YES Network’s ‘Homegrown’ Allows Yankees Fans to Invest in Future (Exclusive)
Live sporting events drive the majority of viewers to regional sports networks, forcing executives to get creative with programing.
“We believe that it’s really important that the fans get to know and embrace the next generation of Yankees players … the Yankees have a long list of really terrific prospects in the pipeline,” Filippelli told TheWrap.
[...] the YES Network even cuts into live Yankees games with updates of major events occurring at the club’s minor league affiliates.
YES senior associate producer Blayke Scheer explained that “Homegrown” works because it reveals what athletes do off the field in the era of Snapchat and Instagram when younger viewers expect the extra access.
A typical episode of “Homegrown” airs multiple times and, unlike actual baseball games, stays relevant for an extended period of time, meaning YES can replay whenever it needs to fill airtime.
The first two episodes in the series have drawn roughly 316,000 cumulative viewers and the format makes it ideal for online consumption.
Since debuting on May 1, video clips of “Homegrown” have been viewed more than 361,000 times across the various YES digital platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, YESNetwork.com and Instagram.
Nowadays, the Yankees focus on youth and entered the season with the No. 3 ranked farm system among all of Major League Baseball with possible stars such as Gleyber Torress and Clint Frazier, according to Baseball America.