The Anaheim Ducks are trying to "meet fans where they're at" with move to Victory+

A look at another NHL team going all-in on the streaming movement away from RSNs.

For many NHL teams “meeting fans where they’re at,” has become a common rallying cry this offseason.

It’s been particularly noticeable as teams figure out the murky future of regional sports networks (RSNs), which are slowly being replaced across the league by alternative options.

Back in July, the Dallas Stars officially announced they’d be providing their in-market games through Victory+, a new streaming platform A Parent Media Co. Inc. (APMC), for the next seven seasons.

While “Victory+” may have seemed like a specially-built name for the Stars, which many assumed, it was always part of a larger plan for APMC to bring more teams on board. And this week the Anaheim Ducks became the NHL team to join Victory+, officially leaving the RSN space.

For a quick clarification, Victory+ will only have live games in-market. If you live outside those respective markets, you’ll have to use the NHL out-of-market package through ESPN+.

I spoke with Ducks team president Aaron Teats on Wednesday, and during the 20-minute conversation he used the term, “meeting fans where they’re at,” multiple times.

For the Ducks, Victory+ represents a chance to connect with a tech savvy audience through free streaming. Unlike the Stars, the Ducks also have an over-the-air local TV element as KCOP-TV will televise 65 games, something Teats felt was important for wider distribution.

It had been reported recently the Ducks would potentially return to the Bally Sports-branded networks, like the Los Angeles Kings, but Teats said the Ducks have been looking and doing extensive research on a move to a platform like Victory+ for months.

“We aren’t dealing with rookies on this, and we did our research on this,” Teats said. “At (APMC) they’ve been building this for a while, they’ve been working and have helped elevate brands, like Dude Perfect. It’s not like we are handing something over to an unproven entity.”

The Ducks are also emboldened to make the move to Victory+ after the success the organization has had with its 24/7 audio network, Ducks Stream.

For more on that project, you can read this piece I wrote back in May:

24/7 audio network Ducks Stream has been a boom creatively and financially for Anaheim Ducks

“Whether it’s radio broadcast or television, it’s been important to figure out how today’s fan actually wants to consume and receive their content,” Teats said. “Right now we are watching this entire industry go through a monumental shift, and seeing how some things worked with Ducks Stream, you can see the appetite for something more on the video front.”

The Ducks have worked on building out ancillary programing through Ducks Stream that could be mirrored on Victory+, Teats said. While the exact content plan for Victory+ with the Ducks is still to be determined, Teats said he’s excited to see what the Ducks creative team can develop.

Victory+ itself will have an official launch on Sept. 12, and while some things are still being revealed, Teats said it will operate like an application with multiple channels.

As an example, you’ll be able to download Victory+ no matter where you live to watch Stars and Ducks additional content, they’ll be under separate “channels,” but you have to live in the market to be able to watch the games.

I’m sure there’s other questions about how this all works, so let me know in the comments and we can discuss more.