The return of football to television this past August helped drive an upsurge in television viewership, propelling the total share of linear television to above 50% in the latest Gauge Report from Nielsen Media Research. Broadcast viewing in the persons aged 18-49 demographic increased by 35%, while those ages 25 to 54 augmented their viewing by nearly 33%. As a whole, broadcast television increased by about 13% in September – 2.5 share points – and consumption of sports programming inflated by 360%. Many prime-time football games are presented on traditional broadcast television, including ESPN College Football Saturday on ABC and Sunday Night Football on NBC among others. As a whole, the category equated to 23% of total television consumption in the Nielsen report.
As it pertains to cable viewership, the category enjoyed a 25.5% bump in viewership, and ESPN was responsible for the top-11 telecasts. Out of those 11 telecasts, 10 were related to football, while the outlier was the U.S. Open tennis tournament. Even with amplified levels of sports viewership, overall cable viewing declined by 1.1% over the last month, largely driven by losses in the news and feature film genres. Cable lead the way in linear television viewership, amassing 29.8% of the total day market share for P2+.
Streaming viewing continued its second consecutive month of decline as well; however, Prime Video numbers experienced a 7.5% bump overall. Thursday Night Football, featuring play-by-play announcer Al Michaels, color commentator Kirk Herbstreit and sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung, has reported viewership increases throughout its sophomore season, which includes the league’s inaugural Black Friday game on Nov. 24. Nielsen also shared that other streaming services that enjoyed heightened viewership include Tubi and the Roku Channel.
The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Discovery, both of which have stated their interest in renewing media rights deals with the National Basketball Association, will be able to begin discussions with the league when the 45-day negotiating window opens on March 9, 2024. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has spoken publicly about how important it is to modernize the viewing experience, which could lead to a hybrid model with both linear television and streaming components in the deal. Max recently launched a direct-to-consumer (DTC) sports tier, while ESPN is working on its own DTC product to reportedly launch in the next two to three years.
Amid the ongoing strikes by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), live sports has the potential to play an even more significant role in the total scope of live programming.
In response to the strikes, ESPN scheduled several of its Monday Night Football games to air simultaneously on ABC, both of which are under ownership of The Walt Disney Company. Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger is reportedly in talks to try to bring two strategic partners to purchase up to 10% of ESPN, and he could also be looking to divest ABC and its owned networks as the business model endures fundamental change.
