Weekly Roundup – April 2nd, 2024

"Flutter, the world's largest online betting company, said on Tuesday it expects to increase its core profit by around 30% this year thanks to a four-fold rise at its fast-growing and market leading U.S. brand Fanduel.
Analysts at Jefferies said Flutter's forecast for 2024 was broadly as expected. Shares in Flutter, whose brands include Paddy Power, Betfair and Sportsbet in Britain and Australia, rose 1.8% in early trading."

"To Brian Rolapp, chief media and business officer of National Football League, the new sports streaming service from Disney’s ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery is something of a head-scratcher.
Rolapp, speaking Thursday at the Washington Post Live Futurist Summit, commented on the planned sports-streaming bundle from Disney, Fox and WBD, expected to debut in the fall of 2024. The joint venture will pool ESPN+ and the companies’ linear TV networks that carry sports programming; pricing hasn’t been announced.
“They’re positioning it as the ultimate sports bundle but it’s missing more than half of NFL football,” Rolapp said at the Washington Post event. “I’m a bit confused personally by the value proposition.”

"In recent years, shows like this—hosted by athletes, some retired, many not—seem to be everywhere. Tom Brady has the Let’s Go! podcast, now in its third year. The brothers Jason and Travis Kelce, both (until Jason retired this month) active NFL players, host New Heights, where they discuss everything from their most recent games to Travis’s burgeoning relationship with Taylor Swift. (“We gotta talk about it,” Jason began, apologetically.) There’s Podcast P, with Paul George; On Base, with Mookie Betts; I Am Athlete, with Brandon Marshall; Green Light with Chris Long; Bussin’ with the Boys, with Will Compton—the list goes on.
The shows are usually simply produced. Their appeal lies in offering fans the sense of being welcomed into the private spaces where athletes talk among themselves—an amiable environment of private stories and inside jokes—without adding in too many unwanted topics or uncomfortable questions. When the basketball star Nikola Jokić, who almost never grants interviews, recently appeared on Curious Mike, a video podcast hosted by his teammate Michael Porter Jr., he praised the host for asking “the best questions since I came to the NBA.”
All the fun has drawn in huge audiences—and, inevitably, lots of money. The Kelce brothers are backed by Wave Sports and Entertainment, a growing production company that boasts three athlete-led podcasts in its portfolio. (The newest, 7pm in Brooklyn, with Carmelo Anthony, launched in November.) I Am Athlete, meanwhile, has spun itself into a fully fledged media company and “fiercely restless creative studio.” (It describes its content as a “safe place for athletes, celebrities, and entertainers to one up and share their stories in their own narratives.”) The biggest of them all, The Pat McAfee Show, hosted by the former NFL punter, was acquired last year by ESPN, at a reported $85 million valuation."

"To get their show featured at the top of the Apple Podcasts feed, one of the best placements in the audio world, podcasters fill out a form, send it to Apple, and hope for the best.
The other, quicker way is to simply give the company a slice of their revenue.
Last week, five of the first seven podcasts promoted on the “browse” carousel in the Apple Podcasts app were participating in Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, the program the tech company rolled out in 2021 for shows to monetize bonus episodes, segments, and other content.
This wasn’t an accident. An executive at an independent podcast told Semafor that in recent months, when they asked the company how they could be promoted in the carousel, Apple leaders suggested that the show participate in the platform’s new subscription program. Another podcast exec told Semafor that while Apple Podcasts Subscriptions wasn’t a huge moneymaker for them, it was worth participating for the benefit of the podcast feed placement."

"Over the past few years, a very specific style of video editing has all but guaranteed success on social media. Known as “retention editing” because of its unique ability to keep a user glued to their screen, this style features loud sound effects, fast cuts, flashing lights and zero pauses.
“It’s the Beastification of YouTube,” said Noah Kettle, co-founder of Moke Media Co., a video editing and social media monetization consultancy. MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, built his reputation by creating hyper-engaging, fast-paced videos with frequent action on screen. That led smaller YouTubers and content creators to mimic his style.
But the style that made some of the biggest influencers famous may have peaked, and there are signs the retention editing wave is subsiding. Earlier this month, Donaldson tweeted a plea to his fellow YouTubers to “get rid of the ultra fast paced/overstim era of content.” He said that in the past year, he has slowed his videos, focused more on storytelling, “let scenes breathe, yelled less” and focused on longer videos, all of which has resulted in even more views.
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Such a change could have a ripple effect on the content creator industry, and significant business implications, experts said. For instance, if content creators require fewer editing resources, it could alter the outside editing services that many content creators use."

"Nielsen Audio is exiting three small markets, effective with the start of the Spring 2024 survey. In a client notification on Thursday, the measurement giant said the radio metros for the following markets were canceled: Greenville-New Bern-Jacksonville (market No. 99); Sunbury-Selinsgrove-Lewisburg, PA (No. 215); and Visalia-Tulare-Hanford (No. 109).
Greenville-New Bern-Jacksonville is a continuously measured diary market; the other two canceled metros were measured twice a year.
Nielsen hasn’t given a reason for the cancellations. But in the past it has said that it reviews its markets on a periodic basis and closes markets when there is a lack of financial support.
The cancellations come one year after Nielsen discontinued its radio ratings service in seven diary markets effective with the start of the spring 2023 survey. Those included Abilene, TX; Elmira-Corning, NY; Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL; Lake Charles, LA; Olean, NY; Rapid City-Spearfish, SD; and Wichita Falls, TX."