14/03/2012
One of the panel discussions at this year’s edition of the Global Sports Forum in Barcelona dealt with the broadcasting of sporting events via television and the internet.
After an interesting debate that included top media executives from Eurosport, Prisa Group (Spanish Media including Canal Plus Spain), YouTube, L´Equipe and talkSport, it was concluded that most outlets are now working together and focusing on multi-platform environments in order to reach audiences and provide them with the ultimate viewing experience.
After the session, MotivaGoal caught up with Claude Ruibal, Global Head of Sports Content at YouTube. Interested in finding out about his professional success, we asked Claude about his path to landing a career in sports media.
Our interview is included below:
Diego Valdés – MotivaGoal - Can you tell us what has been your path to working in sports media?
Claude Ruibal – YouTube - I´ll go back to when I was twelve years old, I had the choice to be either a newspaper boy and have a newspaper route and sell newspapers, or get on the junior high school American football team, and I chose the job to be the newspaper person, but then two years later I decided to go be on the football team. My point is that I always had a passion for media and sports, newspapers and sports.
And I´ve really continued that since I was just a young kid, a teenager, and really everything that I´ve done since then. I´ve been a sportsman too, I played tennis in school, I played volleyball, but I was always involved in media. I wrote for the school newspaper and then I got involved in other media aspects around sport from the organizational side, the rights side, broadcast and distribution side and the advertising agency side, so really everything I´ve done has been around sport my whole life.
And I´ve really continued that since I was just a young kid, a teenager, and really everything that I´ve done since then. I´ve been a sportsman too, I played tennis in school, I played volleyball, but I was always involved in media. I wrote for the school newspaper and then I got involved in other media aspects around sport from the organizational side, the rights side, broadcast and distribution side and the advertising agency side, so really everything I´ve done has been around sport my whole life.
Diego Valdés – MotivaGoal - What is the most exciting project you have going on this year?
Claude Ruibal – YouTube - My most exciting project this year is looking at, and trying to find ways to distribute sports content to people that don´t have a chance to see it very often. So an example is the Fencing Federation that is working with us to distribute their fencing events, the live fencing world championships to all sorts of markets in countries where normally people would never get a chance to see it because the broadcasters there don´t show it. So doing that with all the different sports and getting people to see these sports, participate in these sports and be active themselves, and to get more people doing these sports it´s what really exciting for me.
Diego Valdés – MotivaGoal - What advice would you give to someone looking to get a career in sports media?
Claude Ruibal – YouTube - The key is passion. Number two is always think that whatever you are doing at any given time in your career is probably still going to help you in the future but you don´t even know what that job is. Everything I’ve done up to where I am today actually helps me do my job better. So even if you might not like your job today you’re still learning in your job now and it will definitely help you do whatever job you aspire to do later in your life.
Diego Valdés – MotivaGoal - What about persistence?
Claude Ruibal – YouTube - Absolutely. The keys are passion, persistence and believing in yourself.
Diego Valdés – MotivaGoal - Thanks so much, Claude. We look forward to speaking with you in future events.
Twitter: @motivagoal
