Fox' new emphasis on live programming will see the net adding a number of studio showsFOX SPORTS
Fox is the "latest to benefit from stronger-than-expected trends in TV ad spending," as the company "notched strong gains in advertising commitments for its next cycle of programming -- its first since selling off a large chunk of its media assets" to Disney in March, according to Brian Steinberg of VARIETY. Advertisers "seemed encouraged" by Fox’ "new emphasis on live programming, which includes several weeknights of sports shows." A source said that the company "secured more volume for sports programs than it did last year," and "saw marketers express interest" in college football, MLB and programming on FS1. The source added that Fox’ results were "buoyed by added spending from telecom advertisers, automobile marketers, financial services companies and sellers of streaming-video services" (VARIETY.com, 7/15). BROADCASTING & CABLE's Jon Lafayette noted Fox is also "adding WWE wrestling to its primetime lineup this season." In addition, Fox has Super Bowl LIV, but those sales are "not included." This year, Fox’ ad sales -- including Fox News -- were "consolidated" under President of Ad Sales Marianne Gambelli (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 7/15).
SOMETHING BIG BREWING: Fox is branding its early four-hour block of college football this fall as "Big Noon" -- starting with the “Big Noon Kickoff” pregame show at 11:00am ET and its “Big Noon Saturday” game that kicks off in the 12:00pm window. “It seems like the push has been to put everything on in primetime where you have all these quality games competing against each other,” said Fox Sports President of National Networks Mark Silverman. “We noticed that the early time periods were relatively weak in comparison.” It is no accident that Fox using the word "Big" for branding. All of the games in that early Saturday window will be from either the Big Ten or Big 12. “The idea is that when people wake up Saturday morning, they’ll want to go to Fox,” Silverman said (John Ourand, THE DAILY).
