According to writers at two different publications, FOX Sports is trying to accommodate advertisers that purchased time to showcase their products during winter sports. The sports world has hit the pause button amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and FOX has actually been willing to let those businesses out of their contracts.
John Ourand of Sports Business Journal spoke with FOX Sports’ Executive Vice President of Sports Sales, Seth Winter, who made it very clear that he was not interested in strong arming the companies he counts on as partners.
“We’re not making them stay on the air,” Winter told Ourand. “We’re hearing that they want to be back on the air and they want their businesses to be restored, but we have to work with them and that’s what we’re doing.”
Seth Winter also spoke to Jeanine Poggi of Ad Age. He told her that FOX doesn’t anticipate live games returning “before the third quarter. When the games do comeback though, the network is confident advertisers will be able to showcase their product to large audiences, particularly if the late 2020 and early 2021 calendars are loaded with competition from league’s whose seasons were due to end considerably earlier.
“I think people will flee to sports once this is all over. I don’t claim to know what the market will look like, but I think sports and news will be the most attractive media genre for investment when things return to normal.”
FOX Sports executives held virtual meetings with six ad agencies last week according to Andrew Bucholtz of Awful Announcing. The companies that received some leniency from the network are in the restaurant, automotive, and movie industries.
