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What Struggles for Companies like Audacy, The Messenger, and X Says About the Future of Media

Krystina Alarcon Carroll
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What Struggles for Companies like Audacy, The Messenger, and X Says About the Future of Media

Inaudible? Audacy, one of the country’s largest radio companies, files for bankruptcy. Return to sender? Jimmy Finkelstein’s The Messenger is reportedly “broke” and possibly being purchased after failing to make a profit. Untweet? Elon Musk’s X losing $75 million in advertising revenue in 2023. All three outlets may soon be joining the media graveyard, which seems to be ever-growing.

According to a Northwestern University study, 2023 saw on average 2.5 local newspapers closed each week. The same study found over the last 15 years news ‘deserts’ are growing across the nation. There are three common denominators in all of these situations: lack of funding, not enough resources, and too much competition.

With the exception of X all of these outlets; Audacy, The Messenger, and local newspapers, don’t have the greatest funding. Audacy, who officially filed for bankruptcy on Monday, is looking to eliminate $1.6 billion in debt. According to Axios, Finkelstein’s startup is looking to raise $20 million after laying off some staffers. As for local newspapers, Northwestern University reported philanthropists will give $500 million to support local news outlets over the next 5 years. This sounds good until you do the math.

If 6,000 local newspapers across the country are to equally split $100 Million in 2024, each outlet will receive less than $17,000 annually. On average starting salaries are $37,600, according to The Radio Television Digital News Association. The only states that would be able to hire a full-time employee with this extra cash would be Georgia and Wyoming whose minimum wage is $7.25. This lack of funding funnels into the media’s next problem, not enough resources.

Even well-funded and widely read outlets like The Washington Post, NPR, and Condé Nast, carried out layoffs in 2023. With newsrooms shrinking, it’s becoming more difficult to be a journalist, meaning working your beat, cultivating sources, and working on hard-hitting investigative stories.

An April 2023 study by The Hussman School of Journalism found 70% of local journalists experienced work-related burnout. The same study found 72% of those polled considered leaving their current job in journalism. Many do leave journalism for jobs in PR or Marketing. Why? Better pay, better working hours, and allegedly less work. A quick Google search will bring you hundreds of “why I left the media” articles and blog posts.

While these two things create a vicious cycle the question remains, where does ad revenue actually go? Statesta predicted 2023 would bring $352 Billion in ad revenue, $189 Billion of which comes from digital. They also predict ad revenue will hit $1 Trillion by 2027. News outlets are not just competing with each other for a slice of the revenue pie, they are also competing with clickbait sites like Buzzfeed and Upworthy.

Additionally, they are competing with Facebook, Google, and X, plus all other social media outlets and search engines (which is why Canada and Australia passed legislation requiring Facebook and Google to pay media outlets but I wrote that column already and the problems with the idea.) Keep in mind, before Al Gore unleashed the Internet unto the world there was competition but not to this level.  

Many outlets will likely continue to close due to mergers or bankruptcies because hard news is not profitable. Don’t get me wrong yes news outlets do make profits Fox News made almost $2 Billion in 2022, CNN under $1 Billion, MSNBC under $500 Million, and Newsmax just scratches the surface with $37 Million in profits for 2022. Fox and CNN have 3 things that make them billions. First, They are more centered than MSNBC or Newsmax. Second, they are incredibly good at self-promoting, (especially Fox they make very good use of all their resources). Third, and most importantly, they have more ‘magazine style’ news available than MSNBC and Newsmax.

Magazine-style news, which was brought to life by Don Hewitt, began in 1968 with 60 Minutes. The program was the first of its kind, turned a nice profit for CBS and took what was considered a bad time slot to one of the greatest of all time. FOX and CNN both have long-form programming with Fox Nation and CNN Original Series. Programing like this often subsidies newsroom spending allowing journalists to work their beat and cultivate sources.

Something else happened in the 60’s which brings us the news we have today, News and Entertainment began to collide. What would have been a bland ‘Murder in restaurant’ headline in 1961 was replaced with more saucy, borderline tabloid headline like ’Headless Body in Topless Bar’ by 1983. 2023 saw headlines like ‘UnTucked’ instead of ‘Tucker Carlson leaves Fox News.’

Audacy, The Messenger, and X are all competing for a piece of the same revenue pie. One which FOX and CNN have a pretty good hold on. Getting a piece of the ad revenue pie is way more difficult than it used to be. To survive, you have to provide entertainment (which can sometimes be viewed as biased) and provide some form of magazine-style news. Or you can go the easy way like Buzzfeed and create clickbait, however, you likely lose a little credibility in the process.

Social Studies: Matthew Demeke, AM 570 LA Sports

BSM Staff
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Social Studies: Matthew Demeke, AM 570 LA Sports

Today’s edition of Social Studies features the lead Digital Coordinator for AM 570 LA Sports in Los Angeles, Matthew Demeke. I met Matthew for the first time at the 2023 BSM Summit where he sat on a social panel. When I started this series I knew he would be perfect to talk to about the social media space and terrestrial radio’s place within it.

Matt started with AM570 in 2018. He didn’t have a background in radio but learned the industry quickly by working with VP of Marketing Dave Weiss, elite talent like Petros and Money, and EVP of Premiere Networks and iHeart Sports Don Martin. As a one-man digital department, Matt wears a lot of hats. He’s involved in idea generation, strategy development, and content publishing. In addition to his process, this conversation hits on the challenges radio faces in the digital space, how to use social media to drive revenue and more.

If your station is looking for creative ways to up its social game in 2024, this interview is for you. Be advised our 30+ minute conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity. For the extended interview, visit Barrett Media’s YouTube channel.

Alex Reynolds: Give me a sense of what your day-to-day looks like, and the type of team you have at 570. 

Matthew Demeke: The digital team at 570 is actually just me. I handle everything with social and I’m in charge of growing our Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts. But we do have a team at 570, which includes our talent and my boss [VP of Marketing] Dave Weiss. We work closely together. Our producers help out too with social content. So, I kind of have the title, but everybody chips in.

AR: Talk about some of the opportunities and challenges that come up on the digital side. You have a terrestrial brand behind you but many other things come with radio.

MD: I feel like the challenge every day is how do you take audio and make it visual to where you’re getting that social engagement and promoting the talent’s brands at the same time. Honestly, it’s a daily struggle. I think about it all the time. Our team at 570 is so good at creating opportunities to where I can succeed.

For example, David Vassegh, our Dodgers insider, his content is invaluable on social. When I first got here, the challenge was [his content] was going on air, but none of it was making it on social. I was saying, ‘what you guys say is super powerful.’ You guys don’t know it sometimes because we’re in a studio and we don’t see people.’

So I’d tell these guys, ‘what you say matters, especially during tough times, like when Kobe passed away. When the Dodgers win the World Series, that stuff matters. I feel like we’re making that transition to where these guys know, ‘ok, I said something on the air, now I need to package it or give it to Matt to edit so we can do social, and get it out that way.’

I don’t think there’s going to be a point where I’m like, all right, we’re all good, we’ve arrived. It’s a work in progress.

AR: How does that manifest into strategy? Break it down for me by platform.

MD: Instagram is really big for the company. I put a lot of my focus on Instagram. What [the talent] says, I want to make it visual. Sometimes you plan it out, but you don’t know what’s going to happen on that day. Instagram though is going to be all visual.

TikTok has gotten really big for us. What I did for TikTok is kind of a man around the city. Which press conferences can I attend? What fans can I talk to? Sports has a spot on TikTok and I didn’t realize it until the end of 2021 where we really started pushing it. It’s a different platform, where you’re talking to different audiences.

I was at a meeting for my church group and I told them I work at 570. This 14-year-old kid who likes the Dodgers told me, “You work for AM570? I saw them on TikTok. I saw you guys do All-Star Weekend content.” When he said that, I thought ok, this is cool. We’re going to hit a different audience.

We have to realize that with every platform we’re doing, it’s not just AM 570 radio listeners. It’s Dodger fans, it’s Clipper fans. The challenge is to bring them in and listen every day. The more you can grow your audience the better opportunity you have to get those listeners back to radio.

AR: How can you use social as a revenue driver or where have you found success there?

MD: There’s two examples. When COVID hit, our reporter, David Vassegh still got to travel with the team. My boss and I were talking and we thought ‘why don’t we do sponsored Instagram lives with the players, since he’s already with them?’

The first year we gave it a run and the second year it got sold to Navien. Now we’re responsible for 25 Instagram lives throughout the year. So obviously it’s a long season but I feel like the clients really like it because they can see the engagement with fans.

The second one is the Petros and Money Summer Tour. We do live videos of the guys at different events. It’s a stream that we did when COVID happened and we would do segments of giveaways that involve clients and stuff like that.

When I got here, social was kind of an afterthought. I think it’s cool that now we’re really working with sales to drive revenue and you can see it.

AR: Where do you see radio stations succeeding on social and where do you think the industry can be better?

MD: I feel like pre-COVID, there weren’t enough talent faces, representing the brand on station’s socials. Before, talents were featured here and there but I feel like they weren’t really well represented within their brands.

Now, especially in radio, I feel like everybody does a good job of that. Whether it’s reaction to news, sponsored posts, the talent’s at the forefront of it. There are no more bad graphics to promote an event at a casino. We’ve adapted that at 570 too.

Obviously, we don’t get the engagement like Bleacher Report does or these big companies like ESPN but what you try to do is stay relevant and local. I think people will come to you for that, and I know for a fact they come to us for Dodgers news and information. They want to hear what we say about the Dodgers. That’s something these big companies aren’t doing and we’re taking advantage of that.

AR: In your five years, are there any campaigns or content ideas that stick out in your mind that really worked well?

MD: The thing I’m most proud of is probably The Petros and Money Summer Tour. Every year these guys go on six stops to bars and restaurants around LA and it’s all sponsored by Chevy.

Well, 2020 hit and I remember in May we had a meeting and they were like, ‘can we do this virtually?’ I looked at [Dave Weiss] and I’m like, ‘We have two people here. What are we going to do virtually?’ [Weiss] says, ‘yeah, we can do it.’ In my head, I thought there’s no way but we ended up signing up for eight virtual summer tours.

For the first one, I remember everything was going wrong, streaming issues, audio issues.  Basically, everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. Then my boss came up to us and he’s like, ‘Guys, if we can’t do the second one, we’re going to have to pull the plug.’

So we stayed up all night. I went to the office the day before the second one from 8:30 in the morning and I left at 4:30am the next day. My boss slept on the floor of his office and got all the video edits done. We built the package for the stream, and we ran the stream, me and Ricky (the engineer) and Eric (the video guy) and we pulled it off. Chevy called my boss and they were thrilled. They said ‘we can’t wait for the rest of it’. We ended up getting 9,000 signups for Chevy and we were averaging about 2,000 in years past.

Our engagement was off the charts and everybody loved it. After that they were like, ‘from now on, we’re going to stream every one.’ And we still do it to this day.

That was really cool because nobody in the (iHeart) building was doing anything like this. Now, they’ve all implemented streaming and live stuff. It was really hard but it’s cool to see that nobody had done it and we pulled it off.

AR: You mentioned that you are a one-man department at a radio station. A lot of different people are in similar positions. What advice would you have for those social media managers?

MD: I think the biggest thing, and Don [Martin] always relays this to me, is really just showing up for people. The relationship you have with talent, especially in the radio industry, is so important. I probably had four to five phone calls today from just people needing things.

You just work so closely in the trenches with talent because you’re with them every day and you’re going to have to cut videos, green screens, and ad spots. If you show up and people see that you care and you’re producing, it goes a long way.

People see when you go the extra mile. That’s why I brought up the summer tour because people saw us in the office working all night. Then they’re like, ‘dang, these guys really care about their product and how the station turns out.’ That’s the advice I’d give to people – just show up every day, care a lot and you’ll get far.

Aaron Rodgers and Pat McAfee Have ESPN Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Garrett Searight
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Aaron Rodgers and Pat McAfee Have ESPN Between a Rock and a Hard Place

I don’t know how many different angles I’ve seen the Pat McAfee vs Norby Williamson angle discussed since the former NFL punter’s inflammatory comments Friday. But I don’t think that is the biggest issue he or ESPN has ahead of them. The biggest issue for ESPN is Aaron Rodgers.

In this day and age, you truly get a feel for who some of the NFL’s biggest stars are away from the field. You get a glimpse into their personalities, their psyche, and who they really are underneath the helmet. Some content makes them more likable, as the Netflix documentary series did for Kirk Cousins. Other content — like bad Subway commercials and weird press conference interactions (Russell Wilson) and appearances on The Pat McAfee Show (Aaron Rodgers) — do damage.

And Rodgers has undeniably done damage to his persona and personal brand due to his appearances on the show. But this is a media column, so we’ll look at the media angle.

There’s no way to sugarcoat it: ESPN has an absolute mess on its hands, and I don’t see how it gets cleaned up without more damage.

Aaron Rodgers creates must-see TV nearly every Tuesday during his appearances with McAfee. The problem is, it isn’t the fun, whacky, zany, glimpse behind the curtain of an NFL QB that entices viewers back each week. It’s the Dale Gribble-esque topics that make you question if Rodgers actually believes the things he’s hopping around to and from during his appearances, or if its an elaborate ruse because he really is smarter than the rest of is. Is he a modern-day Andy Kaufman or just your neighborhood “I don’t give Facebook permission to use my photos!” idiot? Having listened to him, I lean more toward the second one, but who can be sure?

However, Rodgers isn’t completely dumb, and he has now put ESPN exactly where he wants them. He has said enough inflammatory, outlandish things that make you think the folks in Bristol have to be privately questioning if an intervention with McAfee is needed.

What is the path forward for ESPN that doesn’t include intense scrutiny? From my perspective, I don’t know that one exists, and that’s a tough spot to find yourself.

ESPN has limited options to make the situation go away. In my view, they are:

Option #1: Tell Pat McAfee No More “Aaron Rodgers Tuesday”

The nuclear option, if you will. Because when you press that button, there’s no going back. Whatever fallout comes, the ramifications will be wide-ranging.

If you do that, you risk intense backlash from the general public and conservative media. Do the people who would publicly criticize the network for this decision actually watch ESPN? No, probably not. But nobody — not even the hardest of hardened media members — wants to spend roughly four days in the Fox News/Newsmax/OutKick crosshairs.

On the flip side, everything ESPN does is already going to be hyper-scrutinized anyway, so you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

Not so fast, my friend!

Not only would the decision alienate some viewers, it would alienate both McAfee and his most ardent supporters. The former NFL star told his viewers nothing would change about the progrum (sic), and getting rid of its most high-profile interview subject at the behest of new corporate overlords sure wouldn’t jive with the persona McAfee has created, would it?

Let’s not sugar coat it: any relationship between media company and McAfee is going to be a volatile one. History has shown that. Sometimes, in managing your top talent, you gotta let them get away with things you wouldn’t let others get away with. I don’t know what Pat McAfee’s reaction to being told “You can’t have Aaron Rodgers on your show anymore” would be, but if everything on the surface appeared a-ok before he dropped a nuclear bomb on Bristol with his comments about Norby Williamson, I wouldn’t want to find out what he’s capable of on the air.

Option #2: Do Nothing and Continue to Give Rodgers A Platform to Discuss Whatever Hits His Brain That Day

Not a great option, as evidenced by Tuesday’s appearance. Rodgers came off — at times — like a raving lunatic.

It appeared he both defended his comments about Jimmy Kimmel being on the list of Jeffrey Epstein companions while simultaneously chastising anyone who would accuse Kimmel of such a thing, despite being the one who levied the accusations in the first place.

Hell, that sentence alone should be enough to make you think “Is allowing this guy unfiltered access to our airwaves the best use of an hour of a show we’re attempting to hang our hat on?”

It appears that Aaron Rodgers went to the Clay Travis School of Everyone But Me Should Stick to Sports, so his appearances are often littered with outlandish comments about some of the most asinine topics you can imagine, including one of his favorite targets, Dr. Anthony Fauci. I don’t particularly care how you lean politically, but I think most can agree that spending 20 minutes on a sports talk show in 2024, on a day when one of the most surprising NFL head coach firings in recent memories came down, is the equivalent of dropping a “Where’s the Beef?” reference, and yet, there doesn’t appear to be any end in sight.

Aaron Rodgers really likes Aaron Rodgers. And that’s a perfectly fine quality to have. But when it begins to damage not only McAfee’s brand, but also that of the Worldwide Leader, I wonder when someone decides to step in and say enough is enough.

But there is no logical answer to end the madness. And make no mistake, it is madness. The weekly appearances are akin to seeing a homeless woman strip naked and jump into a fountain in your local city. You’re not exactly jumping for joy that you got to witness such a commotion, but you’re not going to look away, either.

Maybe ESPN is ok with hanging $85 million over the course of the next five years on the back of “homeless woman strip naked and jump into a downtown fountain”. But, logically, I have to think there are some folks in offices in Bristol asking themselves “How do we get out of this? Can we get out of this? And if we can, how do we do it without the entire brand crumbling in around us?”

Not about McAfee’s show. The network has — for better or worse — hung its hat on his brand leading it into a 2020s surge that it hopes will be written about as one of the finest media business decisions of the decade. And that hope still exists. But I don’t know see a light at the end of the tunnel shining very brightly.

The one option that may exist, and would potentially be the best for all involved, would be asking McAfee to host Rodgers on the hour that only airs digitally on YouTube and ESPN+. Now, you’d still get some of the “The liberal media is censoring me because they don’t want the truth getting out there!” pushback, but you can still point to “We’re allowing you to say whatever comes to your brain, no matter how dumb it might be, so your points about censorship are null and void.”

But anytime you’re in a junior high name-calling fight with a future NFL Hall of Famer, you’ve already lost. And, unfortunately, that’s where the Worldwide Leader finds itself in this situation.

Chad Withrow: ESPN the Winner in Pat McAfee Drama

BSM Staff
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Chad Withrow: ESPN the Winner in Pat McAfee Drama

Pat McAfee has taken a calculated risk in calling out ESPN executive Norby Williamson, and despite the drama playing out in the headlines, Chad Withrow believes ESPN has done well in weathering the storm.

On Monday’s edition of OutKick Hot Mic, Withrow told co-host Jonathan Hutton that Pat likely had some inkling that calling out Williamson wouldn’t rock the boat too much at ESPN.

ESPN president of content Burke Magnus had to have been on McAfee’s side according to Withrow, who pointed to Magnus hanging out with McAfee and company in their end-zone suite last Saturday night for the Texans/Colts game in Indianapolis, as well as Pat saying Magnus was among the group of executives and leaders at the network he’s had no problems with.

Still, Chad Withrow did say he liked how ESPN has managed to stay the course and not skip a beat during all this.

“I can’t help but think, how many companies would actually continue to function properly with something like this happening?” he asked. “I’m gonna give ESPN a little bit of credit here, because there are clearly some huge egos at play, and we’ve encountered plenty of executives. And anybody who’s worked in corporate media understands the egos of executives and talent at times.

“And when those egos start to butt heads, usually it leads to someone saying, ‘Well either he’s out or I’m out, and I’m not gonna continue doing this job because I can’t work under these conditions,’ right?”

Hutton suggested that Williamson is outnumbered in terms of those in the executive circles at the network who appear to have any issues with McAfee. He thought if it came down to a “Him or Me” situation, it likely wouldn’t go well for Williamson.

Withrow also gave ESPN credit for not being reactive to the drama and keeping McAfee on the air on Monday. It was a platform McAfee appeared to double down on his comments, only this time not saying Williamson’s name specifically.

Pat McAfee carried on to run an alternate field-level broadcast of the CFP championship on Monday night in Houston for ESPN, and Withrow just found it interesting no dominoes have fallen.

“The fact we’re here and nothing drastic has happened is pretty crazy,” Withrow said. “And not really a bad sign for ESPN.”

Ultimately, the OutKick host felt like McAfee was the big winner in all of this, with Williamson coming out on the losing end. ESPN also seems to come out of this looking good.

“There are winners and losers in sports, there are winners and losers in life,” Withrow said. “McAfee, winner, Norby Williamson a loser, ultimately I think ESPN kind of a side winner in all of this. Because the McAfee show gets more credibility, he’s gonna continue on with ESPN.

“Not all publicity when it comes to stuff like this can be bad,” he added. “It can kind of raise the profile of everything and I think it’s doing it.”

Radio Provides Interview Guests Something Drastically Different Than TV

BNM Staff
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Radio Provides Interview Guests Something Drastically Different Than TV

Remember parents always said they don’t pick favorites? Then, when you become a parent, you realize it’s not true – just never admit to anything. It’s similar to radio guests. We’re supposed to enjoy them in equal measure. But we don’t.

After being in the interview game for a long time, I definitely have my favorites. Some, I can’t afford anymore, while others – despite their schedules and big-time careers – will always oblige for a few minutes to talk with me on the radio.

That made me curious: Why do it if you:

  1. Don’t have to
  2. Don’t get paid
  3. Don’t have time

I went to one of my all-time favorites for his perspective: Michael Coyne. Old-school Boston guy, but under-estimate him based on his accent at your own peril. This guy knows his &*%#!

From Donald Trump to Fotis Dulos, give him a day’s notice, and he kills it for 6-10 minutes. When Coyne isn’t wearing his super-guest cape, he’s the Dean of the Massachusetts School of Law.

I worked for several years in Boston television, and we used him quite a bit. He’s smart, thoughtful, and always prepared.

When I moved to Connecticut and from television to the radio, he was one of the people who always said yes – even though it was outside his school’s recruiting area – and always brought up things I had not previously considered.

Most recently, Coyne came on the show around the holidays to talk about some legal elements of the Trump trials. I sent him a text afterward, thanking him for the effort, insight, and early wake-up call.

He responded with something to the effect of, “I love radio.”

This made me pause for a second because we had never discussed the qualitative difference between radio and television, and to be honest, I never asked him why he always came on the show and did it with such professionalism and verve.

So, I asked him a few questions about it.

“I love that radio is vibrant and electric,” he said. “It has the time — and devotes appropriate time — to treat fast-breaking and major issues in a meaningful way.

“It makes you think about the issue more deeply as it is not dependent on a 30-second soundbite.”

Praise be!

Yes, he is an old-school guy who may or may not still have a few CDs and DVDs lying around the house. But he consumes through all sorts of channels — radio, computer, iPad, television — and from flipping through digital newspapers and scrolling X to listening to long-form podcasts, he’s not stuck in the 80s; he just likes to physically own some of his vintage content.

Coyne also insists young people, both in his classroom and in his home, should take notice.

“I often preach to them about preparation, preparation, and preparation,” Coyne said. “I tell them that regardless of (whether) I’m doing an oral argument or an interview, I review massive amounts of information that I then boil down to a couple of pages of talking points. I then decide which of those are the most central to success in persuading/informing.

“An interview, like an oral argument before a judge, is a chance to persuade the listener of the points you want to make. An interview also teaches students to listen to the question and respond to it. All lawyers can use better listening skills.”

Boston may have one of the more vibrant radio cultures in the country – music, news/talk and sports all seemingly still thrive in 2024 – and he notices that when a major story emerges, the most consumed stories he’s involved in are the ones that combine law and sports. Part of the reason is because, he says, the sports radio stations do a better job of cutting up the best soundbites and getting them out on social media, and yes, on television, too.

“Even though I do far more work on NBC 10 and NECN (news), it is the law/sports pieces that my students see on social that they talk about.”

His point is not that sports/law issues are necessarily more popular (they may be) but rather, the sports talk folks are better distributors.

Sure, he listens to podcasts and watches television, but Coyne is adamant that choice remains paramount, and radio remains a core part of that content menu.

“Free radio is vital to our access to information and the ability to communicate with each other. The variety of edu-tainment available is important to society,” said Coyne, who thinks I should add some sort of Barstool-esque food reviews or get an army of interns to embrace the social media formats I can’t stand (TikTok, Instagram). But in the end, he still likes the choices he has on the radio.

“Don’t like Glenn Beck or Brian Shactman? then move on up the dial.”

Don’t like me? Move up the dial from me? Never!

What Do Ratings Say About Pat McAfee and His Claims of Sabotage By ESPN?

BNM Staff
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What Do Ratings Say About Pat McAfee and His Claims of Sabotage By ESPN?

One of the sports talk personalities whose prominence has risen significantly in recent years is Pat McAfee. The former Pro Bowl punter entered broadcasting after his NFL playing career with stops at Barstool Sports, DAZN, Westwood One, SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Radio, and FanDuel over the past decade. His daily talk show The Pat McAfee Show, first established in 2019, has gotten a large following on YouTube. According to ESPN, McAfee averages 403,000 viewers on the Google-owned streaming video service.

That same YouTube show has also been on ESPN since Sep. 7, 2023, as part of his new five-year/$85 million deal with the network (which also includes his co–hosting gig on ESPN’s popular Saturday morning college football pregame show College GameDay). It airs in the noon-2 PM slot which follows their other morning talkfest First Take. Based on a recent item by the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand, Stephen A. Smith’s show draws a daily average of 583,000 viewers (thru Jan. 3, 2024), yet McAfee retains just a little more than half of that (302,000) as its lead-out.

Delving more into his linear numbers, the following are viewerships per day for The Pat McAfee Show, from Sep. 7 through Dec. 29, and the percentage margins from the year-ago time slots (Sep. 2022 through Dec. 2022) that featured ESPN’s SportsCenter and mostly ESPN2’s This Just In, Jalen and Jacoby, and College Football Live.

ESPN noon to 2 PM

  • Mondays: 323,000 viewers (-17 percent); 180,000 adults 25-54 (-10 percent)
  • Tuesdays: 316,000 viewers (-6 percent); 173,000 adults 25-54 (-2 percent)
  • Wednesdays: 277,000 viewers (-8 percent); 153,000 adults 25-54 (-6 percent)
  • Thursdays: 274,000 viewers (-9 percent); 163,000 adults 25-54 (+2 percent)
  • Fridays: 311,000 viewers (-14 percent); 178,000 adults 25-54 (no change)

ESPN2 (usually re-broadcast 3-5 PM)

  • Tuesdays: 73,000 viewers (-16 percent); 38,000 adults 25-54 (+1 percent)
  • Wednesdays: 88,000 viewers (-2 percent); 45,000 adults 25-54 (+4 percent)
  • Thursdays: 95,000 viewers (-10 percent); 50,000 adults 25-54 (+9 percent)
  • Fridays: 102,000 viewers (+2 percent); 55,000 adults 25-54 (+20 percent)

While Monday on ESPN is the show’s most-watched of the week – not uncommon for the daily ESPN studio shows in the fall to get a rating bounce by analyzing NFL Sunday action, it is double-digit percentages down from the early afternoon SportsCenter of last year.

Nonetheless, ESPN touts that its linear audience is gradually finding his show on its flagship network. In the month of December 2023, it averaged 332,000 viewers per episode, growing 20 percent from its first four weeks (Sep. 7-29).

The year-to-year key 25-54 demo declines are far less steep. Its midweek editions are merely slightly down, especially for its notable Tuesdays with weekly guest current Jets QB Aaron Rodgers. Sports beat reporters following football in the New York market regularly tune in for those appearances, although Rodgers’ talks do not exclusively stick to sports especially when it veers into odd topics such as political conspiracy theories, UFO sightings, and anti-COVID vaccine rhetoric.

His Jan. 2 guest spot caught the most attention –to the program’s largest combined linear audience across ESPN and ESPN2, to date: 445,000 total viewers on ESPN (154,000 later that day on ESPN2), according to live plus same-day data by Nielsen Media Research – when he referred to then-upcoming revelation of the list of alleged associates of Jeffrey Epstein, the now-deceased disgraced financier convicted of exploitation, sex trafficking and abuse of underage girls. Rodgers quipped about the list, “a lot of people including Jimmy Kimmel are hoping it doesn’t come out.” 

Kimmel immediately responded on social media that never had any connection whatsoever with Epstein and added “Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court.”

When Kimmel returned to his late-night show on Jan. 8 on ABC (like ESPN, also owned by Disney), he expanded upon his Aaron Rodgers thoughts stating he “is too arrogant to know how ignorant he is. They let him host Jeopardy! for two weeks and now he knows everything.”

McAfee offered an on-air apology for Rodgers’ comments on the Jan. 3 edition which delivered 306,000 viewers (also, above-average for its usual Wednesday performance).

All the stir has also created another conflict on Jan. 5 but this time between Pat McAfee and ESPN executive Norby Williamson, claiming the aforementioned New York Post article was the exec’s act of sabotaging McAfee’s program.

Jan. 5 drew 268,000 viewers on ESPN.

Rodgers returned on McAfee for what would be the final time this NFL season on Jan. 10 to address Kimmel’s diatribe from the night prior. Rodgers admitted he did not mean for Kimmel to be labeled a pedophile nor his name to appear on Epstein’s list. He added the personal contention with the late-night host stemmed from their differing views on COVID treatments since the start of the pandemic, which segued Rodgers into describing Dr. Anthony Fauci – the former Chief Medical Advisor to the President of the United States – as a “spreader of misinformation.”

422,000 viewers watched on ESPN from noon to 2 p.m.; 104,000 for its ESPN2 rerun at 3-5 p.m.

WWE Announces Former ESPN Exec Lee Fitting as Head of Media and Production

BSM Staff
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In a release today, WWE (now part of TKO Group Holdings), said it has added former ESPN Senior Vice President Lee Fitting as its new Head of Media and Production.

Many in the industry were surprised when Fitting was let go by ESPN in August after being with the company for 25 years. Fitting oversaw college and pro football production at the network.

“Lee is a phenomenal leader and executive known for work that generates both critical acclaim and mass appeal,” WWE President Nick Khan said in a release. “Lee will be a tremendous addition to our stellar media and production team and play a key role in helping catapult WWE’s growth.”

Fitting’s role will see him assume some of the duties previously handled by long-term employee Kevin Dunn, who left the company at the end of last year.

ESPN MegaCast of CFP National Championship Game Scores Over 25 Million Viewers

BSM Staff
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ESPN announced today that the CFP National Championship game between Michigan and Washington on Monday night averaged 25.05 million viewers across their various stations.

The game was the most-watched championship game since LSU-Clemson in 2020 and was an increase of 45% year-over-year as well as 11% above 2022.

The audience peaked from 9 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. at 28 million fans tuning in.

The average of the three college football playoff games was 23.6 million, the highest it has been since 2018. The Rose Bowl matchup between Michigan and Alabama drew the highest number at 27.76 million.

47% of Media Leaders ‘Confident About Journalism’s Prospects in Year Ahead’, New Survey Shows

BNM Staff
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A new survey of media industry leaders feel confident about the future of journalism over the coming 12 months.

According to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism survey, of the 314 media leaders questioned, 47% shared their optimism for the industry. Only 12% of respondents said the were not confident about the future.

“Overall, the mood in our survey responses is one of strong belief in the value of journalism but great uncertainty about the year ahead, fuelled by the knowledge that another huge wave of technical disruption is on the way,” the authors of the study wrote.

The optimism coincides with previous years results, with 44% of respondents claiming similar sentiments in 2023. That figure is down sharply from 75% feeling confident about the state of journalism in 2022.

However, due to the results of some media business sectors, it’s easy to see why the optimism was up slightly for 2024.

80% of respondents shared that subscriptions/membership revenue streams were likely to be important to very important for their businesses. That was the top vote-getter, with display advertising/sponsorship finishing second at 72%.

Compass Media Networks Promotes Robert Blum to VP of News/Talk & Sports Affiliate Sales

BNM Staff
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Compass Media Networks Promotes Robert Blum to VP of News/Talk & Sports Affiliate Sales

Compass Media Networks has announced it is promoting Robert Blum to the role of Vice President of Affiliate Sales Sales for Sports & News/Talk Programming.

Blum joined the network in 2011 and currently oversees affiliate sales for news/talk shows like The Erick Erickson Show, The Lars Larson Show, The Joe Pags Show, Markley, van Camp & Robbins, This Morning with Gordon Deal, and America’s First News with Gordon Deal, among others, for Compass Media Networks.

“It is a privilege to work with over 1,200 news-talk-sports affiliates and our awesome array of talent and sports partners,” said Robert Blum. “The best part of my job is the meaningful friendships that I have been fortunate enough to build over the years. The best is yet to come.”

Before joining the company in 2011, Blum — a graduate of Arizona State University — worked as a Manager of Marketing and Promotions for the New York Yankees.

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