their favorite basketball team. Read on for an in-depth recap:

FOX's Sun Sports Goes All-In for Second Straight Miami HEAT Championship Celebration

Having a parade down beautiful Biscayne Boulevard never gets old, and for the second time in as many seasons, FOX's Sun Sports was on hand to cover all the festivities from start to finish on Monday, June 24, 2013.

The moment confetti began falling inside the AmericanAirlines Arena to commemorate the Miami HEAT's third NBA World Championship in franchise history, Sun Sports started mobilizing to cover a victory parade and celebration that saw an estimated 400,000 plus fans in attendance.

Click more for the story of everything that went into yesterday's five hours of live celebration coverage.

FOX Sports Florida / Sun Sports Named Finalist For Cynopsis Sports Media Awards

The 2nd Annual Cynopsis: Sports Media Awards Breakfast is scheduled for Wednesday, April 17 at The Yale Club in NYC. Last week, Cynopsis announced the finalists for this year's awards and FOX Sports Florida / FOX's Sun Sports were named finalists in four distinct categories:

Live Stream Presentation
Discovery Channel, Red Bull Media House and YouTube - Space Jump Live
CBS Interactive, Inc - Masters Live on CBSSports.com
FOX Sports Florida/Sun Sports - Miami HEAT Championship Celebration
NBCSports.com - Super Bowl XLVI
Turner Sports - NCAA March Madness
Turner Sports - PGA Championship LIVE
 

Marketing Initiative
Big Ten Network – 2012 BTN Big 10K Race
FOX Sports Florida/Sun Sports – Magic Move Campaign
Major League Baseball – MLB Fan Cave
NASCAR – NASCAR Contenders Live Presented By Toyota and Sprint
Time Warner Cable Sports – “One Home. One Goal.” Campaign
Turner Sports – NCAA.com 75th Voting and Interactive Timeline
 

Pro-Social Campaign
Big Ten Network – “BTN LiveBIG” Campaign
ESPN – Jimmy V Week for Cancer Research
FOX Sports Florida/Sun Sports – After-School All-Stars
MLB on FOX - Boys & Girls Club of America
NFL - Recharge After-School Program

Spot (Regional)
FOX Sports Florida/Sun Sports – Magic Fan Express
Time Warner Cable Sports – Time Warner Cable SportsNet Signature Bus Spot
YES Network – 2012 Yankees on YES
For a complete list of finalists, visit http://www.cynopsis.com/events/sports-awards/

Heat Live Rewards Sizzles on FOX's Sun Sports

On Saturday, December 1, the defending world champion Miami HEAT hosted the Brooklyn Nets and FOX's Sun Sports utilized the broadcast to officially unveil the new HEAT Live Rewards social media program to viewers and Heat fans alike.

The successful on-air launch highlighted a program that has been beneficial to the network across a multitude of social media outlets.

FOX's Sun Sports goes LIVE for Miami HEAT Championship Celebration

With the Miami HEAT being crowned NBA champions for the 2nd time in franchise history, it was only fitting for FOX’s Sun Sports to party on— Miami style. On Monday, June 26, Sun Sports culminated a historical championship season for the Miami HEAT by airing the Miami HEAT Championship Celebration victory parade.

FOXSportsFlorida.com Records Second Busiest Traffic Day in Site History

 

• May Day: Powered by local and national writer coverage of the Miami HEAT’s eventful game 2 victory over the New York Knicks, FOXSportsFlorida.com began the month of May in record setting fashion.

• Headlines included HEAT / Knicks fire extinguisher fall out, Chris Bosh “video bombing” LeBron interview, a new college mascot and a roller-coaster day for the Tampa Bay Rays.
• Approximately 800,000 unique visitors in one day, which is more than half of the 1.44 million unique’s recorded through the entire month of May last year.

Sun Sports Scores Ratings Win vs ESPN

In seasons past, Miami HEAT on FOX Sports Florida / Sun Sports often struggled in side-by-sides vs. ESPN and TNT, sometimes not even scoring half the ratings as those networks. This year, the tables are turning thanks to:

• Support from the team and fan base for the SunSports brand
• Strategic Marketing and PR/social media efforts
• Leveraging relationships in market for tangible results

On January 11, the first side-by-side against ESPN (HEAT v. Clippers) showed a shift in some major demos: 

• Men 21-49: Sun 4.12 vs. ESPN 3.95
• Men 25-49: Sun 3.88 vs. ESPN 2.96. 

Overall, households finished just shy of the win with a positive 3.56 for Sun vs. 3.70 for ESPN.

On Friday, January 27, the HEAT hosted the rival New York Knicks in another side-by-side vs. ESPN and the final numbers showed a decisive victory for Sun Sports, as the network scored a 6.0 HH rating (vs. ESPN's 3.8) and wins in all major demos.

Click HERE for the ratings/elements breakdown of a big night for the Miami HEAT on SunSports.

Sun Sports Takes Over Downtown Miami

FOX Sports Florida / Sun Sports turned the temperature up in South Florida by “taking over” Downtown Miami last Wednesday, December 21.  As part of HEAT Week, a week-long celebration in anticipation of the HEAT’s season debut, Sun Sports wrapped five Miami-Dade Transit MetroMover cars in co-branded artwork throughout January and unveiled the vehicles with a massive morning activation at the Stephen P. Clark Government Center that reached thousands of fans.

• Early morning on-site HEAT Week event reaches thousands of commuters

• Millions of impressions for Sun Sports via MetroMover cars throughout January

• PR, Marketing, Social Media, Promotions and FOX Sports Florida Girls elements all combined for successful activation.

Sun Sports Puts Heat Players To the Test

Miami Heat telecasts on Sun Sports are sizzling, with ratings up 100% over last season.  The network is engaging fans with not only high-quality game productions, but also unique and entertaining features. One halftime feature in particular has become a fan and media favorite.

FOXSportsFlorida.com Sets New Traffic Record with NBA All-Star Coverage

Monday's Presidents' Day holiday proved to be a good day for FOXSportsFlorida.com as the site set a new all-time single-day record with its coverage of NBA All-Star Weekend.

• 148% increase over previous single-day traffic record

• 16X greater than typical day's traffic

Content included analysis from Bill Reiter (Heat or 3-Peat), Chris Perkins (Heat), and Sam Gardner (Magic), as well as video clips, photos, & content collaboration with FOXSports.com.

Kobe & the West squad may have won the game, but King James delivered. Bill Reiter's post-game column on LeBron James' "act of wizardry," including his triple double, an NBA All-Star Game feat achieved only by Michael Jordan prior to Sunday's game, resulted in the strongest traffic.

• Elevated to MSN.com, the story recorded over 100K uniques in just one hour from 9-10am on Monday.