Syndicated radio host Chris Plante criticized the Biden administration for asking news outlets to look into the conduct of House Republicans after initiating an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden.
“Ian Sams sent a letter to all the news organizations,” said Plante. “Telling them that they should go after the Republicans because they are pursuing this demonstrably false effort, that’s the language he used.”
According to Plante, Ian Sams shared CNN and Politico links to demonstrate that the GOP’s move to start an impeachment inquiry into Biden was misguided.
“This is a fascinating development,” he said. “It does remind me of the old Benito Mussolini definition of fascism, which Benito defined as a merger of state and corporate power,” he said. “No corporate power is more powerful than the media.”
Plante emphasized that Sam’s letter is a clear demonstration of the power that the White House possesses.
“This puts right out in the light of day in the middle of the table, the collusion, the merger of state and corporate power that Mussolini was talking about,” he added. “And now the news media will have to disgrace themselves in going after the Republicans because now they have their marching orders.”
Bill Maher, the host of Real Time, will be back on HBO and CNN on September 22nd, even though the writers’ strike is still ongoing. Although his actions do not violate any of the rules set by the Writers Guild of America (WGA), they represent a setback for the strikers. As a result of the strike, there are fewer new products available for the studios, which strengthens the WGA’s bargaining position during negotiations.
“Real Time is coming back, unfortunately, sans writers or writing,” Maher explained. (For those of you who went to public schools, “sans” means “without”),” Maher said. “It has been five months, and it is time to bring people back to work.”
Maher made a promise that he would not be doing any written pieces on Real Time. This means there won’t be any monologues, New Rules segments or anything requiring a script or writing.
According to Bill Maher, the core of the show is an impromptu panel discussion that aims to cut through the predictable partisanship and the usual nonsense. He also reassured the viewers that the show will not disappoint.
“The writers have important issues that I sympathize with, and hope they are addressed to their satisfaction,” Maher added, “but they are not the only people with issues, problems, and concerns. Despite some assistance from me, much of the staff is struggling mightily.”
By the time the calendar turns to Monday morning, Wes Durham finally has a reprieve after a long week of preparation and subsequent execution as he calls play-by-play for games within the Atlantic Coast Conference and National Football League. Durham’s weekend during the season lasts from the moment he wakes up on Monday until about 1 p.m. the same day before the cycle officially repeats itself.
This upcoming weekend, Durham will be calling a matchup between the Florida Atlantic Owls and Clemson Tigers on the ACC Network, and he has prepared by watching both team contests and taking notes about players and details on the field. A similar premise applies to the Sunday NFL matchup featuring the Atlanta Falcons against the Green Bay Packers, which he will call as the radio voice of the Falcons.
In the next few days, Durham has the luxury of being able to drive to work, but he often finds himself on his fair share of red-eye flights. Frequently visiting collegiate practice facilities and conversing with coaches in pre-production meetings, the quantitative portion of his preparation occurs towards the end of the week.
As that is taking place, Durham is reading injury reports, game notes and viewing press conferences at the NFL level with the goal of being nearly ready to call that game by Saturday morning. Several production calls ensue over the final few days with the ESPN-owned ACC Network before he announces that matchup on prime time television. From the time he started calling Falcons games 20 years ago on the radio up until now, he has ensured to never take a day for granted in being one of the few commentators to call both collegiate and professional football games simultaneously.
“It’s funny – Bob Wischusen, Dave Pasch and I are the guys who work for ESPN who also do the NFL,” Durham said. “I think all of us feel fortunate in many respects to… work for teams that support your ability to do two-for-one – they support you where they can, [and] I think that’s really important.”
Durham knew early on in his career that play-by-play would be the industry niche for him, but he also possessed the specialized skill set needed to succeed in sports talk radio. The first time he ever took the air was on WCHL in Chapel Hill, N.C., the locale’s primeval media outlet, where he would play music at night. Durham estimates that people down the road were unable to hear the station.
Through his four years at Elon University, Durham called 150 football and basketball games on the radio and graduated with a portfolio larger than most other college-aged students at the time. Entering the professional workforce with an understanding of how to correct common mistakes and stand out – and a clear picture of where he wanted his career to go. Interning under sports director Mark Concannon at WFMY-TV, Durham quickly stood out for his sports acumen and professionalism. Towards the end of his internship, Concannon told him that while he could foresee him doing well reporting on sports for television news, his passion for play-by-play shined through.
Before that time, Durham worked in Burlington, N.C. as a high school student calling local football games so he would have an array of experience before going to college. Being in the area, he fostered a relationship with Bill Leslie, who served as the morning news anchor at WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C. Despite working in different genres per se, Leslie conferred years of experience and wisdom to him, specifically discussing bedrock journalistic principles such as elocution and syntax.
Throughout his formative years, Durham sent out his demo reel to various local broadcasters, including Jeff Charles, the longtime voice of the East Carolina Pirates who passed away earlier this year, and received constructive criticism. Durham, however, recognized at the very instant he declared his interest in sports media that he had known his greatest mentor for his entire life.
Woody Durham, the legendary play-by-play announcer for the North Carolina Tar Heels, worked in sports media for parts of six decades and became synonymous with college athletics. One summer day during his adolescence, Wes mentioned to his father that he may want to become involved in radio and television.
His father immediately said, “Okay, if you’re serious about doing it, then we need to find you some ways to have practical experience.” From shadowing his dad in the press box and eventually serving as a production assistant for the radio network, Durham compiled a résumé and an invaluable set of professional connections.
“I’m obviously fortunate that my dad was in the business for as long as he was,” Durham said. “I think that was an introduction at the time that I didn’t realize the impact it was having.”
Durham bases the way he prepares for games off of his father’s process. Woody used to compose his charts by hand ahead of every broadcast. As computers developed the capabilities to simplify labyrinthine tasks, Durham decided to digitize his game charts and additional notes. When he explained what he did to his father, the reply he received was, “You know what that is right there? That’s cheating!”
Even though he had developed a shortcut, Durham did not pare back the work that went into his assignments. He was able to immediately secure a broadcast job out of college calling games for the Radford Highlanders before spending a year with the Marshall Thundering Herd. In 1992, Vanderbilt University hired Durham to call Commodores games at the age of 26, something that was suspect to some sports media professionals and fans.
Durham assimilated into the ACC in 1995 – a conference he knew well thanks to his father – when he was named the voice of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and called football, basketball and baseball games for 18 years. Durham was hired by Dr. Homer Rice, the same athletic director who hired his father 24 years earlier to call games for the University of North Carolina. No matter how long he works for a particular institution though, he feels an obligation to perform to the best of his ability.
“You are essentially signing up to represent that institution,” Durham said. “….Even in this transition of college athletics, you still have to some degree of understanding of not just the athletic program and the sport you’re covering, but also the fact that you’re pretty much a representative of that institution in many ways.”
The desire to be able to retire having no regrets, however, compelled him to leave Georgia Tech and take a job with Fox Sports Net calling college football games nationally on television.
“Some of that was inspired by my dad, but some of that was also inspired by just wanting to do something different,” Durham said. “I think you’ve got to be willing to understand that the path to success is going to be different.”
One of many things he is grateful for in his time with Georgia Tech is the fact that the university allowed him to call Atlanta Falcons games and become the voice of an NFL team. Being able to have connectivity to a marketplace through collegiate and professional sports, along with eventually hosting a local sports talk radio program, is something he considers as a blessing. The key to his success has been cultivating ethos and credence with listeners so he and partner Dave Archer are able to objectively call games without having to impugn genuine situations.
“I think that’s the way people want it,” Durham said. “Fortunately for us, we’ve done it, for now, such a time that I think people trust us with the way the broadcast sounds, and they trust the way we’re going to broadcast the game – win or lose – [is] that we’re going to be as upfront as we can about the way it’s going down.”
While Durham has been paired with Archer for the last two decades, it was not until recently when he began working ACC Network games with Tim Hasselbeck. The former NFL quarterback has been on the prime time matchups since 2019 and previously worked alongside Dave O’Brien, who is no longer on the broadcasts. Roddy Jones was Durham’s partner during those early years, and the transition to working with Hasselbeck has been seamless.
“Tim has really, really been so kind in terms of answering my questions about, ‘Is this okay if this is the way I hand it to you in the open to start what we’re going to talk about?,’” Durham said. “For me, he’s got such a vast football knowledge, and his evaluation of players, particularly quarterbacks, is just second-to-none.”
Courtesy: Ryan Hunt, ESPN Images
There is a difference, however, in the way that Durham works with his analyst depending on the platform. Whereas television is a visual medium, radio requires an approach that relies on vivid depictions and the cultivation of an image to accurately and effectively disseminate an event to the audience.
“If it’s a radio game, the play-by-play guy is obviously going to be more involved in the verbiage with description and things like that,” Durham explained. “When I went to television, I was always thinking about, ‘Okay, how can I pitch the perfect game with the bigger team?,’ because you’ve got more people involved, obviously, in TV.”
The Walt Disney Company is in the midst of a 20-year media rights deal with the ACC for a reported $240 million annually. It is one of the longest contracts in the college sports ecosystem and is compelling select schools to look for a raise in fees. At the start of next season, the conference will add Cal, Stanford and SMU to the fold, bringing it to 17 teams stretching across the United States.
“We figured out a way to go from the BCS to the CFP, but when we expand to 12 teams for the College Football Playoff and the money that’s going to be involved in that television deal, we’re going to look at this sport in a way we’ve never looked at it,” Durham said. “I think we all have to be flexible and nimble enough… to understand the game may change dynamically once we get there.”
As a broadcaster, Durham stays aware of industry trends and works to enrich his craft on a daily basis. He does not call collegiate and professional games just so he can remain within a select group, but rather because he genuinely enjoys the craft. Being respected by his colleagues and other broadcasters, along with having veneration for them, makes it easier to be himself rather than acquiescing to the opinions of a faction of people.
After enduring the difficulties associated with the onset of a global pandemic, resulting in the abeyance of sporting events, Durham’s realization of how lucky he is to work in the industry was only accentuated. Each time he walks into a stadium, he has the same energy he did on the day of his first broadcast, eager to see something new or unexpected no matter the sport.
Football is Durham’s primary focus, but he has also called several PGA events on ESPN+ in the last couple of years. In his free time, he often reads about the game of golf – everything from the gear to strength training – and hopes that he will be afforded more chances to augment his versatility.
Durham also remembers becoming inspired by the SEC Storied film More Than a Voiceon SEC Network that shined a spotlight on iconic radio voices within the conference. Award-winning singer and songwriter Kenny Chesney served as executive producer on the project in an effort to spotlight John Ward, the eminent radio voice of the Tennessee Volunteers. “The King of the Road” affirmed that Ward was on the soundtrack of his childhood and one of the reasons he came to love watching sports.
“I would like to do a documentary about radio voices,” Durham said. “I think the chronicle of the radio announcer is fascinating – the way it’s just tied with the history of college football and just college football in general.”
As broadcasters look to penetrate through the competitive field, there is an incessant feeling of impatience and impetuosity that has pervaded various people in all professional spaces. Unequivocally so, success in media can be attributed to not just work ethic and abilities, but also timing. When people act intentionally and take calculated risks that they believe will further their career, there is a chance it may not engender success – but more often than not, a byproduct of such efforts is a pertinent learning experience. For Durham, doing just that has led him to have a multiplatform presence in sports, and it is something he hopes to keep for years to come.
“The one core thing that is always really important is to be patient,” Durham said. “I think everybody’s journey to any kind of success is one that you have to have some degree of patience with.”
iHeartMedia is the 600-pound gorilla in the broadcasting room; we all know it. When they fully invest in new technology, all sales reps must learn as much as possible to compete with or complement it. Welcome to the radio ad sales auction, where sales reps aren’t invited for the most part. Let’s delve deeper into how this can work to your advantage.
Recently, iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman and President/COO Rich Bressler spoke at a Goldman Sachs investor conference and pitched their new direction.
The Real-Time Bidding Revolution
iHeartMedia’s biggest challenge isn’t attracting new listeners; it’s selling what they already have in-house. Enter real-time bidding to sell the inventory, not the daypart.
Real-time bidding is a subset of programmatic media buying that enables ads to be bought and sold on a per-impression basis in an instant auction. This move is meant to satisfy media buyers who already purchase digital media in this manner and like it. Buyers don’t want to learn new tricks to do business with radio.
A BIG Shift to Impressions
This accelerates the trend of selling ads not based on rating points or dayparts but using audience impressions. iHeartMedia has moved away from traditional 25-54 demo selling to audience segments. Advertisers can choose from 800 pre-populated audience segments—think of people who intend to purchase a car in six months or women who have given birth in the last six months. It’s very similar to the sales techniques I have used for years with the Gold Digger RAB report. This shift capitalizes on advertisers who don’t necessarily care when somebody is listening but who is tuned in and how much it costs to reach them 24/7.
Pittman was clear in stating, “We sell impressions.” National and increasingly regional advertisers are no longer interested in specific time slots; they seek impressions throughout the day. Finally, there is a market to sell M-F 7p-6a and weekends at a price they are willing to pay.
Create Demand, Not More Supply
iHeartMedia’s top priority is monetizing its existing audience. We all have so much inventory on our shelves. We need more buyers. This digital auction will unlock some of that inventory. Pittman hopes that digital ad buyers will buy up the inventory you don’t sell.
Roll with the Changes
Here are a few ideas to stay ahead of the curve:
Embrace Real-Time Bidding: Understand the ins and outs of real-time bidding and programmatic advertising. Study it. Be able to show buyers how to use it if they want assistance. Perhaps they can buy cheaper ads elsewhere to lower the cost of your M-F 6a-7p inventory.
Impressions vs. AM Drive: Learn how to shift your approach from selling time slots to selling audience impressions. You may encounter a buyer who asks you to do that. Consider the Spots vs. Impressions pricing strategy to understand the concept further.
Diversify Your Portfolio: Incorporate more impression-based digital audio streaming, podcast advertising, and social media strategies into your packages.
In conclusion, the radio ad sales market is transforming profoundly, with real-time bidding and audience-centric approaches taking center stage. Learn about this or risk being labeled as part of “The Olds.” Adapt to these changes and embrace innovation. It will help you not only survive but thrive.
There is a bright comet of style, sass, and substance shooting through the sports media sky, and her name is Siera Santos. The co-host of MLB Network’s Intentional Talk (IT) has carved a niche for herself in the national sports media landscape – unafraid to use humor, sarcasm, and creativity, in presenting highlights, analysis, and information.
The Arizona native has risen above the crowd of talented reporters and hosts at MLB Network and its sister station, NHL Network. Santos has a zest for chiding her IT co-hosts Kevin Millar and Ryan Dempster thereby bringing out their own unique senses of humor.
Intentional Talk is the longest-running program on MLB Network and offers a casual, fan-based slant on the national pastime. With interviews, interactive insight, and regular segments, the show is a unique entree on the MLB Network menu.
Santos has detonated the traditional moderator/host role, bringing a fresh and fun attitude to Intentional Talk. She can trade jabs toe to toe with Millar and Dempster, two of baseball’s biggest personalities as players and now in media. In short, she takes no BS from either of them. She runs the show and sets the tone for the program’s philosophy and attitude.
That last word is key. Santos is all about attitude. She brings confidence to all of her work, shining brightly, boisterously, and boldly. Santos came to the national forefront as one of the rotating hosts of MLB Network’s Quick Pitch. When host Heidi Watney left the program, Santos took the reins along with the talented likes of Kelly Nash and Keiana Martin, creating a TV version of the film A League of Their Own.
These prepared and diligent ladies showed that not only is there no crying in baseball, but no gender gap as well. They have dominated while presenting highlights and analysis in an entertaining and informative way.
Santos led this charge bringing originality and even comedy to the role. In a couple of editions of Quick Pitch, she donned a white medical coat and eyeglasses, taking on the character of Dr. Santos and counseling fans of losing baseball teams. She has proven herself to be completely fearless in breaking free from the established intro/highlight/analysis mode.
And one thing is for sure, it’s not easy to stand out in the crowd when one of your co-hosts is Kevin Millar. Going back to his days as a player, Millar has always been as much about banter as baseball. While David Ortiz became a legend, it was Millar who truly was the leader of the 2004 Red Sox, the team that ended an 86-year World Series championship drought.
The chemistry between Santos and Millar is palpable. You can tell that they truly like each other and enjoy working together, and Dempster provides the perfect happy medium between the two of them.
Santos brings verve and straight up guts to the show. In addition, she has shown great versatility. During hockey season, she makes an absolutely smooth transition to NHL Network’s On the Fly morning show. Similarly, she is able to go back-and-forth with a bevy of experienced hockey experts.
Santos is a sports media chameleon. Whether it is MLB, NHL, or her frequent hosting stints on Apple TV Plus, she has developed into a dynamic television personality, dominating the screen and entertaining a diverse audience.
One of the fun parts of Intentional Talk is when Millar or Dempster goes off on a rant. With all three hosts on screen, you can see Santos’s facial expressions begin to form and you know she is working on some clever or snide retort. She is quick-witted and always ready to pounce on any outlandish statement.
Santos knows her stuff and has skyrocketed to success with her style, fashion, and on-camera appeal. She has become one of the foundation personalities for MLB Network, an example of the much-welcomed trend toward a more diverse and contemporary group of talents.
Like many of today’s sports media personalities, Santos has shrewdly used social media to promote herself and her work. She has a growing number of followers on Instagram and uses the platform to promote her work and opinions. She also gives followers a glimpse of her off camera life with photos attending games and social events.
This has actually seeped into the IT on-air exchange with Millar often humorously referencing Santos’ busy social life and travel schedule. It may be a broad comparison, but Santos is a throwback to an earlier time in broadcasting when stories were broken and shared over dinner and drinks, not iPads and analytics.
With Santos, Millar, and Dempster, Intentional Talk is like the Rat Pack of sports TV, a bunch of talented and skilled gabbers who enjoy life, have the occasional beverage, and embrace the fun aspects of the game.
Santos absolutely leads that charge. She is part ringleader and part lion tamer, controlling the dialogue and direction of the show. There is a power to her performance, taking studio hosting to a new level of panache and pizzazz. In the process, Santos has become baseball’s true leader in RBI: Riveting, Beguiling, and Inventive.
A couple months removed from CEO Bob Iger saying Disney could sell its traditional TV assets, the company has reportedly engaged in exploratory talks with Nexstar Media Group about potentially selling ABC.
The interest on the part of Nextar is preliminary at this point according to Reuters, and sources familiar with the matter said no deal may come out of these early discussions.
ABC consists of the national TV network and eight regional stations. Additionally, there are affiliate agreements in place with around 240 local stations.
Nexstar has two national networks in the CW and NewsNation. It also owns 200 local stations.
In his lawsuit against the league, former NFL Media reporter Jim Trotter claims that he was discriminated against and retaliated against for speaking out about the lack of diversity and inclusion in the NFL Media newsroom.
Additionally, Trotter alleges that he was given a stand down order by his direct supervisor in reporting on the Bills/Bengals game on January 2 that got cancelled after safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field.
The NFL has denied and refuted reporting that the league office in New York told both teams that the game would resume following a five-minute warm-up period. Trotter in the lawsuit said the decision came from the league office and not the officials in Cincinnati.
“This directive was uncovered by several reporters and was widely reported in the media in the days that followed,” the lawsuit reads. “However, the NFL staunchly denied these claims, as reflected in the various articles. Mr. Trotter, for his part, investigated further. He received confirmation from multiple sources refuting the NFL’s version and its denial.”
Jim reached out to NFL vice president of communications Brian McCarthy looking for comment from the NFL employee that informed the teams play would resume. After McCarthy initially denied Trotter’s request, Trotter continued to press to the point that McCarthy threatened to call Jim’s supervisor, NFL Media head of digital and television media Todd Sperry.
“Soon after, Mr. Trotter received a text message from Mr. Sperry,” the complaint reads. “Mr. Sperry directed Mr. Trotter to ‘stand down’ in his reporting on the story. Mr. Trotter responded, ‘I thought it was our job as journalists to always pursue the truth. Is that not the case?’ Mr. Sperry never responded to Mr. Trotter’s text message — which speaks for itself.”
The lawsuit details ensuing conversations between Trotter, his agent and NFL vice president of on-air talent management Sandra Nunez, in which initially it seemed like Trotter’s contract would be renewed without issue. But by March, the decision was made that the league would not be renewing Trotter’s deal.
“This entire incident makes it very clear that the NFL controls NFL Media, throttles content that is critical of the NFL and will not hesitate to silence employees who speak out regarding matters that are unfavorable to the league,” the complaint said. “While in this case, the matter involved the NFL’s handling of a sensitive incident involving a player injury, it was consistent with the resistance Mr. Trotter faced when speaking up regarding discrimination.”
The Boston Red Sox on Thursday announced that they had parted ways with chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, and over on Zolak & Bertrand on 98.5 The Sports Hub, the breaking news turned out to be a cause for celebration.
Albert Breer was in studio talking to hosts Scott Zolak and Marc Bertrand about the New England Patriots and taking calls from listeners when news of Bloom’s dismissal broke on social media.
“You have a sack! You have awareness!” Zolak exclaimed in excitement. “You’re not dead you have a pulse!”
“I’m so happy I was here for this moment,” Breer said laughing.
Bertrand chimed in saying this gives the Red Sox a new hope.
“We might have a baseball team again at some point!” he said.
“We might have a real ballclub now,” Zolak responded. “They’re not on life support yet! Wow!”
Producer Tyler Milliken said Bloom just couldn’t be trusted to make the big moves to make them a contender again.
Bertrand added that in listening to general manager Brian O’Halloran on WEEI on his drive in to work, it was interesting to hear the confidence in his voice when he said that ownership was committed to building a playoff contending 2024 roster this offseason. On the same note, he found it interesting that O’Halloran spoke with great conviction about manager Alex Cora.
“I thought, those were interesting things, and now this. Chaim Bloom has been fired by the Red Sox,” he said.
By the end of the segment, they all seemed optimistic that Bloom’s firing will produce a shift in a positive direction for the Red Sox front office.
ESPN football analyst and Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III is getting into the podcast space.
RGIII announced that his new show, RG3 and The Ones, will debut on September 21. He has partnered with Wave Sports + Entertainment and Whispering Oaks Productions to produce and distribute the podcast. WSE is the company behind New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce and Podcast P with Paul George.
Griffin said the show will have new episodes roll out weekly.
“Every week, there are new stories in sports that deserve to be celebrated, championed, and clarified on a platform that puts athletes and their truth first,” said Griffin in a statement. “RG3 and The Ones is for anyone who isn’t interested in the thirty-second sound bites or untrue narratives but wants to dive deeper into the stories that make our favorite athletes our favorite humans.”
“Robert, the media personality, has become a household name across the internet, social media, and the big screen, mirroring his meteoric rise on the field as a Heisman Trophy winner, top pick, and NFL star,” Wave Sports + Entertainment founder and CEO Brian Verne said. “He is the perfect person to quarterback this show for us as we look to put up more big wins across the WSE Originals slate.”
Over the last calendar year, FOX Sports has broadcast its fair share of marquee events and attained viewership records within several of its properties. Standing out from the rest of the pack is Super Bowl LVII, which garnered accolades for the most-watched television program in American history with an adjusted average final viewership of 115.1 million households. While FOX Sports draws high ratings and various revenue streams from these flagship sports properties, it has a deep daily studio lineup to enhance the network’s comprehensive portfolio and bring viewers informative and entertaining discussion.
Entering last fall, FOX Sports 1 (FS1) Executive Vice President of Content Charlie Dixon unveiled a new studio lineup with the revamped edition of Speak and a change in time slot for First Things First. Combined with The Herd featuring Colin Cowherd, along with Undisputed with Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe, the programming slate experienced aggregate growth and is continuing to bolster its reach as the new football season begins.
That is not to say, however, that there have not been embedded permutations therein, specifically pertaining to Undisputed introducing a new cast to debate Bayless, which includes former National Football League stars Richard Sherman, Keyshawn Johnson and Michael Irvin. Furthermore, after months of deliberation, Craig Carton made the decision to leave WFAN to ink an exclusive deal with the company to host The Carton Show on television each morning, hopeful the product sustains its proliferation in audience.
“I guess my concern was just in discovery and viewers finding the show and understanding the new lineup,” Michael Mulvihill, FOX Sports president of insights and analytics, told Barrett Sports Media. “I think a lot of weekday TV and daytime TV is about habits that are formed over years, and in some cases decades in the case of really long-running shows.”
The disquietude, however, was ephemeral upon accumulated growth according to the traditional Nielsen Media Research numbers. Combined with traffic on social media and other sources of viewership, FOX Sports feels confident that its offerings will reach its fans despite hastened levels of cord cutting. The latest Nielsen Gauge report divulges that streaming is responsible for 38.7% of television viewership, marking a ninth straight month of leading in share percentage over broadcast, cable and other unmeasured data sources.
This past August represented the 12th consecutive month of growth for First Things First, featuring Nick Wright, Chris Broussard and Kevin Wildes. The early afternoon program concluded the 31-day stretch with a 77% increase in year-over-year (YoY) viewership, marking its best August ever. In addition, Speak with Joy Taylor, Emmanuel Acho and LeSean McCoy continues to garner double-digit growth, marking the tenth consecutive month of elevated viewership levels and a 39% rise YoY. As a whole, FS1 is up 10% on a total-day ratings basis for the year and has attained its best audiences since 2019. Dixon oversees these programs and is positioning them to stay relevant amid a dynamic media ecosystem, which, in part, is based off market analytics.
“I think the health of these shows suggests a larger story about the resilience of sports in this environment of cord cutting and declining pay TV subscriptions,” Mulvihill said. “Everybody recognizes that cord cutting is real – pay TV [subscribers] are going down – and yet these shows are doing their best viewership ever.”
Show Name
Start Time (EST)
End Time (EST)
The Carton Show
7 a.m.
9:30 a.m.
Undisputed
9:30 a.m.
12 p.m.
The Herd
12 p.m.
3 p.m.
First Things First
3 p.m.
4:30 p.m.
Speak
4:30 p.m.
6 p.m.
As of last measurement, FOX Sports 1 reaches more households with cable television than ESPN, marking the first time that occurrence has come to fruition since the network’s launch in 2013. While the difference between the two outlets is slim, FS1 is now the most carried television network in the country. Moreover, it believes that it will be able to withstand and adapt to threats posed by the declining reach of cable television. At the same time though, it will not maintain false equivalencies that the model is in a state of inertia and will persist in adapting and ideating to stay competitive with ESPN.
“I think we’re coming to an opinion that cord cutting is something that’s mostly a choice being made by non-sports fans,” Mulvihill said, “and that sports fans are staying in the bundle and continuing to watch shows like this. It’s not just us – I think the ESPN trend is pretty good; the ESPN2 trend is pretty good. There’s a dynamic here that’s happening around sports more than it’s happening to sports.”
ESPN recently introduced a new daytime programming lineup ahead of the NFL season, headlined by the addition of The Pat McAfee Show to its linear and digital platforms. McAfee inked a multiyear, multi-million dollar licensing deal that permits ESPN to distribute 235 episodes of his program each year. Competing in the slot against McAfee on FS1 is Colin Cowherd’s simulcast radio program, The Herd, which has been televised by the network since 2015.
Cowherd and co-host Jason McIntyre have propelled the show up 39% YoY and nine consecutive months of growth, in addition to generating consistent engagement on social media. While McAfee’s show has only been on ESPN for just over a week and was partially impacted by the Charter dispute with The Walt Disney Company, Mulvihill is encouraged by the lack of disparity between the early metrics.
“There’s not a lot of daylight between McAfee’s show and Cowherd’s show,” Mulvihill said, “and we just want to do everything we can to make it even more competitive.”
Similar to McAfee’s show being broadcast on ESPN, the new Undisputed is in its incipient days, having only been on the air for two weeks since returning from a two-month hiatus. The network is utilizing its deep pool of talent, along with new voices Rachel Nichols, Josina Anderson and Lil’ Wayne, to enhance discussions and present a variety of perspectives.
Each one of the studio programs televised on FS1 are meant to appeal to different characteristics of the sports audience, discussing similar topics in unique ways. At the same time, these programs can be one vehicle to drive audiences to watch live game telecasts, such as head coach Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes. Big Noon Saturday has televised the first two Colorado matchups of the regular season and disseminated one of the most followed stories in the world of sports. Studio shows of late have been encouraged to lean into the story as much as possible, even though they probably would be doing so anyway, and understand that they can contribute to the larger conversation about given topics.
“The interest that we see in a game tends not to come from our own promos; it comes from just the chatter and buzz that’s created by this whole industry of sports coverage and sports talk,” Mulvihill articulated. “I think our shows are a significant part of it, but they’re only part of it. We need that industry of sports talk and sports journalism to thrive to drive interest in our games.”
FOX Sports knows that it has a formidable opponent in ESPN, which refers to itself as “The Worldwide Leader in Sports” and possesses a bevy of live game rights. The company is optimistic that it will be able to keep competing with ESPN and other sources of sports media content to maintain its emergence as one of the premier networks in the landscape.
“I think we’re making great progress and we just want to continue that trend,” Mulvihill said. “We want to get more and more competitive all the time, so we’re encouraged by what we’re seeing and we’ve got sort of a mandate to try to keep it going in a positive direction.”
