Savannah Bananas in Roku City Roku Banana Ball is taking over Roku City ahead of July 4th.
Roku will have streaming rights to the Savannah Bananas over the holiday weekend, and to drive viewership to the event it is bringing Banana Ball to Roku City … debuting a new interactive feature in the process.
“Last year [when Roku had its first package of games] was an experiment, and everything we do, from starting the tour with a one-city world tour, just going to one city, to doing major league stadiums, to doing football stadiums, to doing a cruise we are constantly experimenting and constantly testing things, and that’s what’s really great about Roku. They had the same mindset,” says Cole in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “So we did a game last year, a show last year, and the viewership and the response was amazing. We heard as much from our fans as any partner that we’ve come up with, and so after that, we were like, all right, how do we expand on this?”
“I think they’re defying traditional norms of what a sport can be, and when we’re trying to build engaging user experiences, I think our partnership with the Savannah Bananas just provides and creates a lot of ripe opportunity for doing that this year,” says Joe Franzetta, head of sports for Roku Media. “What’s unique about Roku, and our platform, and our ability to integrate content into a platform experience, and Roku City is a unique destination, and a really fun and exciting user experience that taking that next step with the Bananas just made all the sense in the world.”
Roku is recreating historic Grayson Stadium in Savannah, Georgia, the home of the Bananas, and users who click into the stadium in Roku City will see a special message from Bananas founder Jesse Cole, before being directed to the Banana Ball Zone for clips, highlights and game replays. While Roku City has long had ads on billboards in Roku City, and has occasionally added custom buildings or vehicles, the stadium adds an interactive element that is new to the screensaver.
“We’ve built Grayson Stadium into Roku City, and that’ll be the entry point into an interactive experience, and that interactive experience will start with a greeting from Jesse, welcoming them to the Bananas in Roku City, and that there’s a game on Saturday, be sure to tune in,” Franzetta says. “And then we drop people off into a destination that is dedicated to the Bananas, and there’s all sorts of additional content there, so there’s clips and highlights, there’s replays of past games, there’s interesting content that the Bananas seem to be able to uniquely create, and then we also are a pathway to other games of theirs, games that they have with other partners.”
Cole has long sought to make Savannah Bananas and Banana ball games as widely available as possible, including making sure every game is available for free on YouTube. The Bananas also have TV deals with TNT Sports, The CW and Disney, which has exclusive rights to the Banana Ball playoffs (which will also be available for free on YouTube).
“In the world of sports, you have to search to find out where the game is, and it’s on numerous platforms, and usually it’s behind a paywall,” Cole laments. Our goal is to keep our shows free, and it’s hard. I mean, we invest over $13 million on doing the broadcasts ourselves, and we do it all ourselves, and we share it on YouTube for free, and on Roku, and other opportunities for people to see it.”
Roku, of course, is the gateway to streaming, and while it has its own slate of Bananas games, it is also content to direct visitors to YouTube or Disney+ or other services where the games may be available.
And the July 4th hook, alongside America’s 250th anniversary, was too good to ignore.
“There’s nothing more Americana in my mind than the Savannah Bananas and what they’ve built, and the fan experience that they’ve built, and the family orientation, which I think is really important for July 4 as we celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary,” Franzetta says. “We’re coming live from Iowa City, Iowa, we’re smack in the middle of the country. I just think it really plays into our ability to elevate and highlight the nation’s celebration of its 250th anniversary, and we just thought there’s no better way for us to do that than to really focus in on on July 4 and the Savannah Bananas.”
“When you think about the Fourth of July, you think baseball, and now Banana Ball, so that was a no-brainer for us,” adds Cole.
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