Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Media

‘We’re still talking about’ Bills-Jaguars

There was a huge amount of buzz around last weekend’s Bills-Jaguars game if you worked in the sports industry. It was the first time an NFL regular-season game was streamed exclusively, with Yahoo spending around $15 million for the rights.

Outside of my circle of sports media nerds, though, the game was about as popular as you would expect a 9:30 a.m. Bills-Jaguars game to be. In the middle of last week, Yahoo still had advertising available and was offering ad spots at a deep discount from the price it originally sought. Not surprisingly, Yahoo also was looking to bundle other sports inventory with positions in the game.

Interest was tempered leading up to Yahoo’s NFL game last Sunday.
Several ad buyers said ads were available last week for $50,000 per 30-second spot. That is a far cry from Yahoo’s initial ask of $200,000 per 30-second spot. Yahoo based that pricing on Fox’s London game last season, which brought in a 5.5 household rating. Since nobody knew how many people would watch, many advertisers decided not to take a chance.

Advertisers were not seduced by the historic nature of the game, which was the first time it was streamed exclusively.

“But it’s not the first time an NFL game has been streamed,” said Optimum Sports President Tom McGovern, who added that none of his clients wanted to buy into the game. “At the end of the day, we’re still talking about a Bills-Jaguars game that only would have been available in the home markets anyway.”

Yahoo is responsible for 96 percent of the ad inventory, with the league keeping control of 4 percent — standard for most NFL deals.

Advertisers also were scared away by the fact that Yahoo was not offering viewership guarantees. On television, ad buyers can base their decisions on decades worth of Nielsen ratings information. There’s nothing they can compare with last weekend’s game.

One ad buyer suggested that his clients wanted to take a wait-and-see approach. Once Yahoo gets an audience benchmark from this game, it will be a safer environment to buy into.

Yahoo’s game comes just a week after the company posted disappointing third-quarter results, based partly on a weaker-than-expected ad market overall.

— John Ourand

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2015/10/26/Media/NFL-Yahoo-streaming.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2015/10/26/Media/NFL-Yahoo-streaming.aspx

CLOSE