Weekly Roundup – March 26th, 2024
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2024 March Madness Expecting $2.7 Billion Betting Handle From 38 US States
"...The operators reasonably expect that the revenue levels will be not less mad than the whole rush and haste around the tournament; The American Gaming Association (AGA) estimates $2.7 billion in bets will be placed on the NCAA competition through legal sports books."
Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek Breaks Silence, Says There's No Strategic Need For ESPN Partners
"In his first public comments since Disney fired him as CEO in November 2022, Bob Chapek told CNBC he sees no reason for Disney-owned ESPN to add minority partners.
“Strategically, I don’t really see a benefit in bringing on yet another minority partner into ESPN,” Chapek said...
CNBC reported in August that the network had held talks with the major American professional sports leagues, including the National Football League and the National Basketball Association, about potential partnerships or investments.
Disney owns 80% of ESPN and Hearst owns the other 20%, a structure that’s been in place since 1996. By searching for a partner, Disney wants to enhance the content, distribution and marketing of the direct-to-consumer ESPN, which hasn’t yet been priced, Iger said during Disney’s August quarterly earnings call."
Caitlyn Jenner, Lamar Odom Team Up For New Sports Podcast
"Caitlyn Jenner and Lamar Odom are reuniting for a new podcast.
The former champion athletes will host a sports-themed chatfest titled “Keeping Up with Sports,” alongside podcast kingpin Zach Hirsch.
Set to launch in the coming weeks, the show will include interviews with personalities from both the entertainment and sports worlds and examine personal stories of champions as they balance the spotlight with competition, according to Monday’s announcement.
“I know the dialogues we have on Keeping Up with Sports will emphasize athletes’ unique stories, and events in their lives that matter to the sports and entertainment community,” Jenner, 74, said in a statement."
MLB And Media: 'A New Age'
"As part of its efforts to be prepared to take over the local broadcasts for several teams last season, MLB had Bob Costas narrate a sizzle reel that would open each new broadcast by boldly foreshadowing the league’s long-term plan.
“We’re not changing history,” Costas said in the reel. “We’re taking history into a new age.”
Such is the new reality for baseball. With Diamond Sports Group’s impending bankruptcy starting to affect local markets last season, MLB’s newly created local media team did everything it could to prepare for a transition to that new age.
“It was all hands on deck,” said Billy Chambers, who in January 2023 was hired as MLB’s executive vice president of local media, “but we were ready.”
That included being in constant contact with pertinent vendors, developing graphics packages and much more. As the regional sports network model continues to deteriorate, MLB sees an opportunity to nationalize a streaming package that would do away with in-market blackouts, a frequent talking point raised by Commissioner Rob Manfred in recent years."
As Radio Buys In, Podcasting Could Be $43B Industry By 2032
"With Audacy and iHeartMedia doubling down on podcasts as the next big future growth sector for audio broadcast companies, a new podcasting ad forecast says the medium’s advertising sector is poised for substantial growth by the year 2032.
According to the latest Market.us research, the podcast sphere could reach a valuation of around $43 billion by 2032, marking a robust compound annual growth rate of 14.5%. This optimism stems from targeted, engaging advertising experiences to a highly involved audience.
Throughout the next eight years, the majority of the revenue is predicted to come from host-read advertisements followed by programmatic spots."
How Hispanic Americans Get Their News
"Just over half of U.S. Hispanic adults (54%) get their news mostly in English – far higher than the share who get their news mostly in Spanish (21%). About a quarter of Hispanic Americans (23%) say they consume news in both languages about equally.
There is an almost identical pattern on the question of preferred language for news: 51% prefer to get their news in English, 24% prefer Spanish and 23% say they do not have a preference.
But a new Pew Research Center survey of adults who identify as Hispanic or Latino finds major differences in news consumption habits between U.S.-born Hispanics and those who immigrated from other countries.
While U.S.-born Latinos overwhelmingly get their news in English, and prefer it in English, those born outside the United States have much more varied habits: 41% get their news mostly in Spanish, 26% get it primarily in English and 31% do both about equally. Similarly, 47% of Latino immigrants prefer to get their news in Spanish, while 22% prefer English and 31% do not express a preference."
How Gen Z, Shopping And TikTok Work Together
"Probably the most significant difference between how Gen Z consumes and how older consumers do it is TikTok. Its persistence in the lives of Gen Z'ers is hard to overstate.
The appeal of TikTok isn't about one thing, it's about everything.
Panelist Clay Lute, 2023 graduate of LIM College and Associate Merchant at Calvin Klein, put this question to the audience: If you had a few ingredients in your kitchen and you wanted to make dinner, where would you go to find a recipe? "I would TikTok it," he said. He added, "If I'm trying to see how something fits or where I should go for dinner or what to see in a new city, I'm looking at TikTok first."
Kristen Wiley, Founder and CEO of influencer management company Statusphere, told me at the recent Global Pet Expo that TikTok right now is like the early days of Google search" and presents a true challenge to Google hegemony in search. Younger consumers search on TikTok and Amazon. They are a lot less likely to ever use Google."
Meta Says Facebook Cannot Solve Media Industry's 'Issues' As It Defends Ending Payments For News In Australia
"Meta has doubled down on its decision to end payments to news companies in Australia saying global tech companies cannot solve issues facing the news industry.
Nearly two weeks ago the parent company of Facebook and Instagram announced it would not enter into new deals with Australian media companies to pay for news, as the three-year contracts struck to avoid being regulated under the news media bargaining code begin to expire.
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Meta said that people’s feeds on Facebook are personalised to their interests and people who are interested in news will likely see more news content. But it repeated the claim that just 3% of content shown in feeds is news-related.
The company said news was “highly substitutable” and when there was less or no news on Facebook, people continue to use the site. Meta pointed to the recent news ban on Facebook in Canada to demonstrate it had not had an impact on the site."