ESPN’s Post

The global sports video market is witnessing a surge in demand, with sports fans craving more content but struggling to access it due to fragmentation, according to Altman Solon’s 2023 Global Sports Media Survey. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gJwhRr3m #AltmanSolon #sports #livesports #Amazon #Viaplay #DAZN #broadcast #broadcasting

🏈 Exciting Opportunity for Advertisers! 🎥 Are you looking to reach a passionate and engaged audience of Detroit Lions fans? Look no further! We're thrilled to announce an exclusive opportunity to advertise with us on our programming broadcast and streaming platforms dedicated to the Detroit Lions. Why choose us? 🔵 Dedicated Lions Fans: Our audience consists of die-hard Detroit Lions supporters who live and breathe football. 📺 High-Quality Content: We offer top-notch programming and streaming experiences to keep fans engaged. 💼 Business Exposure: Partner with us to get your brand in front of a loyal and growing community. Whether you're promoting products, services, or events, this is your chance to connect with a captive audience in one of the most passionate NFL communities. Let's team up for success! Interested in learning more about this unique advertising opportunity? Reach out to me for details or tag a colleague who might be interested. Let's score big together! 🚀 #DetroitLions #AdvertisingOpportunity #Programming #Streaming #DetroitFootball #NFL #Marketing

Very exciting to see the new team at Paramount is planning on doubling-down on live sports as "the foundation of our business". At Arctos, we continue to see the leading media and content companies increasingly prioritize sports as a core strategic focus area and rotate content spend away from general entertainment and towards sports. Live sports is appointment viewing content that is outperforming general entertainment in viewership, monetization, and engagement, drives highly predictable audiences (unlike other general entertainment content spend which is becoming more hit-driven and less predictable), and can be monetized across the platform in a fundamentally different way than before. Big win for the sports IP owners (i.e. teams and leagues) who control the content. From Sports Business Journal

Sports reporting has been one of the coolest on-camera experiences I’ve had so far in my career! 🏈 It’s so intense, high energy, and very busy. As someone who is an overthinker, I’ve noticed that through these go, go, go experiences, I’ve been able to shut that off. Staying in the moment is one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned, and it was very insightful to see it naturally happen when I step into those environments. As someone with no sports reporting, step into that field, here are a few things I’ve learned… 🏈 Do prior research if you can on players, past games, and anything you can dig up. 🏈Be able to be flexible, and change things at drop of a hat. 🏈Be bold, make choices, get the content because nobody is going to hold you accountable or tell you what to do. 🏈Don’t be afraid to ask for help, talk to the players, communication is key! Did I miss anything? Comment 🏈 below if you like these videos! #sidelinereporter #sportsreporting #newenglandsports #bostonsports #lessonsfromthesidelines

Appreciated Shripal Shah ´s insights here " This collaboration is more than just a new streaming service; it's a strategic evolution in the sports media ecosystem. It reflects a deep understanding of market demands and a visionary approach to meeting them. By combining their strengths, ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery are not just responding to the trend of cord-cutting; they are setting the stage for the future of sports broadcasting."

While I didn't scuba dive my way down to Bikini Bottom to watch the National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl LVIII, Nickelodeon and CBS Sports (both under Paramount Global) made headlines yesterday with their collaboration on the innovative alternate Super Bowl program. Dubbed "Super Bowl LVIII Live from Bikini Bottom," the broadcast aimed to captivate younger audiences, particularly Gen Alpha, and reignite interest in sports, which has seen a -concerning- 13% decrease in youth participation from 2019 to 2022. The collaboration showcased a blend of beloved Nickelodeon characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star, along with whimsical elements like slime geysers and flying emojis, creating a fun and immersive experience. By infusing entertainment with augmented reality (AR) and sports education, the broadcast addressed the decline in youth sports participation while offering a refreshing twist on traditional football coverage. Beyond its entertainment value, the collaboration also addressed the strategic imperative of addressing media fragmentation and reaching younger audiences. In an era where audiences are increasingly diverse and segmented across various platforms, the Super Bowl broadcast on Nickelodeon provided a fresh approach to engaging younger viewers who might otherwise be disinterested in traditional sports programming. This innovative approach to broadcasting live events not only entertained but also provided advertisers with an opportunity to purchase new, reinvented premium inventory. With the rise of Connected TV (CTV) apps and the continued relevance of linear television, advertisers have a prime opportunity to leverage the popularity of such content (pushed in innovative manners by publishers like Paramount) to connect with younger demographics effectively. In essence, Nickelodeon and CBS Sports' collaboration exemplified the power of creative collaboration in engaging diverse audiences and sparking enthusiasm for live events among younger viewers. By embracing creativity, media fragmentation, and the evolving landscape of content consumption, this partnership showcased the potential for reinventing live events and unlocking new avenues for advertising success. It will be interesting to one day see the ratings of the Super Bowl Nickelodeon coverage, as well as advertisers' reaction and drive towards similar broadcasting initiatives in future events, given the challenges of measuring the ad impact of such content. #superbowl #nickelodeon #crossmedia #ctv

Since departing Fox Sports, Shannon Sharpe has: 1. Joined ESPN’s First Take alongside Stephen A Smith, even leading the show in SAS’s absence. 2. Launched Nightcap with Unc and Ocho, amassing 612K YouTube subscribers in just 4 months. 3. Earned the title of the #1 Most Entertaining Sports Media Personality by Complex. 4. Conducted the pinnacle interview of his career on Club Shay Shay; the Katt Williams Interview has surged to 23 million views in less than 5 days. Club Shay Shay subscribers have skyrocketed by 98% and counting since its release. Takeaway: Betting on yourself pays off! If you feel stuck, consider changing your environment. In 2024 it’s time to SOAR! #oneyes #apply #jobseeker #motivationfortheday

I probably have hundreds of additional questions about this release, but here we go off the top of my head. -What happens to ESPN, its no secret Disney has been trying to get rid of it? -Is a standalone ESPN App going to release or is that dead? -What happens to the Max Sports add on tier, ESPN+ and Fox Sports apps. -Does is make sense for them all to exist standalone, if they are all included in this service? -Can this new service negotiate rights fees? -Sports rights are expensive, and assuming this can now negotiate rights fees, it will free up some money on the books for the legacy companies, which they have to like. -That said, sports rights are expensive and I'm fascinated to see what kind of price point they are looking at. -What about Amz, Apple, NBCU and Paramount and the rights that they own, it feels like a miss to not include them, though I am sure they were approached. -What about all the regional sports networks? -Do customers really want another streaming service. -The streaming industry is going to consolidate, is this the start or is it adding another service for people to subscribe to? -Can cable survive this? A lot of people get the cable bundle just for sports. Its going to interesting to see where this goes and while there are more questions than answers at the moment, but I am excited to follow along.

The bundle is well and truly back! Big news overnight for the US sports market, and another major indicator of the on-going challenges facing all the streaming companies around customer acquisition and retention. Reality is people are reducing the number of personal subscriptions they have, and want more of what they want to watch in one place, so this seems like a really smart move - be interesting to see how this change in strategy plays out across the wider industry.