ClashTV CEO Wants To Strengthen Streetball In Streaming Content Culture
Jonathan Anastas, CEO of interactive live-streaming platform ClashTV — formerly at MotorTrend Group, Activision Blizzard, Atari, and Omnicom — wants to bring streetball into the minds of brands and consumers, mostly young and diverse consumers who consume short-form content.
Anastas lives at the intersection of culture, content and commerce. He joined ClashTV in March expand its league coverage by 300% for the 2023 season. Streetball is defined as any structured basketball game that takes place in public parks.
The contributed content platform will bring more than 800 live games to the platform and feature more than 15 of the best leagues including Dyckman, Rucker Park, Drew League, and more.
ClashTV gives fans a courtside view from parks and courts across the country and allows users to interact, debate, clap, vote, and chat live.
To celebrate the start of the season, new users can sign up and receive 1,000 Clash coins to purchase avatars, stickers, and other interactive elements that they can use while streaming.
The programming builds on ClashTV’s other offerings — including mixed martial arts (MMA) events and esports, alongside live culturally led video podcasts and other creator and fan-friendly outlets.
“Streetball and MMA share an audience,” Anastas said, which he compares with the streaming transition of music and gaming.
“There’s a moment in time when hip-hop was streaming and country music was still sold on CDs,” he said. “I feel like hockey and baseball are still sold on CDs. And football, basketball and MMA have moved to streaming.”
There are several ways to use the app to market games. Anyone can launch the ClashTV app, shoot a live game, and upload it to the platform to share with others. The video will appear in the app’s search feature and automatically get reloaded when complete. The next tier level enables people to shoot from several cameras and combine the footage. The company offers a couple of other tiers with high-tech production features, similar to Amazon Twitch.
Anastas feels ClashTV keeps him connected to his youth, when he worked as a musician, made records, and kept culturally in tune with events like gaming and sports.
“I learned from Bobby Kotick [CEO at Activision Blizzard] how to use scale to leverage more scale,” he said. “Several people gave me this advice. The best batters in baseball only hit 400 in a good season, so you just need to get as many bats as possible. Showing up is 80% of it.”
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