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One of the many questions facing the television industry today is: what happens to sports fans when there is no sports to watch?
This is a question that is obviously of great importance to networks like ESPN, but also to brands that want to reach sports fans.
VIZIO, whose Inscape division uses data from more than 14 million activated smart TVs, has some very revealing statistics on the subject, taken from the weekend after live sports stopped (March 14 and 15).
Most telling is that sports fans using OTT devices spent 47% more time streaming compared to the previous week when sports were streaming. That’s a lot more streaming.
It’s a statistic that becomes even more concerning (if you’re in the linear TV business) when you take into account that 10% of fans didn’t watch linear TV at all once sports were no longer available.
On the other hand, news consumption, which is very linear, has increased sharply, although this figure is probably an outlier, given the importance of news in recent weeks. It should be noted, however, that although FOX News has seen only a 7% spike, CNN saw a 35% spike in sports fans, MSNBC saw a 16% spike, and C-SPAN saw a whopping 40% jump.
News wasn’t the only topic that piqued the interest of sports fans. Discovery Family’s children’s programming was up 39%, likely due to schools closing and everyone being home, while Travel Channel, which I suppose qualifies as an escapist fantasy for kids next few weeks, saw an increase of 28%. seen by sports fans.
Cross visualization
To get an idea of what sports fans watch when they’re not watching sports, I looked at some stats from last year.
It seems that NBA fans are the most loyal of all sports fans, at least when the season is actually happening, which means they will frequently watch basketball-related shows like Inside the NBA, NBA countdown, NBA: the jump, first take And Around the Horn.
It will be interesting to see how long this behavior continues: will fans continue to watch basketball-related shows because they are in the background, will they start watching classic basketball games broadcast by ESPN and others, or will they move on? else while waiting for the start of the 2020-21 season?
In contrast, fans of last year’s March Madness (aka the NCAA men’s basketball tournament) were less focused on basketball, watching everything from the NFL Draft to the Masters Tournament.
This confirms an earlier theory I’ve posited about regional sports networks versus ESPN: There are sports fans who are fans of particular teams and who really care about them. only about the games these teams play (and/or the games that could affect them); these are the fans who watch and support RSNs. Then there are fans who love sports in general, who are happy to watch the March Madness tournament no matter who’s playing that day, as long as it’s a good game. They will happily watch a range of sports-related programming, but are more comfortable on ESPN than RSN.
This is of course not an either/or scenario: many fans fall into both camps to one degree or another, but most will lean more one way than the other .
The advertiser’s dilemma
With live sports disappearing, advertisers who want to reach fans of major sports leagues — typically men in their 40s, 50s and 60s — will have to look for alternatives.
Even though sports and news aren’t the only online genres they watch (Inscape reports that sports fans watched more comedies and dramas last week than usual), it could be informative to watch what ESPN fans watch when they’re not watching ESPN.
Data from January 1, 2019 to March 12, 2020 indicates that the top five networks for ESPN viewers are (in order) TNT, TBS, AMC, NFL Network and A+E.
While TNT and TBS offer plenty of sports programming and the NFL Network obviously airs football games, AMC offers no sports programming and broadcasts a range of original programming, library classics, and movies. A+E is also an outlier, showing original, non-fiction programming and films.
The important thing to remember here is that sports fans are not monolithic: they have very varied tastes and their contact with non-sporting programs should be approached in the same way as the brand would approach non-sporting fans. in general, at least those in the sector. desired demographic.
And after?
It will be interesting to track sports fan behavior over the coming weeks to see if there is a discernible trend in their viewing. Do they watch sports-themed movies, comedies and dramas? Or is their audience more in line with others in their demographic?
And what will happen next season? Is viewership growing as avid sports fans try to make up for lost time? Or is the audience dwindling as fans realize they don’t miss it?
Given the almost lifelong relationship most professional sports fans have with their teams, I’d say the first option is much more likely, but it will certainly be interesting to see how this all plays out.
(Pun intended.)
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