Logo

Sports: TV’s Power Play

Aug 24, 2008  •  Post A Comment

Sports is bucking the downward ratings trends in television.
The indisputable success of NBC’s broadcast of the Beijing Olympics cements strong upticks around the dial for major sporting events and makes 2008 a contender to be one of the strongest years ever for sports television. That’s helping networks that air athletic contests build and package audiences that are more immune to the havoc wreaked by digital video recorders on other genres of programming.
Among the success stories in 2008 have been the two biggest players in U.S. sports viewing, the Super Bowl and the Olympics, which shattered viewership records.
“I sent (NBC Universal Sports & Olympics Chairman Dick) Ebersol an e-mail in China congratulating him on the success of the Olympics and noted what a great year it has been for sports,” Fox Sports President Ed Goren said. “Dick e-mailed me back saying it all started with the Super Bowl on Fox. That makes you feel good, and it’s good for our industry to see the kinds of numbers we’ve been getting.”
Other marquee events have fostered the boom as well. Ratings gainers this year include the National Football Conference playoffs, the NCAA Tournament final, the NBA finals, the Stanley Cup finals, golf’s U.S. Open, the Wimbledon finals and the MLB All-Star Game.
Great Games
Some of the ratings spikes for events have been enormous: Witness the Stanley Cup finals, the NBA finals and Wimbledon.
Two sports that have seen steady declines in recent years, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League, have bucked their ratings misfortunes, helping put the leagues, as well as the networks that carry them, back in the black on their broadcast deals.
“The NBA on TNT enjoyed consistent ratings growth throughout our regular season and all the way through our exclusive coverage of the Western Conference Finals,” Turner Sports President David Levy said. “The bottom line for Turner Sports: Big brands and big markets translated into big numbers for us, both on television and online.”
Executives admit that much of the glow has been luck. Tiger Woods achieved a come-from-behind victory in the U.S. Open playoff. Michael Phelps posted a perfect Olympic run. At Wimbledon, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal fought an epic battle. The New England Patriots ran a perfect season heading into the Super Bowl.
Television executives also note viewers invest in watching sports because of the human drama the events put on display.
“As a company, two and a half years ago, we invested billions of dollars in sports rights,” Mr. Goren said. “We made that investment with the belief that, as we move forward with more options for people, and as the television universe gets more and more diverse, the one segment of network television that would continue to be must-see TV and would continue to deliver large audiences would be the major sports events because that’s where the water-cooler talk will be.”
Hot Market
Analysts and executives alike continue to point toward sports entertainment as an instant brand-maker for television outlets, bringing audiences, advertisers and national awareness to a channel. Fox took that step when it first acquired the NFL, and Fox’s MyNetworkTV continued that mentality by jumping on World Wrestling Entertainment’s events for this season’s telecasts.
The demand for sports programming has created a ripple effect, putting premiums on broadcast and digital rights as networks compete for new properties.
“There have been stories in sports this year that have been absolutely amazing, and you
couldn’t even begin to make this stuff up,” said Bob Horowitz, president of Juma Entertainment, which produces a number of sports-themed series every year. “Sports makes compelling TV and provides great storytelling for producers in the non-scripted side of the business. When you have authentic, real competition like the Olympics, it can result in unbelievable numbers. Best of all, sports is TiVo-proof—you can’t DVR sports.”
Sports events’ ability to dodge DVRs continues to catch the eye of advertisers, with many events shattering records in sponsorship deals.
“Advertising continues to be strong, despite the economy struggling,” Mr. Goren said. “Advertisers have cut back in a lot of media, but I think television sports in general have come through in the past 12 months healthier than a lot of segments of the media, although there is a concern going forward.”
The mission now for executives will be to capitalize on this year’s gains.
“As we conclude the MLB regular season, we hope the memorable storylines that have drawn so much fan interest will continue to drive viewers to TBS’ exclusive MLB Division Series and American League Championship Series this October,” said Mr. Levy. “On the NBA front, we hope we can continue to deliver on the momentum from last season and grow from the added strength we will gain this year from our oversight of the NBA’s digital assets.”

39 Comments

  1. Sorry for the huge review, but I’m really loving the new Zune, and hope this, as well as the excellent reviews some other people have written, will help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.

  2. Hands down, Apple’s app store wins by a mile. It’s a huge selection of all sorts of apps vs a rather sad selection of a handful for Zune. Microsoft has plans, especially in the realm of games, but I’m not sure I’d want to bet on the future if this aspect is important to you. The iPod is a much better choice in that case.

  3. You make blogging look like a walk in the park! I’ve been trying to blog daily but I just cant find writing material.. you’re an inspiration to me and i’m sure many others!

  4. Love all the opinions expressed here! How is everyone? Love how everyone expresses whatr they feel 🙂

  5. Nice!! Great Ifo. Great People. Great Blog. Thank you for all the great sharing that is being done here.

  6. Way to focus and straight to your point, i love it. Keep up the work people. Dont let anyone stop us bloggers.

  7. I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz reply back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know wheere u got this from. thanks

  8. Nicely said.

  9. I agree.

  10. I really like the colors here on your blog. did you design this yourself or did you outsource it to a professional?

  11. Hey how are you doing? I just wanted to stop by and say that it’s been a pleasure reading your blog. I have bookmarked your website so that I can come back & read more in the future as well. plz do keep up the quality writing

  12. The Grade Pay for defence skilled workers is raised by partially by Indian Government amending Sixth Pay Commission recommendations implemented in 2008 and restructured the cadre. # New Pay Scale Calculator for 6th pay commission # Tamilnadu TN Sixth Pay Commission Salary Hike # Highlights of the Sixth Pay Commission # Sixth Pay Commission implemented for IIT, IIM and NIT # Sixth Pay Commission?s recommendations # sixth pay commission notification # 6th Pay Commission to see pay hikes by 40%

  13. Dreamin. I love blogging. You all express your feelings the right way, because they are your feeling, focus on your blog it is great.

  14. Interesting thoughts here. I appreciate you taking the time to share them with us all. It’s people like you that make my day 🙂

  15. I love the way you write and also the theme on your blog. Did you code this yourself or was it done by a professional? I’m very very impressed.

  16. Love the blog here. Nice colors. I am definitely staying tuned to this one. Hope to see more.

  17. Good day. First of all – wonderful blog! Secondly this article was also good and interesting to read, but I don’t think everything you have said is how it is in reality. I will need to google about few things you have mentioned in your artcile to make sure. But anyway thanks for the great effort and good luck on writing other articles. P.S sorry for bad English, I aren’t English native speaker.

  18. Wow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy.

  19. I would like to start my own blog one day. This was a really nice blog that you made here. Keep up the success 😛

  20. I really like the colors here on your blog. did you design this yourself or did you outsource it to a professional?

  21. Great wordpress blog here.. It’s hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! take care and see you soon

  22. Hey how are you doing? I just wanted to stop by and say that it’s been a pleasure reading your blog. I have bookmarked your website so that I can come back & read more in the future as well. plz do keep up the quality writing

  23. High quality info here! Keep up the great work. I love the feelings being expressed.

  24. Love this blog, keep up the good writing.

  25. I would like to start my own blog one day. This was a really nice blog that you made here. Keep up the success 😛

  26. Dreamin. I love blogging. You all express your feelings the right way, because they are your feeling, focus on your blog it is great.

  27. Hey how are you doing? I just wanted to stop by and say that it’s been a pleasure reading your blog. I have bookmarked your website so that I can come back & read more in the future as well. plz do keep up the quality writing

  28. Love all the opinions expressed here! How is everyone? Love how everyone expresses whatr they feel 🙂

  29. Great wordpress blog here.. It’s hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! take care and see you soon

  30. Neat blog layout! Very easy on the eyes.. i like the colors you picked out

  31. Interesting thoughts here. I appreciate you taking the time to share them with us all. It’s people like you that make my day 🙂

  32. Great stuff, though there are a few points I would query.

  33. The brand new Zune browser is surpr isingly good, but not as very good because the iPod is. It performs very well, but is notas fast as Safari, and features a clunkier interface. In the event you sometimes prepare on employing the net browser that is not an concern, but when you??? re planning to browse the internet alot from your PMP then the iPod is larger display screen and far better browser might be essential.

  34. Hey how are you doing? I just wanted to stop by and say that it’s been a pleasure reading your blog. I have bookmarked your website so that I can come back & read more in the future as well. plz do keep up the quality writing

  35. Amazing freakin blog here. I almost cried while reading it!

  36. He,This is a great and usefull blog.Keep up the good work.

Leave a Reply to Phoenix Web Design Cancel Reply

Email (will not be published)