According to a report from Mediaite’s Caleb Howe, CNN has started sending potential guests a questionnaire form asking several interesting questions.
Howe posted screenshots of the form, noting there are questions about political ideology, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, and more.
The idea behind the questions, Howe posits, is for guest bookers at the network identify guests who would fit a certain topic.
A CNN spokesman told Mediaite they have been using the form for over a year and is “strictly voluntary”.
CNN has come under fire from both sides of the political aisle recently for their planned move back towards a strictly news reporting outlet. Conservative commentors like Rich Zeoli and Jason Rantz have poked fun at the network, while liberal podcast Keith Olbermann has repeatedly taken shots at new CNN President and CEO Chris Licht by saying he thought Licht “ate paste” when the pair worked together at MSNBC.
The feud between Dan Le Batard and Mark Harris of Outkick.com continued after Le Batard told the outlet to “f*** all the way off” in a tweet yesterday.
Harris responded to the tweet with a blog post calling Le Batard the “softest of the talking heads who get paid millions of dollars to speak into a microphone for a few hours a day”.
He continued by saying Le Batard “forgets free speech exists” when someone criticizes him and defends himself “like a 13-year-old who just learned about curse words”.
The story then detailed several of the times the website has written about Le Batard as evidence of his “stupidity filled actions”.
Harris concluded the story by writing “Le Batard has made a career out of being a professional troll. But that doesn’t make him right about everything, and it certainly doesn’t mean he’s free from criticism when warranted. He’s paid millions to routinely criticize others. And now the shoe’s on the other foot, and he doesn’t like the fit.”
“The Five” co-host Greg Gutfeld criticized New York Times employees Wednesday who have reportedly refused to return to the office.
“Think about the jobs where people show up to and die,” Gutfeld said. “These people want to stay home because they feel unsafe, maybe they get COVID. Talk to a logger or a deep-sea fisherman they show up.”
According to the New York Times,NYC is still missing 176,000 people who have not returned to work after two years of the pandemic.
“When the arts and culture editor says, I feel healthy if I just stay home, they should fire him,” said Gutfeld. “As an employer, you can’t just forfeit the right to tell employees to come back to work.”
Gutfeld added that society has expanded the definition of health so much so that employers have backed themselves into a corner on many levels.
“This is a luxury protest; these people don’t make life work. These people are not truck drivers or electricians, plumbers. Can you imagine a plumber working from home?”
Co-host Jesse Watters added that there were two types of people during the pandemic, people that enjoyed the COVID protocols and people who didn’t and wanted to return to life as normal.
Seattle’s KTTH is hosting an event called the 2022 Freedom Series: March to the Midterms.
Talk show host Jason Rantz announced the debate on his show Wednesday. He said the event will take place on Oct. 12th at the Carco Theatre in Renton, Washington.
“We will dive into some of the biggest issues that are facing the country as we head to the midterm elections which is why we called this Freedom Series, March to the Midterms.”
Rantz said that the last three times that KTTH hosted a Freedom Series, the events were sold out.
“The last one that we had was right before COVID,” Rantz said. We were talking last year about bringing the Freedom Series back, which is a ticketed event, and you get to hang out with us, have conversations, listen to a vigorous debate, have lots of fun.”
Rantz added that now we are in an endemic stage it’s easier to find venues that are willing to host public events like Freedom Series.
“We’ve chosen a theatre for an event so we can do things that we used to,” he said. “Which brings a whole bunch of people with shared values and people who disagree with us as well and have really vigorous discussions.”
Jason Rantz will co-host the event with his colleague, Bryan Suits. Learn more about the event here.
Blaze TV host Jason Whitlock is blaming corporate media for the shocking rise in violence being committed by young people.
Whitlock has been an outspoken critic of inner-city crime. He joined “The Vince Coglianese Show” Wednesday on 105.9 FM in Washington D.C.
“Kids have always settled disputes with fights and fisticuffs, but I do think we are kidding ourselves if we think that social media and all the messaging that comes from corporate media isn’t having an impact on young people,” Whitlock said.
Whitlock noted the violence that plagues minority communities around the country is out of control.
“So much of the messaging from the education system and from corporate and social media is that the world has screwed you over, white people are your enemies, and you’re owed a great debt,” he said.
Whitlock remarked that many of the viral videos that depict, or document violence are byproducts of a culture that’s been created that is telling kids to be mad.
“It’s just a natural boomerang to the George Floyd video or the Eric Garner video that eventually people will say you want to put out videos or spotlight videos where white people are behaving poorly, we can do just the opposite,” Whitlock said.
Whitlock added that violent videos are growing in popularity. He warned that a society devoid of a spiritual connection is a society in peril.
“This is just a natural outgrowth of being a secular society,” he added.
Barstool Sports is expeditiously growing in terms of its robust content and profound influence, continuing to cement itself as a globally-recognized digital media company. With its devoted audience of over 100 million fans and 183 million followers on social media, the brand has capitalized on the evolution of media as a whole to bring its consumers relevant and engaging content whether it be about sports, entertainment or pop culture. As the company celebrates its 20th anniversary, it garners an eminent position in the marketplace – most notably among the social media-driven millennials and Gen-Zers – and is reporting growth in nearly all categories. As a result of favorable ratings and increasing revenue through the generation of this content, the brand continues to attract advertisers to sponsor its wide assortment of multiplatform programming.
The brand originally started as a publication distributed throughout the city of Boston and its surrounding areas in 2003, largely discussing sports and the culture of betting and fantasy leagues. Four years later, it moved to the internet and began disseminating content to a broader audience, greatly expanding its initial reach. The Chermin Group then purchased a majority stake in the company in January 2016, resulting in the company’s move to new headquarters in New York City and, shortly thereafter, hiring Erika Nardini as its CEO.
In 2017, Barstool Sports held its first upfront event from its headquarters in which it told potential advertising partners and other investors about the future goals of the company. Nardini remembered feeling embarrassed about the unkempt condition of the space, but that did not stop the company from continuing its upward trajectory – one that continues today with a 3,650% rise in revenue over the last six years. It was made obvious Wednesday at the company’s 2022 Upfront, held from Webster Hall in New York City, with over 500 attendees and appearances from several of Barstool Sports’ hosts and contributors.
“There’s so much that has changed with Barstool Sports, but there’s even more that has stayed exactly the same,” Nardini said. “…I love this company; I love what we have built, and there’s no group of people out there who is more focused, dedicated and committed to growing for you.”
Nardini spoke on three pillars of brand advertising at the standing-room only event – reach, relevance and conversion – and affirmed that the brand is able to deliver them to partners, especially those looking to reach the 85% of its listeners in the 18-34 demographic. It is part of the reason why 92% of the company’s advertising partners renew their deals on a yearly basis and augment their yearly spending by 27%, giving the company the flexibility to be creative and try new things.
“Over the past two decades, digital media companies have come and gone… but Barstool is still here,” Nardini said. “We’re still innovating; we’re still growing; we’re still thriving; and most importantly we’re still making people laugh.”
Barstool Sports has received over 27 billion views on its visual content through the first eight months of the year, giving it as large of an audience as traditional media networks such as ESPN, CBS and NBC. The company, according to Nardini, is “misunderstood” through its modern approach to content creation, one that has allowed it to sustain and grow its annual market share.
“What’s different is that our audience feels differently about us, and they feel different because we are authentic,” Nardini communicated to attendees. “We are going to be authentic with your brand and we are going to extend that feeling from our brand to yours.”
The company has grown not only through its original content, but also through its emphasis on original merchandise and ability to move product. 58% of podcast listeners follow through and buy what is advertised to them through Barstool Sports podcasts, two times higher than the Nielsen average for purchase intent. Furthermore, the company was able to attest to it with over 1 million merchandise sales of its own over the last year on items such as t-shirts, hoodies, hats and other accessories.
While the brand’s audience is largely made up of males, there was an over-200% growth in the female audience over the last year, equating to one-third of its total audience. Additionally, the company is a top-five publisher on TikTok and creates content that compels their fans to build a sense of brand loyalty and, consequentially, patronize the sponsors endorsed by talent. There exists a definitive return on investment.
“We understand internet culture,” Nardini stated. “Everything is internet culture right now. We understand the internet in a way that no one else does, and we make content for the internet in a way no one else can.”
Barstool Sports has produced the number one sports podcast in the world since the launch of Pardon My Take in 2016, a production that rivals network shows such as Pardon the Interruption and First Take through its sports takes, high-profile interviews and often-satirical comments on sports and media at large. The show gained popularity through its critiques on sports media and different approach to interviewing, engendering guests to feel as if they have an ally in show hosts Dan “Big Cat” Katz, Eric Sollenberger (portraying “PFT Commenter”) and its producer Hank Lockwood.
“We want to see the real human; we want to talk to the person like they’re a real person,” Katz said. “We’ve always had the theory that we want every guest to want to come back, so we’re never trying to make it a bad experience. We want them to come back and enjoy it.”
“We’re kind of making fun of the media as we slowly become the media,” added Sollenberger. “….[The guests] understand how these pressure-packed interviews and ‘gotcha’ questions can make you feel like a fish out of water [and] they know we’re on their side.”
The podcast has been recorded and produced from New York City since its launch, but announced it will be moving to Chicago, Ill. As a part of the move, the team will reminisce on its time in “The Big Apple” through a new documentary while looking forward to moving to “The Windy City” complete with brand-new, custom-designed offices.
“I figure moving to Chicago is the perfect time to tell that story and fill people in on how we started while also showing the move to New York and getting us settled into that new Chicago office,” Lockwood said. “[It is] kind of like the past, the present and the future.”
Along with the move to Chicago, Sollenberger (PFT Commenter) will be starting a new show called Take Quake Thursdays in which he will discuss various storylines surrounding the National Football League. Additionally, he will reveal his weekly picks while giving and breaking down takes on the action to come.
Barstool Sports causes disruption in the marketplace through innovation, and it seeks to continue to do that through live events. Most of the company’s live events sell out within two minutes of tickets becoming available, and they range from live podcast recordings to larger sporting events. Over the next year, the company will look to make an extensive impact in that space, first through the launch of the Barstool Sports Invitational.
This inaugural early-season college basketball tournament will consist of four teams – the Akron Zips, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Toledo Rockets and University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers – and will take place on November 11 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Penn.
Just over one month later, the company will broadcast and produce the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl, featuring Portnoy and other talent to cover the event from different perspectives, ones not commonly highlighted on a traditional broadcast. And if that’s not reason enough to tune in, Katz will be living up to his promise of jumping out of an airplane to commence the action.
“You see now with the ManningCast and second-stream options [and] we do a lot of live-streaming,” Katz said. “[We’re] putting them together…. We are the broadcast team [and it is] something totally different.”
Spittin’ Chiclets featuring Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette, Rear Admiral and Mike Grinnell has been one of the top hockey podcasts in the marketplace and has utilized several sponsorship deals over the years to grow its brand. For example in 2019, the podcast became sponsored by New Amsterdam Vodka, which quickly released a new pink lemonade flavored vodka called “Pink Whitney.” Now, the show is partnering with Labatt Blue to create a beer venture called “Big Deal Brewing,” and hopes to release several new flavors as time goes on.
Additionally, the podcast will be an integral part of the company’s exclusive broadcast of the 49th annual charity hockey game between the New York City Fire Department and the New York City Police Department from UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y. on April 15. The matchup was broadcast on ESPN last year but will be streamed by Barstool for the first time with the hope that the platform gives the company the ability to tell a variety of different stories on the players and their daily lives.
“I have an affinity and a love for these guys,” Admiral said. “I’m very proud and it’s going to be awesome; it’s going to be 10 times better than ESPN.”
Barstool Sports also announced the launch of a new podcast featuring Los Angeles Lakers guard Patrick Bevereley, who frequently appeared on ESPN’s First Take throughout the 2022 NBA Playoffs. The show, eponymously-titled The Pat Beverley Podcast, will be co-hosted by Adam “Rone” Ferrone and will begin releasing episodes in October. It is the latest example of a growing trend of professional athletes moving into sports media while they are still active players looking to tell their own stories as part of the “new media.” Ferrone guaranteed that the show will be able to land Lakers forward LeBron James as a guest, and believes in the program’s growth trajectory.
“We’re going to be talking about players; we’re going to be talking about the Lakers,” Ferrone said. “We’re eventually going to figure it all out.”
The event also featured appearances from other podcasts and their personalities, including Fore Play, Rough N’ Rowdy and PlanBri Uncut. Additionally, members of Chicks in the Office, Mean Girl and The Yak spoke about the growth of their shows through live events and the creation of compelling and engaging online content.
“I think we want to keep crushing these live shows,” said Maria Ciuffo, co-host of Chicks in the Office and incoming co-host of Crush or Cash, a new show intertwining challenges in a battle for love and money. “When we get out there doing live shows, it’s like we’re meeting the people… [at] a party mixed with the show. We get on stage; we do shots; we sing; we dance. You’re really allowed to try out anything at Barstool because they give you that chance.”
Barstool Sports will be releasing various new types of reality programming to pair with its other content, including new competition-based shows such as Barstool’s Elite AthElite, Briality House and Dozen Xtreme. Barstool vs. America is another one of the offerings from the group which is entering its third season.
“I have a distinct pleasure of living in an RV with three of my male co-workers,” said Alex Bennett, co-host of Mean Girls and participant in Barstool vs. America. “The coolest thing about Barstool reality shows is that you get to see real, unfiltered, authentic people being themselves.”
“We are not tied to the network constraints,” added Jordan Woodruff, co-host of Mean Girls. “….It’s wild; it’s unfiltered; and we’re stretching far beyond what we’ve done now.”
Barstool founder Dave Portnoy closed out the event by talking about the brand’s quest to discover additions to the team and bring on the next generation of athletes and personalities to allow for the continued growth of the digital media company.
“There’s no real great magic to anything that we’ve built here,” Portnoy said. “….We look for talented people and we give them absolutely no direction…. We literally tell them – ‘Do whatever you want’ – and you can see how passionate they are about it.”
Portnoy launched “The Barstool Difference” during the COVID-19 pandemic to help small businesses in need and has continued the program, awarding $43 million in grants. Additionally, a tweet he put out following changes in NCAA rules allowing college athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness resulted in the rapid formation of a network of Barstool Athletes, which consists of over 150,000 athletes from every state, division and school.
Though there have been many positives created by the Barstool founder, he acknowledged that there might be a few rocky days along the way. Despite those bumps in the road, Portnoy reminded the advertising community that the company has a stellar track record of being able to retain its advertising partnerships.
Barstool Sports plans to continue developing new ideas through its modern approach to media, penetrating boundaries in both sports and entertainment. Whether it is launching new podcasts, reality shows or “TwoYay,” a new proprietary platform to connect college athletes to advertisers, the brand strives to make an impact among those consumers ingrained in a contemporary lifestyle, centered around the ideas of disruption and innovation. Portnoy told the room before closing that the company has become a destination for young influential comedians, and because it has gained a reputation for being a desirable brand for content creators, others are aggressively trying to lure away their top stars.
“Everyone’s trying to raid us for talent,” Portnoy said. “All the ideas – most of what you’re seeing across the media landscape – it came through our walls…. We have cornered the market on crazy, creative people.”
Amazon is in the spotlight this week. The streaming giant will carry its first ever regular season NFL game on Thursday when the Chiefs visit the Chargers on Thursday Night Football.
Plenty of stories have been written about what the company hopes to bring to football coverage. Now it is time for fans to actually see it.
Marie Donoghue and members of the Amazon studio crew met with members of the media this week. The company’s VP of Global Sports Video said she hoped that her team could match the expectations fans have for the Amazon product based on the preseason game it carried.
“Our number one focus is delivering the best broadcast for fans, and we’re thrilled with the quality of our production and from the reaction from fans from our pre-season game,” she said. “It was overwhelmingly positive.”
Donoghue says she is “not concerned at all” about how many people are watching on Thursday night. Amazon is thinking long-term when determining the success of Thursday Night Football, which it will be carrying for the next eleven seasons.
“Of course we want the biggest audience possible, but this is a big change for fans and we know it’ll take some time. So we’re very comfortable with that. We’re not overly focused with the first night. We are overly focused on our production and what we deliver for fans. We’ve got an incredibly high bar that we set for ourselves, so we know this will evolve over time and I still believe it’s a once in a generation opportunity.”
How many people will be watching? Well, the number that gets reported will come from Nielsen, the same company that delivers the numbers for traditional, linear TV broadcasts of the NFL.
Streaming services like Amazon don’t really need a third party to tell them how many people are watching a particular program. Donoghue said the partnership is about serving potential advertisers in a familiar way.
“Nielsen brings currency,” she said. “You know, that’s that’s what the industry is used to. That’s what advertisers are used to.”
Traditional television ratings are a brand new thing in the world of streaming television. Just like the broadcast itself, Marie Donoghue says the relationship with Nielsen will go through its own series of updates and changes.
“This is an inaugural launch for Nielsen as well. So we’re very comfortable with having those numbers out there,” Donoghue said. “I would also say the relationship with Nielsen will probably evolve as well because this is groundbreaking for them. So we’re proud of what we’re doing.”
With the WNBA Finals upon us, Stephen Strom talks to the man calling the action for ESPN. Ryan Ruocco is the guest on this week’s Sports Talkers Podcast.
Different channel, same dynamic duo. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman made their debut on ESPN’s Monday Night Football and wow, what a success. ESPN shelled out some big bucks, no pun intended, to bring the two over from Fox to give the MNF franchise some much needed credibility. From all the numbers and reviews, ESPN’s money was well spent.
Like my beloved Bears search for a ‘franchise’ QB all these years, MNF has been in that same boat. Trying to find some magic, to draw viewers back to the once iconic night of football. The steam started to escape the pot, when ESPN took over the broadcast rights to the franchise in 2006 and they’ve been trying to find the ingredients to get viewership back up.
I go back to the 1970s when Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell and “Dandy” Don Meredith were calling games on ABC. That booth had a little of everything. The eccentric and boisterous Cosell, the cowboy Meredith and the former player Gifford combined for some ‘must watch’ broadcasts. In the mid 80s, Michaels was brought in to replace Gifford on the play-by-play, with the former Giants star shifting to an analyst role with Dan Dierdorf. Since then, the booth has seen the likes of Dennis Miller, Dan Fouts, John Madden, Tony Kornheiser, Jon Gruden and Booger McFarland. Miller was a bust and turned off many. With the exception of Madden and maybe Gruden, it was painful to watch.
Fast forward to last Monday, when Buck and Aikman made their debut. They picked up right where they left off. It almost seemed like the two were more relaxed under the scrutiny of their big money deals. The fact they’ve been together so long certainly helps, but the fact that they are just that good, really tells the story.
Fans of the NFL have grown used to this booth from their 20 seasons at FOX. They’ve entered the stratosphere of another legendary booth as they begin season number 21 together. That equals the time spent between Pat Summerall and John Madden. Buck and Aikman’s voices signify a big game. Monday in Seattle they more than answered the call and in the process are trying to make MNF appointment television again.
There were many, like me, that felt, the mission was accomplished. Tuesday, the morning show at Dallas’ Sportsradio 96.7 & 1310 The Ticket’s The Musers talked about the noticeable changes in the MNF broadcast. Co-host Craig Miller thought the network finally got it right after many years of floundering.
“Monday Night Football, for the last twenty-plus years, has just kind of been in the doldrums,” Miller said. “They’ve gone through a lot of different announcers. They’ve gone through a lot of different presentation modes. It was once THE brand in the NFL.” he said. “It certainly was a different sound,” Miller mentioned. “It was a comfortable sound. It was great to hear Joe and Troy doing Monday Night Football.”
Co-host George Dunham chimed in, “I’m telling ya, if I’m just football fan as I was while I was getting dinner ready and saw that exact thing we just heard, it did. It felt so different. It felt so big. This game means something.”
Dunham also pointed out, that the duo of Buck and Aikman will help draw in the more causal fan too.
“Yes, it was their first game together but I think it will have that feel every Monday night,” Dunham said. “It may not get you to tune in more than you did before, I think there will be a degree of that. But I think it can get you to stay with the game longer.”
More evidence that ESPN got a great return on its investment this week? The network’s first broadcast of 2022 saw the most viewers tune in for a Monday Night Football game since 2009.
ESPN reported that just shy of 20-million viewers tuned in for the season debut across the ESPN family of networks, which includes ABC. It was the third-best Monday game in the current MNF era (since 2006) which accounts for over 270 games. It was also ESPN’s most-watched Week 1 game since it began airing MNF. The broadcast showed an increase of 16 percent from last year’s opening week game.
Most of those fans tuning in, had the same thought. It was strange to hear these guys on ESPN at the start of the game. Almost as strange as seeing Russell Wilson wearing a Broncos jersey in Seattle. Fans petty much universally had that take.
Good, bad. Like them, don't like them. One thing can't be denied: Joe Buck/Troy Aikman = big-game feel. That alone gives ESPN a win they haven't had in a long time.
“Good, bad. Like them, don’t like them. One thing can’t be denied: Joe Buck/Troy Aikman = big-game feel. That alone gives ESPN a win they haven’t had in a long time.”
A little weird to hear Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on Monday night, but also feels very right.
‘A little weird to hear Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on Monday night, but also feels very right.’
how do I explain to a normal person why it feels so weird that Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are doing Monday Night Football instead of the FOX Sunday afternoon game
‘how do I explain to a normal person why it feels so weird that Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are doing Monday Night Football instead of the FOX Sunday afternoon game.
He tried to explain it to himself.
"So these are new announcers?" "No, they just usually announce a different game" "Oh, like they used to do college football?" "No… they've always done NFL… just on a different channel" "So do the different channels broadcast the games differently?" "I mean… not really…"
‘Joe Buck and Troy Aikman just make Monday Night Football so much better! #MNF #DENvsSEA’
Call it a hot take, but Monday Night Football has a “big game” sound to it for the first time since Al Michaels was in the booth alongside John Madden. Just sounds different with Joe Buck leading the call.
‘Call it a hot take, but Monday Night Football has a “big game” sound to it for the first time since Al Michaels was in the booth alongside John Madden. Just sounds different with Joe Buck leading the call.’
I scoured the internet to try and find a few negative thoughts, but I didn’t see very many. Not even enough to print. I was really surprised that there weren’t more of the same ‘Buck haters’ out there. It’s usually a vocal opposition to the talented announcer. They of course claim he’s biased, they are sick of hearing his voice and he brings nothing to the broadcast. It was almost as if the hostile crowd was quieted with a big play late. They were the tree falling in the forest and I wasn’t there to hear it. You know?
We are talking about a single broadcast though. Will the novelty of this dynamic duo wear off, or is this just the start of a rejuvenation of a dormant television franchise? The latter surely seems to be the early favorite in this race.
The NFL announced that more than 121 million total viewers took in the league’s opening weekend. That marks the NFL’s highest average opening weekend viewership since 2016.
The network-wide average of 18.5 million viewers was up 7% from the same Thursday-Monday period last season, according to the NFL. The 121 million total viewers represented an increase of 5% from last year.
“This was one of the greatest kickoff weekends in memory,” said NFL EVP/Communications, Public Affairs and Policy Jeff Miller, who noted that a record-high seven of the opening weekend’s games were decided by three points or less.
CBS, FOX and NBC grabbed 83 million viewers on Sunday and those viewers watched more than 12 billion minutes of game action. CBS, NBC, FOX and ESPN all had great opening weekend numbers.
