Weekly Roundup – Week of February 6th, 2023

"Last year, it turns out, was only a chips ‘n dip appetizer for the decadent banquet of betting about to take place when the Philadelphia Eagles play the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII. Legal sportsbooks are projected to take in over $1.1 billion in bets, a 16% increase from last year’s total. That would make it the most bet-upon sporting event in US history.
A few factors are contributing to the continued surge. This year, sports betting became legal in several more states, including Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts and Ohio, bringing the total to 33 states, plus Washington, DC. It continues a trend that began in 2018, when the Supreme Court struck down the law barring sports betting.
Companies like DraftKings Inc. and Flutter Entertainment Plc (owner of FanDuel) and casinos like Caesars Entertainment Inc. and MGM Resorts International, co-owner of the BetMGM app, have become fixtures at sporting events and broadcasts with promotions starring the likes of Jamie Foxx, Kevin Hart, the Manning brothers and JB Smoove.
In this weekend’s game, we’re sure to see more commercials urging viewers to download an app and start wagering money. Market leader FanDuel, for example, is making its first ever Super Bowl ad, in which the retired tight end Rob Gronkowski will attempt to kick a field goal live.
As a result, a nascent industry is booming — while the anachronistic act of actually visiting a sportsbook remains relatively stagnant."

"The Super Bowl will touch down in a couple of weeks, and roughly one-third of viewers plan to watch the event on a streaming service rather than on broadcast and cable, according to Adtaxi’s annual Super Bowl Viewership survey.
Over 30% of viewers said a streaming service will be their primary viewing source for the Super Bowl, beating out cable (29%) and broadcast (26%) for the first time, Adtaxi noted. Comparably, last year’s game accounted for nearly 40% of broadcast viewership in the week of February 7, per Nielsen.
Adtaxi surveyed 1,056 U.S. adults across the U.S., with 797 respondents indicating they plan to watch this year’s Super Bowl.
The shift towards streaming consumption isn’t surprising, noted Adtaxi’s director of research Murry Woronoff, as the firm predicted 2023 would be the “tipping point” for sports streaming. Apple, Amazon and YouTube are among the major players that have taken advantage of live sports rights.
“In 2022 streaming services increased their live sports streaming options, and our survey confirms that viewers are making the switch,” Woronoff stated. “We anticipate a continued decline in broadcast and cable viewership in the Super Bowl year to year, as streaming options become more prevalent.”"

"Lawyers for The Walt Disney Co on Tuesday asked a U.S. judge to dismiss a pair of consumer antitrust cases alleging the media and entertainment company's business contracts have artificially driven up the costs for rival video streaming services YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream.
In a court filing, Disney's attorneys argued that the nine plaintiffs who filed the purported class action lawsuits in San Jose, California, in December "misconstrue basic antitrust and economic concepts."
The consumers alleged Disney's ownership of the sports TV programmer ESPN — part of the base package for a YouTube TV subscription — has allowed the company to "set a price floor" in the market for TV streaming. The plaintiffs claimed they are paying more for their subscriptions than they would if ESPN were not part of the minimum service.
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The plaintiffs include YouTube TV subscribers in Indiana and Kentucky, and DirecTV subscribers in Nevada and Massachusetts. The complaints did not specify an amount of damages sought. About five million YouTube TV subscribers are paying "anticompetitive inflated" fees, the plaintiffs' lawyers said."

"Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley plans to launch her presidential campaign in less than two weeks with an event in Charleston, S.C. Sen. Tim Scott will kick off a “listening tour” a day later — from the same city — before following Haley to Iowa. Former vice president Mike Pence will be in Charleston next week.
And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will start traveling the country after the Feb. 28 release of his memoir, headlining back-to-back GOP dinners in Houston and Dallas where “platinum sponsors” who chip in $50,000 will get photos and tickets to a VIP reception.
The race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination is about to kick into higher gear, with Donald Trump soon expected to get his first formal challenger as other Republicans hit the trail in key states and take more visible steps toward campaigns. In this new and more active phase, potential candidates who have quietly laid groundwork in recent months are expected to use the remainder of the winter and then the spring to make the rounds at party fundraisers, hone their message in speeches and court officials and activists in key states.
This Republican primary as a whole is still ramping up slowly compared to 2020, when Democrats had an open race and more than a half-dozen candidates in the party had announced campaigns or formed exploratory committees by the end of January. Many would-be Republican hopefuls are still in no rush to formalize their campaigns and make themselves an early target of Trump. The former president in recent days has ramped up his attacks on Haley, DeSantis and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, another potential candidate.
Trump’s trip to New Hampshire and South Carolina last weekend — two speeches and one surprise visit to a restaurant — marked the unofficial start of traditional campaign activities. Now, such events are suddenly popping up on calendars in early nominating states."

"Fox News Channel dominated the prime time ratings race last week, delivering an average total audience of 2.121 million viewers, beating the prime time ratings of MSNBC and CNN combined. Fox News had 89 of the 100 highest-rated telecasts for the week, as Fox News took the title of most-watched network in all of cable television. MSNBC finished in second place, with an average prime time audience of 1.079 million viewers. FNC and MSNBC also finished in first and second place overall among viewers 25-54, the demographic group most valued by advertisers. CNN was the 12th highest-rated cable network for the week among total viewers, and jumped to 5th place overall in the key demo, according to ratings data compiled by Nielsen.
Fox News Channel’s The Five was again the highest-rated show in cable news, with an average total audience of 3.362 million viewers. Tucker Carlson Tonight was the top cable news show in the key demo, with an average audience of 473,000 viewers.
In late night, Gutfeld! again beat out programs on ABC and NBC, delivering an average total audience of 1.82 million viewers, second only to CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live followed Gutfeld! with 1.506 million viewers and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon trailed with 1.323 million viewers.
In the competition between cable news morning shows, FNC’s Fox & Friends again easily outdistanced its counterparts on MSNBC and CNN, delivering an average total audience of 1.286 million viewers, well ahead of MSNBC’s Morning Joe (815,000 viewers) and CNN This Morning (358,000 viewers). In the key demo, Fox & Friends was first with 177,000 viewers, followed by Morning Joe (86,000 viewers) and CNN This Morning (65,000 viewers)."

"Analysts uncover dramatic worldwide decline in debuts, even though demand for content remains high.
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Was podcasting just a passing trend – and one that’s already over? Surprising new industry figures have revealed that the number of new shows fell rapidly in the last year; a worldwide decline of 80% compared with the two previous years.
These statistics suggest the podcast balloon has burst, but closer study shows that the slowdown marks a major change in direction prompted by “a case of the jitters”, according to one leading British podcast producer.
Analysts at Chartr uncovered the dramatic drop using international data supplied by the podcast engine Listen Notes. In 2020, 1,109,000 podcasts were launched. In 2021, 729,000 new titles came out, while last year only 219,000 shows debuted. (For some perspective, there are thought to be at least 3m podcasts running across the globe, and most made are in America and Brazil. The vast majority are made in the English language, with Spanish in second place.)
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“It feels like we’re in that ‘difficult second album’ moment now, and of course there’s a lot to worry about,” said Kate Taylor, an award-winning producer who diagnosed “the jitters”. She founded Feast Collective, a network that supports freelance podcasters. “I would say sponsorship is harder to find now and that getting investors to understand the amount needed to do something properly is also harder.”
Some experts have argued the new decline is a post-pandemic effect, with the artificial boom in production caused by enforced lockdowns now coming to an end. But the figures reveal more complexity, since almost the same number of new shows ended during the pandemic period as started up. Whatever the root, stalling production levels pose some worrying questions for those who make podcasts and those who invest in them.
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An optimistic analysis of the new figures indicates a shift typical in a maturing market as production stabilises into established strands. New show launches may be much less frequent now, but there is still strong demand for content."

Sean and Scott discuss the importance of research to sports media, sports radio stations, the future of sports streaming, what sports radio stations should do when sports betting is legalized in their state, and the impact of shorted attention spans on the sports media industry.