When Neil Gruninger co-founded A Parent Media Co. Inc. in 2012, he saw his company as an innovator in the streaming space.
Within two years, APMC launched its flagship product Kidoodle.TV, a direct-to-consumer, family-focused streaming service for kids to watch their content in a safe environment. Its mission to make streaming more accessible to children was the start that paved the way for a trailblazing initiative in sports broadcasting a decade later.
The Dallas Stars announced Monday a seven-year deal with APMC to develop and broadcast all of their games on the VICTORY+ app — an ad-based direct-to-consumer streaming platform that will be free to all in-market fans.
The first-of-its-kind deal to bring live games of a major professional sports team to fans at no cost ended a 25-year partnership with Fox Sports/Bally Sports that grew shaky toward the end.
Gruninger, the Calgary-based company’s president and CEO, believes the agreement will be the catalyst for change in how sports are transmitted to their fans.
“We’re absolutely ecstatic about the opportunity and working with the Dallas Stars, a forward-thinking organization,” Gruninger told The Dallas Morning News. “They are absolutely focused on their fans.
“We’re utilizing our unique technology and our streaming platform and replicating it for VICTORY+ to ensure that quality of content is at its highest level.”
Direct-to-consumer streaming has been done before across professional sports. The Vegas Golden Knights and Arizona Coyotes developed subscription-based platforms to bring games to fans in a more accessible way.
But the concept of doing so for free is revolutionary.
Following the VICTORY+ announcement, many Stars fans took to social media with excitement, but they also expressed they’d be willing to pay a fee to watch a season’s worth of games. Gruninger said APMC’s model has made sure that’s not necessary.
Kidoodle.TV pivoted to an ad-based model in 2018.
“At that point, we recognized there was subscription fatigue,” Gruninger said. “Families are not willing to pay for another subscription. And that was in 2018, and we saw that.”
Gruninger said he’s known Stars president/CEO Brad Alberts for a decade. Alberts watched Kidoodle.TV develop before APMC landed a deal with Dude Perfect, a sports and comedy group headquartered in Frisco, to create a similar platform that it will replicate for the Stars.
Alberts and Gruninger said the broadcasts will look and be produced similarly to how they were during the Bally days. They will have a rewind feature and be accessible for a few days after the game. Highlights and other content will be available on the app as well. Nongame content could include historical broadcasts or day-in-the-life-style videos with players.
Over the months of developing VICTORY+, Alberts grew increasingly comfortable with the free model and the ability to make up revenue solely with advertising.
That was largely because of the opportunity a free product brings the franchise. As a hockey team in a nontraditional hockey market, the Stars are still working to grow their fanbase in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas.
Now, it’ll be easier to be a Stars fan in those states than a fan of any other team — across any major league.
“Growing that audience and celebrating the game of hockey was No. 1,” Gruninger said. “This is an opportunity for us to grow the sport of hockey within Texas and beyond. I think by putting a barrier of entry, that always becomes an inhibitor for a new potential fan that wants to experience hockey for the first time.”
Gruninger — who moved to Texas following the Dude Perfect deal to remain in close proximity with the group and now the Stars — said the Stars deal has sparked interest among other professional teams. While he couldn’t name specific teams yet, he’s confident others will follow the path the Stars are forging.
“We need to ensure that other fans that have never experienced hockey can experience it for the first time. We left a generation of fans. We’ve alienated them by not ensuring that access,” Gruninger said. “They’re celebrating their fans locally. It’s a dream come true for me as a leader in streaming.”
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