Sept. 7, 2017
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall Athletics continues to push the initiative to deliver desirable content to its fanbase and the integration of the HerdVision Digital Network is a large piece of the messaging puzzle.
HerdVision will be comprised of live events, weekly shows, student-athlete features and much more. The idea for HerdVision is to provide a combination of free and paywall-protected content. The free content will be distributed through various social media outlets, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Paywall-protected content will live on the Thundering Herd’s new CUSA.tv site. CUSA.tv is a subscription-based site that provides fans the opportunity to watch a variety of live events as well as programmed features.
CUSA.tv’s subscription information may be found on HerdZone.com under the Multimedia tab labeled HerdVision All-Access. The subscription options vary from a $6.95 24-hour pass to a $99.95 yearly pass. The live content is set to include men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, softball, track and field, as well as football. The subscription-based product provides an additional revenue stream for Marshall Athletics during a time when a concerted effort has been placed on revenue generation in collegiate athletics.
Marshall Athletics and Marshall University made a substantial investment in the HerdVision project as it will benefit the university from a marketing standpoint. A new control room is under construction in the Cam Henderson Center that will be the backdrop for all of HerdVision’s content. It is going to be a state-of-the-art studio that Cleveland-based company iVideo has been tasked with developing for the Thundering Herd.
HerdVision will officially launch its new brand next Saturday, September 16 when Marshall Football takes on Kent State at Joan C. Edwards Stadium, a game that will air live on CUSA.tv. WCHS, the official television partner of the Thundering IMG Sports Network, will produce the game with Mark Martin handling the play-by-play duties and eight-year NFLer Bobby Carpenter providing the analysis. The contest will air locally on the Stadium cable network, formally known as American Sports Network. Additional television clearance information will be issued via HerdZone.com early next week.
Marshall Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick
“We have made a strong effort to accurately tell our story, delivering an honest and positive message about Marshall Athletics. Our fans will get a look at our challenges and the tremendous stories that are derived from them. HerdVision will allow us to bring the vast majority of our sports to your phones, laptops, Apple TVs, Amazon Fire TV Sticks and any other devices that are web-based capable. We want fans to consume our content and have access to it at their convenience. Our bread-and-butter is selling tickets and raising money and this plan gives a big boost to what we feel is a very bright future for Marshall Athletics.”
Marshall Associate AD for External Affairs Aaron Goebbel
“We are entering a very exciting time with HerdVision’s launch. We have one of the most talented writers and storytellers in the business in Chuck McGill and we have seen how valuable his contributions are to our athletic department. We have 350 tremendous young people working hard in the classroom and on the playing surface and the best part of our profession is telling their stories. HerdVision will allow us to further bring those stories to life. The CUSA.tv subscription is a very affordable option for our fans. The single-day price is only $6.99. I believe that is about the going rate to rent a movie on iTunes. Our investment to improve streaming quality, and the additional content, more than justifies the subscription options for our great fans. HerdVision is going to be an exciting living, breathing adventure. We have a plan for the content and its appearance but we will continue to use our resources and make improvements along the way. We will use our social capabilities to produce live interaction with our fans. We have one of the most passionate fan bases in the country and it is extremely important that they feel connected to us. We also eagerly anticipate the launch of a rewards system, associated with the new HerdZone Gameday app, later this fall. All of these innovations will only bolster our efforts to show off Marshall Athletics and the University to the rest of the world.”
Chuck McGill, Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications
“The launch of HerdVision is the most important and valuable step Marshall University athletics could take as we add another item to our sports consumption menu. The promise that was made to me by Mike Hamrick and Aaron Goebbel when they hired me is that our athletic department would develop a multi-platform approach to deliver high quality content to our fan base, and through those platforms we would reach all Thundering Herd fans: young and old, local and out-of-state, tech-savvy and traditional news consumers. HerdVision helps our athletic department achieve that, and will complement our award-winning offerings Thundering Herd Illustrated and HerdZone.com. It is exciting to me – as a lifelong consumer of print and video – to see HerdVision launched at Marshall University, and to play a small role in spreading a positive message about our student-athletes, coaches and athletic programs.”
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall Athletics continues to push the initiative to deliver desirable content to its fanbase and the integration of the HerdVision Digital Network is a large piece of the messaging puzzle.
HerdVision will be comprised of live events, weekly shows, student-athlete features and much more. The idea for HerdVision is to provide a combination of free and paywall-protected content. The free content will be distributed through various social media outlets, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Paywall-protected content will live on the Thundering Herd’s new CUSA.tv site. CUSA.tv is a subscription-based site that provides fans the opportunity to watch a variety of live events as well as programmed features.
CUSA.tv’s subscription information may be found on HerdZone.com under the Multimedia tab labeled HerdVision All-Access. The subscription options vary from a $6.95 24-hour pass to a $99.95 yearly pass. The live content is set to include men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, softball, track and field, as well as football. The subscription-based product provides an additional revenue stream for Marshall Athletics during a time when a concerted effort has been placed on revenue generation in collegiate athletics.
Marshall Athletics and Marshall University made a substantial investment in the HerdVision project as it will benefit the university from a marketing standpoint. A new control room is under construction in the Cam Henderson Center that will be the backdrop for all of HerdVision’s content. It is going to be a state-of-the-art studio that Cleveland-based company iVideo has been tasked with developing for the Thundering Herd.
HerdVision will officially launch its new brand next Saturday, September 16 when Marshall Football takes on Kent State at Joan C. Edwards Stadium, a game that will air live on CUSA.tv. WCHS, the official television partner of the Thundering IMG Sports Network, will produce the game with Mark Martin handling the play-by-play duties and eight-year NFLer Bobby Carpenter providing the analysis. The contest will air locally on the Stadium cable network, formally known as American Sports Network. Additional television clearance information will be issued via HerdZone.com early next week.
Marshall Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick
“We have made a strong effort to accurately tell our story, delivering an honest and positive message about Marshall Athletics. Our fans will get a look at our challenges and the tremendous stories that are derived from them. HerdVision will allow us to bring the vast majority of our sports to your phones, laptops, Apple TVs, Amazon Fire TV Sticks and any other devices that are web-based capable. We want fans to consume our content and have access to it at their convenience. Our bread-and-butter is selling tickets and raising money and this plan gives a big boost to what we feel is a very bright future for Marshall Athletics.”
Marshall Associate AD for External Affairs Aaron Goebbel
“We are entering a very exciting time with HerdVision’s launch. We have one of the most talented writers and storytellers in the business in Chuck McGill and we have seen how valuable his contributions are to our athletic department. We have 350 tremendous young people working hard in the classroom and on the playing surface and the best part of our profession is telling their stories. HerdVision will allow us to further bring those stories to life. The CUSA.tv subscription is a very affordable option for our fans. The single-day price is only $6.99. I believe that is about the going rate to rent a movie on iTunes. Our investment to improve streaming quality, and the additional content, more than justifies the subscription options for our great fans. HerdVision is going to be an exciting living, breathing adventure. We have a plan for the content and its appearance but we will continue to use our resources and make improvements along the way. We will use our social capabilities to produce live interaction with our fans. We have one of the most passionate fan bases in the country and it is extremely important that they feel connected to us. We also eagerly anticipate the launch of a rewards system, associated with the new HerdZone Gameday app, later this fall. All of these innovations will only bolster our efforts to show off Marshall Athletics and the University to the rest of the world.”
Chuck McGill, Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications
“The launch of HerdVision is the most important and valuable step Marshall University athletics could take as we add another item to our sports consumption menu. The promise that was made to me by Mike Hamrick and Aaron Goebbel when they hired me is that our athletic department would develop a multi-platform approach to deliver high quality content to our fan base, and through those platforms we would reach all Thundering Herd fans: young and old, local and out-of-state, tech-savvy and traditional news consumers. HerdVision helps our athletic department achieve that, and will complement our award-winning offerings Thundering Herd Illustrated and HerdZone.com. It is exciting to me – as a lifelong consumer of print and video – to see HerdVision launched at Marshall University, and to play a small role in spreading a positive message about our student-athletes, coaches and athletic programs.”
