In the age of DVR and online streaming, media networks "have turned to live sports, which cater to people watching in real time, as a reliable way of getting viewers to watch ads," but it "may now be leading to an oversupply of sports-ad slots -- driving down pricing," according to Miriam Gottfried of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Global investment firm Jefferies analyst John Janedis said that nets "showed 10% more hours of content" from major sports leagues in Q4 than they did in the same period a year earlier. College football had the "biggest increase," as it "saw an 18% jump to about 1,000 hours, driven in part by the launch of the SEC Network." College-basketball hours "have risen 17%," while the NBA and NFL "have both seen 7% increases." That is "thanks in part to more programming on networks" including FS1 and ESPN. TV ad slots during major live sporting events are "likely still more valuable than most." But the "risk for networks is that the growth in live-sports hours may be outpacing the growth in demand from typical ad buyers, such as car makers, beer companies, movie studios and wireless providers." Pivotal Research estimates spending on national TV advertising "is on track to have grown roughly 2%" in '14 versus 4.6% for 13, "excluding political and Olympics-related slots." This could "make it more difficult for media companies to cover rights fees demanded by the leagues" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/30).
