Weekly Roundup – April 9th, 2024

"Walt Disney Co. is betting big on ESPN as the Burbank entertainment company bolsters its streaming options and charts its future.
The company said Wednesday that its planned standalone ESPN streaming service — featuring content including the sports cable powerhouse’s flagship channel — will be available on Disney+ for bundle subscribers. The plan is similar to how Disney integrated Hulu content onto the Disney+ platform last month for subscribers of both services. (The two services are still available as standalone apps)
Disney reiterated that it will make the “full suite” of ESPN channels available to customers as a standalone service in the fall of 2025. The platform will allow viewers to stream live games and studio shows, as well as take part in an “immersive, customizable sports experience” that will include fantasy sports, betting, e-commerce and more, company Chief Executive Bob Iger said during Disney’s shareholder meeting."

"...Six years ago, sports betting was illegal under federal law. Today, it is everywhere. N.B.A. and N.H.L. viewers are exposed to three gambling ads a minute, a recent study found. Commercial sports betting revenue has increased 12-fold since 2019..."

"Since 2021 McDonald’s, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon, Unilever, and other leading companies have done something that was never before possible: They have paid U.S. college athletes to act as product endorsers and influencers. Until a Supreme Court ruling that year, paying college athletes was forbidden under the rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In the aftermath of the Court’s ruling, the NCAA adopted a policy that enabled more than 520,000 student athletes to monetize their names, images, and likenesses by signing what have become known as NIL deals. Although no definitive count exists of athletes who have signed such deals, 278 students (40% of varsity athletes) at Texas Tech had been sponsored as of 2022. In just a few years marketers have already spent more than $1 billion on such endorsements."

"Today’s teens are very online. But what about the generation younger than them?
Gen Alpha, aka children ages 10 and younger, are already engaging with streaming and social media, according to Morning Consult’s second annual report on the generation, which is based on responses from thousands of US parents across two surveys.
About half of Alphas stream video content daily, according to the report, and by age 8, most of them are on social media for up to three hours a day, according to their parents.
MrBeast, Blue Ivy Carter, Jake Paul, Logan Paul, and North West are among the influencers Gen Alpha tends to view favorably.
YouTube and Disney+ are the most popular platforms among Alphas: 30% of parents said Disney+ is the streaming platform their children use most, and 50% said YouTube tops the list in terms of social platforms.
Parents told Morning Consult that smaller shares have attended games in person—39% for pro sports and 28% for college sports—and 18% have already participated in fantasy leagues.
The NFL, NBA, MLB, and men’s soccer are the most popular sports among Alphas, per the report.
While 9% of Gen Zers and all US adults, respectively, identify as “avid” fans of men’s soccer, 14% of Alphas are the same, their parents said."

"Warner Bros Discovery Inc. is selling the podcast business associated with its Rooster Teeth brand to Night, the talent-management firm behind popular online creators like MrBeast and Kai Cenat.
The podcast network, known as the Roost, produces and distributes shows from YouTube personalities including comedy from the husband-and-wife team of Ethan and Hila Klein, as well as Theo Von. The sale follows Warner Bros.’ decision to shut down the online video business of Rooster Teeth last month after failing to find a buyer."

"In late January, after wrapping up his annual State of the State speech, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum (R) headed out to meet the press. Only two reporters awaited him: the North Dakota Monitor’s Amy Dalrymple and Michael Achterling.
“Michael and I were the only ones that were there to ask him questions,” Dalrymple, a veteran reporter previously at the Bismarck Tribune, told CJR. “Because our priority is covering government, we prioritized staying there and asking the governor some questions after his speech.”
The Monitor is one of the latest outlets launched by States Newsroom, a nonprofit operation whose publications on policy and politics have quickly turned it into one of the biggest players in state-level coverage.
States Newsroom now has a full-time presence in all fifty states, after adding outlets in North Dakota and Utah earlier this year and establishing a partnership with Spotlight Delaware, a local nonprofit. The network now has thirty-nine freestanding newsrooms, as well as partnerships with state-focused nonprofit newsrooms in eleven states, including the Texas Tribune, CalMatters, and the Honolulu Civil Beat."

"The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will vote to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules and assume new regulatory oversight of broadband internet that was rescinded under former President Donald Trump, the agency's chair said.
The FCC told advocates on Tuesday of the plan to vote on the final rule at its April 25 meeting.
The commission voted 3-2 in October on the proposal to reinstate open internet rules adopted in 2015 and re-establish the commission's authority over broadband internet.
Net neutrality refers to the principle that internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites.
FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel confirmed the planned commission vote in an interview with Reuters.
"The pandemic made clear that broadband is an essential service, that every one of us - no matter who we are or where we live - needs it to have a fair shot at success in the digital age," she said."

"More viewers are cutting the cord in favor of less expensive streaming packages. But Alphabet-owned YouTube has seen success by mimicking the one thing consumers seem to be ditching.
YouTube TV, the internet pay-TV service that allows viewers to watch live channels and access local broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, first launched in 2017. Since then, its breadth of content as well as its price of just over $70 per month has made it attractive to consumers looking for a cheaper replacement for their cable packages.
"We hear from our users that they want to be able to watch all their favorite content in one place, and they want to be able to manage all of their subscriptions in one place," Christian Oestlien, vice president of product management at YouTube, told Yahoo Finance. "There's a bit of this subscription fatigue.""