The only place in the NFL where reversals happen is on the field. The league rarely backs down when it comes to adding media rights. If you’re betting on whether Saturday’s first live exclusive NFL playoff game will be repeated in the future, you’d be wise to bet big on the same thing happening during the 2024 postseason.
Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s executive vice president of media distribution, said virtually the same thing during a conference call with reporters three days before the game.
“Since it’s only relevant to the wild-card game, we’re excited to continue the conversation,” Schroeder said. “That’s the deal for this year, but it’s an NFL playoff game. I expect there’s going to be a lot of interest. We’re excited to continue talking to NBC about what we’re doing this year and see what the opportunities are next year.” where.”
regardless of politicians send social media posts, No matter what concerns existing players haveand regardless of A completely legitimate fan complaint Since it has to pay extra for the NFL playoffs, the league as an entity has one goal – to continue to act as an ATM for its owners. This is a money grab for the present and the future, and in many ways, game ratings have nothing to do with whether the NFL continues to sell playoff games to streamers.
Peacock spent $110 million to broadcast Saturday night’s Kansas City Chiefs’ 26-7 victory over the Miami Dolphins in the AFC wild-card round in an attempt to boost its current subscriber base of 30 million. Like other live sports streamers, Peacock’s strategy is to leverage the exclusivity of live major sporting events to attract large crowds. This strategy has historically worked for linear entities, and Peacock is sticking to its strategy despite a $2.8 billion loss in 2023. (Peacock expects $2.8 billion to represent peak losses.)
But the game proved to be a huge ratings success. According to Nielsen’s custom quick national data, viewership on Peacock, NBC stations in Miami and Kansas City, and NFL+ mobile was 23 million. In terms of general audience, this is the most broadcast NFL game ever in the United States. The Dolphins-Chiefs game in the second season peaked at 24.6 million average viewers, including outdoor viewers. The average viewership of 23 million was millions more viewers than last year’s lowest-rated postseason game (Los Angeles Chargers vs. Jacksonville Jaguars, which averaged 20.61 million viewers on NBC). (To put it into perspective, last year’s six wild-card games on Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 averaged 28.8 million viewers.)
Daniel Cohen, executive vice president of global media rights consulting at Octagon Competitor Churn and piracy are two of the biggest challenges to the growth of subscription video on demand in the U.S. That’s one of the questions that will be answered in a few months: How many people signed up to watch the game, and then how many people signed up to watch the game and then canceled new subscriptions after the game. How many of them are there? (The cheapest option to buy the game is $5.99 for one month of the Premium plan.) In terms of downloaded apps, Peacock topped the iPhone and iPad charts on Saturday night.
Earlier Saturday, following the Houston Texans’ blowout victory over the Cleveland Browns, NBC naturally launched “Peacock” during the fourth quarter, which included footage of Swift walking inside Arrowhead Stadium. The Peacock game was also touted by the “Football Night in America” staff, which provided additional coverage at the start of the game on NBC with Ahmed Faried, Devin McCourty and Chris Simm Si provided live coverage of the game on a split screen of the game.
An average of 23 million people watched the Dolphins’ wild-card game against the Chiefs on Saturday night, which aired exclusively on Peacock outside of Miami and Kansas City. (David Ulett/Getty Images)
NBC Sports President Rick Cordella said before the game that the company’s two main goals are to produce excellent productions and provide a clean experience for users across the United States. There have been no widespread reports of major streaming issues, so this is a win for Peacock. (Peacock has no control over so-called last-mile issues involving local cable and internet companies or personal devices.) How you approach the game may depend on what you think of Mike Tirico and Jason Garrett and whether you think the payment is worth it if you’re Peacock Newbies, please read it. Tirico is always a professional. Garrett had much better energy than Dungy did last year, although there are many better NFL analysts out there. If you’re a neutral fan and don’t support Miami or Kansas City, this game won’t be very memorable.
Peacock’s first exclusive NFL game, which saw the Buffalo Bills defeat the Chargers on Dec. 23, averaged 7.3 million viewers and peaked at an average of 8.4 million viewers from 10:45-11 pm ET during the NFL’s first-ever commercial-free fourth Quarter. The Chiefs-Dolphins playoff game also went ad-free in the fourth quarter, sponsored by AWS, Geico and Hotels.com. As Sportico’s Anthony Crupi wisely points out, “Comcast is more invested in Peacock’s long-term growth than in the immediate adrenaline of an additional $18 million to $20 million in commercial cash.” The quality is soaring.”
NBC first broadcast “Sunday Night Football” live on the Internet in 2008 and was the first NFL partner in the United States to broadcast the Super Bowl (2012). Peacock is well suited to do so again.
“We’ve been working on Peacock for several years, and we’re excited about NBC’s plans to come back and come all the way to us last spring,” Schroeder said. “We are excited about the continued growth in digital distribution, particularly Thursday Night Football on Amazon, which has seen weekly viewership approaching last year’s ratings for Fox and NFL Network TV shows.”
Schroeder cautioned that the NFL remains committed to broadcast television. Indeed, although Saturday night did feel like a seismic moment, a line had been crossed.
“It’s still about the broadest possible coverage,” Schroeder said. “You can’t reach 190 million people in a year if your content doesn’t have a very broad distribution, and that’s been our cornerstone and I think that’s what really differentiates us from other sports. Every one of our Games are all on broadcast TV, at least in their markets, and about 90% of our games have broadcast as their core platform. It remains very important to us. We see the media landscape continuing to evolve , we want to be where the fans are. We know they are increasingly on different screens, especially younger fans.”
It’s understandable that you might not like this, but the NFL isn’t going backwards. Bet this will happen again next January.
Last week ESPN made the surprise hire of Nick Kyrgios, who will serve as a guest commentator for ESPN’s 2024 Australian Open coverage. The 28-year-old 2022 Wimbledon finalist is one of the most popular and polarizing figures in the sport. He has missed all four majors in 2023 due to wrist, knee and foot injuries and has said his career has recently come to an end.
How did the Aussie player and the American home of tennis come together? Mark Gross, ESPN’s senior vice president of production and remote events, said Stuart Duguid, who represents Kyrgios, contacted ESPN about their interest in working for his client at the Australian Open.
“Because there was interest from both sides, the deal came together very quickly,” Gross said. “The plan is to have Nick on the East Coast in prime time. We certainly believe Nick will be great on the air and we want to make sure that the majority of our audience can see and hear him (as opposed to having him on the night air).”
Gross said Kyrgios will handle matches and studio work based on dates and schedules. For now, the deal only applies to the Australian Open, but ESPN is certainly open to exploring things going forward. He and John McEnroe televised the Stefano Tsitsipas vs. Zizou Burgess match live on ESPN on Sunday night, and his early performance was outstanding.
“Right now, it’s just the Australian Open, but we would certainly be open to discussing opportunities moving forward with Nick and Stewart,” Gross said. “In fairness to Nick and tennis fans, we want Nick to play as soon as possible so we can cover his matches.”
deeper
Nick Kyrgios Exclusive Interview: ‘I feel more respected in the US than in Australia’
— What’s really cool is that Noah Eagle called the Texans-Browns game on NBC and his dad, Ian Eagle The same game was announced on Westwood One Audio.
— ESPN said “Sunday NFL Countdown” was its most-watched regular season since 2019 and its second-most-watched regular season since 2016, averaging 1.335 million viewers per game. Ratings increased by 8%.
— Former U.S. National Team star Ali Krieger has joined CBS Sports’ soccer coverage as a studio analyst.
— ESPN All 40 college football bowl games this season were watched by an average of 4.6 million viewers, a 5% increase from the same period last year.
— A partnership between the NFL and ESPN may soon come closer together with the league in advanced talks to acquire a stake in the sports network.
– very funny Fox NFL Sunday analyst Jimmie Johnson Amplify it.
Some things I’ve read in the past few weeks that are interesting to me (paywalled here):
• The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis looks back at the past two weeks on ESPN.
• An Iowa newsboy disappeared 41 years ago. His mother is still working on the case. CNN’s Thomas Lake reports.
• It was the patriot way until it wasn’t the patriot way anymore. By Seth Wickersham, Wright Thompson and Don Van Natta Jr., ESPN.
• ESPN used fake names to win Emmys for “College GameDay” stars.Author: Katie Strong Competitor.
• AWOL whale. By Ferris Jabr for The New York Times Magazine.
• Great work by Jeff Pearlman: VJ Lovero and the Bygone Era of Sports Photographers.
• Rising stars in celebrity trials like OJ Simpson. Then comes the quiet, mysterious death. By Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times.
• Charlie Manuel suffered a stroke and was unable to speak. Baseball is paying them back.Author: Matt Gelb Competitor.
• NBC Sports producer Annie Koeblitz and NFL writer Peter King have produced a fascinating feature about Niners linebackers coach Johnny Holland’s battle with a rare cancer.
• Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger died from injuries sustained in a Jan. 4 shooting. By Des Moines Register staff.
• Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic Tom Shales has died at age 79. By Adam Bernstein and Brian Murphy of The Washington Post.
• A filmmaker is developing a documentary series about the Iran hostage crisis. Her father then disappeared overseas. Author: Lucy Sexton and Joe Sexton, “Atavism”.
• China failed to influence Taiwan’s elections. What’s happening now? By Damian Cave, The New York Times.
• He spent his life building a $1 million stereo. The true cost is difficult to estimate. By Jeff Edgers of The Washington Post.
Episode 361 of the Sports Media Podcast features Karen Brodkin, co-head of WME Sports and executive vice president of parent company Endeavor, and Hillary Mandel, executive vice president and head of media for the Americas at IMG, an Endeavor company. Brodkin and Mandel have served as consultants on countless media deals, from individual team deals to league deals. They most recently served as consultants on the NCAA’s $920 million, eight-year agreement with ESPN.
In this podcast, Brodkin and Mandel explain their jobs and the skills required; using research to evaluate trade points; the current economic climate for sports media rights; why the NCAA ultimately chose not to trade the women’s basketball tournament with other championships apart; why women’s college sports are on the rise; the Pac-12 falling apart; Peacock’s postseason deal with the NFL and what it means for consumers going forward, and more.
You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more.
deeper
What’s next for Pat McAfee and ESPN?The relationship between celebrities and the Internet
(Top photo of the peacock logo displayed at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on Saturday: Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
