SBJ Media: Storytelling Key For New Fox App, Website

Thursday provides the first chance to see how much cord cutting has accelerated during the pandemic. That’s when AT&T posts its Q2 results, before the market opens.

FOX TALENT WILL PLAY PART IN NEW APP, WEBSITE

• Fox Sports changed its digital strategy about three years ago, focusing almost exclusively on video and shedding its website’s nearly two dozen writers and editors. Its decision to launch a redesigned website and app today is described as an evolution of that strategy. No, the writers and editors are not coming back. But Fox Sports relaunched its app and website, in part, to tell more stories around that video.
  
  
• Exec VP & Head of Digital David Katz: “This is a way to bring a lot of that video strategy into an editorial context. ... This product will look very different than the previous product. If people think of the transition that was made from a more traditional digital strategy to a more video-driven one, this is the evolution.” Katz said that the app and website will rely on Fox talent to draw interest. “When we're adding talent on the digital side, we're adding our people that we think have distinctive or interesting voices and expertise to fill gaps or provide enhanced perspective.”
  
  
• Katz said that decisions to redesign the app and website came after Fox conducted reams of research, including a “product Bible” that Katz wrote. “That product Bible was everything informed by research, with 20+ years of experience and gut feel of what has worked and what hasn't worked and what is currently working outside of sports. You put those three ingredients together, and this is the recipe. It's a little different than anything we think people have seen before. That's the philosophy.”

Fox's David Katz said that decisions to redesign came after conducting reams of research

MORNING GAMES WEIGH ON MLS TOURNEY VIEWERSHIP

• One word to describe MLS viewership so far during the pandemic is “meh.” The numbers aren’t bad. But with all the talk of a pent-up viewer demand for sports, the numbers aren’t great, either. All told, the MLS is Back Tournament is averaging 231,000 viewers across Fox, ESPN, ESPN2 and FS1, SBJ's Austin Karp reports. ESPN and ESPN2 have combined to average 236,000 viewers, while Fox and FS1 are averaging 224,000 so far. It's not the best comparison, but for the complete 2019 season, ESPN/ESPN2 averaged 246,000 viewers, while Fox Sports averaged 237,000.
  
  
• The biggest problem lies in the morning. Four of the 14 games to date have aired at 9am ET, and none of those games have topped 175,000 viewers. The numbers get a lot better in primetime. Of the nine MLS games that have started in the primetime window, those telecasts have averaged 296,000 viewers. The top game for the Orlando bubble tournament: Atlanta United-Red Bulls on Fox on July 11 in primetime (587,000 viewers), followed by the tourney's opening game on ESPN on July 8 in primetime (Orlando City SC-Inter Miami CF; 464,000). The least-watched matchup has been Toronto FC-DC United on July 13, which averaged just 33,000 viewers on ESPN2 in that 9am window.
  
  
• Some bigger numbers on the soccer front came courtesy of Chivas-Club America on Thursday. The semifinal in the LigaMX preseason tourney averaged 1.3 million viewers on Univision, marking the second-best soccer audience on any network in the U.S. this year to date.

SEVENTYSIX CAPITAL ADDS SPORTS ADVISORY GROUP

• Wayne Kimmel’s sports VC firm SeventySix Capital launched a sports advisory group targeting media, esports, sports betting and social responsibility. Sports business vet Dan Bravato will run it.
  
  
• Kimmel: “The conversations that we’ve had with top traditional team owners and executives and the questions and help that they’re looking for, convinced us to launch this group,” Kimmel said. “Most of the traditional agencies and consulting firms that work with teams are not close enough to sports betting. They are not thinking about next level media. This is our focus.”
  
  
• The group hired former NBC, Comcast and Altice exec Michael Schreiber to head up the media practice, former Rivers Philadelphia Casino exec Evan Davis to head up the sports betting practice and esports veteran Chris Yortsos to head up the sports practice. Turnkey’s Len Perna and Rick Alessandri, Cirquare’s Aljit Joy, Harrison University’s Eric Darr, Onward’s Lovell Walker, Pivot Sports Group’s Ari Roitman and Oliver+Rose’s Joanne Pasternack have agreed to advise the new group.

SBJ MEDIA NEEDS YOUR INPUT

• We’re asking for your help today. Please take our media agenda poll so SBJ can understand the critical initiatives you will be working on in the near future. Your answers will help to drive our strategic direction and future media coverage.
  
  
• This is a 11-question poll and should take no more than 6 minutes. Your answers will remain anonymous and will not be reported individually.
  

SPEED READS

• Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall says that Sinclair will owe the largest distributors rebates from its RSNs stemming from the 2020 MLB season, according to Multichannel News’ Jon Lafayette. That equates to an $823 million payout to distributors for about 64% of the schedule that RSNs are contracted to deliver -- far lower than the $693 million that the RSN are expected to receive from leagues. Cahall rated the stock as “underweight," but it could "turn more positive if Sinclair were to exit the RSN business,” Lafayette writes.
  
  
• A new content studio -- game1 -- has launched with the aim of partnering teams and athletes with Hollywood storytellers, SBJ's Chris Smith reports. Films, documentaries, all-access shows, branded content and podcasts will be in the arsenal for the agency headed by longtime sports marketing exec Greg Economou, producer Basil Iwanyk and former ESPN personality Michael Smith. The studio already has 40+ content partnerships with leagues, teams and athletes like James Harden, David Villa, Deshaun Watson and Danica Patrick. O’Melveny is representing game1 on its deals.
  
  
• The Basketball Tournament averaged 204,000 viewers this year across 22 games on ESPN and ESPN2, per SBJ's Austin Karp. That's the annual summer event's best figure since 2017 and up 4% from 24 games last year across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. The year-over-year increase comes despite a 33% drop for the championship game last week.
  
  
• Bob Costas rejoined his old NBC colleague Jeff Zucker as an on-air contributor at CNN where he will “provide commentary and his perspective on a wide range of sports-related issues” including the pandemic and the intersection of sports and societal issues, according to a CNN release.
  
  
• Some talent announcements show baseball is indeed in the air. Longtime ESPN announcer Adam Amin formally joined Fox Sports today. He'll make his play-by-play debut with the network on Saturday, working Brewers-Cubs. Over at NBC Sports Philadelphia, former GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has been brought on as part of the Phillies broadcast team this season.
  
  
• Fox Sports sideline reporter Erin Andrews will be honored with the Pat Summerall Award during Super Bowl week in February. Andrews is the first woman to be given the award in its 15-year history. The award is given each year to a notable NFL broadcaster. A charity dinner tied to the award benefits the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

THE LAST WORD

• Good news is hard to come by these days, so I will give tonight’s last word to the NBA and NBPA, who sent out this joint release tonight: “Of the 346 players tested for COVID-19 on the NBA campus since test results were last announced on July 13, zero have returned confirmed positive tests.”

 ----- 2020 SBJ THOUGHT LEADERS RETREAT (VIRTUAL) ----- 

• Aug. 13, 2:00-7:00pm ET (by invitation only)
  
  
• The road ahead has never been more challenging -- and it has never been more important for executive leadership to pause, learn, reflect and relax in order to prepare themselves to step up and navigate what the future holds. This year, we are continuing the tradition of Thought Leaders, creating the industry’s most intimate, senior-level event with a virtual program.
  
  
• Content will include:
  
  
  • Mindful Leadership with Pandit Dasa
  • The C-Suite Imperative: Corporate Responsibility & Social Impact
  • The New Fan Experience: A 360-degree approach; a 365-day Journey
  • Reinvented: A Conversation with Agent Leigh Steinberg
  • Supporting Social Justice Reform: Backing Words with Action
  • Navigating the Road Ahead: Fundamental Shifts We Can Expect in the Sports Business (group discussions)
    
    
• In addition to the compelling content, we will have plenty of time for some of the best virtual networking activities of the year, including:
  
  
  • Jack Daniel’s whiskey tasting
    • Aquimo golf (live challenge)
    • Aquimo cornhole (live challenge)
    • Cooking demo with "Iron Chef" Marc Forgione
    • A private set from John Popper and Brian Wilson of Blues Traveler
    
    
• For more information please visit,www.Thought-Leaders-Retreat.com.

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Something on the Media beat catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to either me (jourand@sportsbusinessjournal.com) or Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it. Also contributing to this newsletter is Thomas Leary (tleary@sportsbusinessdaily.com).