Weekly Roundup – Week of August 14th, 2023

"The general feeling from anyone who’s dealt in the sports gambling ad revenue space is that ESPN missed the boat here. Had it done a similar deal in 2019 or 2020, the money would have been astronomical. There was a gold rush atmosphere in those days, as so many states were dropping gambling restrictions and betting companies were overspending on deals like startups swinging for a monopoly. Now, the party’s over and the market has stabilized. Penn’s relationship with Barstool not working out is just one more data point to indicate that there’s less meat on this bone than many had once assumed. Disney could have reaped so much more from this deal four years ago, but four years ago Disney wasn’t desperate enough to effectively back a digital casino.

So if it’s not for that much money, and the deal represents a break with established company values, is the move then purely a reflection of financial need? Yes and no, I think.

The move reflects Bob Iger’s despair, but I wouldn’t say it’s simply about trying to die a little slower. Instead, I’d view it as something of a Hail Mary. ESPN’s tethered to the shrinking cable bundle and needs some chance at growth somewhere. You get that only by developing new products and/or partners. You get it by conquering a new keep and seeing what you might, yes, parlay."

"Tensions are building among broadcast station owners and pay TV providers as the local rights to air NBA, NHL and MLB games go up for grabs.

Broadcast station owners including E.W. Scripps Co., Gray Television, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair have been in discussions with leagues and teams about potential deals to carry games on free over-the-air channels, according to people familiar with the matter, as long-held media rights for teams on regional sports networks unravel.

Regional sports networks have owned almost all local sports rights for decades, but their viability is in doubt after tens of millions of Americans have been canceling cable TV in recent years. A shift to a model revolving around broadcast stations and direct-to-consumer streaming would upend the business that saw teams and leagues reap hefty fees. It would also boost broadcast station owners leverage in carriage negotiations — and potentially accelerate cord-cutting.

The discussions come soon after Diamond Sports Group, which owns the largest portfolio of RSNs, filed for bankruptcy protection and stopped paying rights fees for some of the teams on its channels. Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns a slate of networks, said it would exit the business by year-end, putting another handful of teams on the table."

"Wynn Resorts’ online sports betting and casino platform had operated in 12 states but has now exited Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, New Jersey, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. WynnBet will continue to operate in Massachusetts and Nevada, where it has land-based properties.

WynnBet is also reviewing whether to remain in Michigan and New York. For now, the latter’s sportsbook will remain operational. WynnBet’s sports betting offering in Michigan will be shutting down but its casino product will remain online.

...

WynnBet’s departure from eight states is the latest example of the consolidating US sports market.

In February, the American Gaming Association (AGA) revealed that sportsbook revenue in the US racked in a record US$7.5 billion in 2022, up 75 per cent on 2021. However, amid all the interest from punters, FanDuel and DraftKings dominate the market, outstripping the likes of BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook.

WynnBet, which has partnered with the National Football League (NFL) and several of its teams, including the Indianapolis Colts, would have had to carry on spending big to stand any chance of securing a decent chunk of the market – something it decided wasn’t viable. In January 2022, the New York Post reported Wynn Resorts was looking to offload its sports betting business for around US$500 million after floating a US$3 billion valuation less than a year prior."

"One of the main reasons President Biden is struggling in polls against former President Trump is his glaring underperformance with a constituency that has long been overwhelmingly Democratic: non-white voters without a college degree.

Why it matters: As Democrats have made major gains with suburban and upper-middle-class voters since Trump's political ascendance, they've been losing support among blue-collar voters.

Pundits have focused heavily in recent years on white, working-class voters who changed their allegiances from former President Obama to Trump — and have made up a key part of the new GOP coalition.

But Democrats have lost significant ground among their non-white counterparts as well, turning a political weakness into a major headache heading into 2024."

"The hype surrounding Meta’s shiny new platform has met an awkward reality. Brands, once quick to establish their Threads strategy, tone of voice and regular posting cadence, are scaling back their Threads content.

Brands like Anthropologie and Wendy’s last posted to Threads a week or more ago, while makeup brand Rare Beauty posted six days ago. Despite its slowed cadence, Wendy’s hasn’t made changes to its overall Threads strategy, the brand told Adweek. The other brands did not respond before press time.

Irregularities in posting cadence are natural from brands figuring out new platforms: Those posting multiple times a day are settling into a different cadence. But this brand slowdown comes after Threads saw a global dip of nearly 79% in its daily active users, according to recent data shared by Similarweb. The amount of time people in the U.S. spend on Threads dropped from almost 21 minutes July 6 to just over three minutes per day as of August 7. Meanwhile, brands that referenced ‘Threads’ in their tweets also saw a decline from around 200 tweets July 4 to almost none at present, according to data from Emplifi."

"American Public Media and Audacy’s Cadence13 will exit a multiyear advertising partnership at the end of August — roughly a year before its intended end date, Hot Pod has learned from APM. Neither company has disclosed the exact reasons for the contract’s termination or its timing, though APM cited “changing market dynamics” and Audacy referred to the deal as “onerous.” The public radio broadcaster will take ad sales and brand partnerships for its podcasts in-house as a result.

...

When American Public Media and Audacy’s Cadence13 announced a three-year “strategic” partnership in the summer of 2021, it seemed like a perfect union between public and commercial radio. The podcasting arm of APM would team up with Cadence13 to develop and produce new shows, while Cadence13 would serve as the public radio giant’s sole podcast ad sales rep. The public radio network’s premium podcast programming, which includes Marketplace Minute and In Deep, could benefit from the reach and scale of Audacy’s audio and ad networks. But that’s not what happened.

In a quietly published earnings release last week, Audacy CEO David J. Field revealed that the company exited an “onerous Podcast ad representation contract,” costing the company roughly $10.4 million during the second quarter — but didn’t disclose the name of the company associated with the contract."

In his latest blog for CRM, Scott Masteller provides a sneak peek at our upcoming 2023 Sports Audience Study.