SBJ Media: MLB Ad Sales Strong On Fox RSNs Despite Uncertainty

The surest sign that spring has sprung -- it’s Masters week.

AD SALES MARKET STRONG, EVEN WITH FOX RSN QUESTIONS

Home Team Sports went into the season with its Fox RSN ad sales schedule 85% sold

• Uncertainty over the fate of the Fox Sports-branded RSNs has had no effect on ad sales for MLB telecasts, showing yet again just how valuable live sports are in today’s media environment. The future of the 21 RSNs, which currently are being sold by Disney, was a topic at nearly every ad sales meeting, said Craig Sloan, Exec VP at Home Team Sports, the Fox Sports-owned group that sells national advertising for the RSNs. Such uncertainty over future ownership may slow the pace of business, but it did not deter advertisers from buying schedules at a rate that has surpassed the past several years.
  
  
• Here are the stats -- HTS went into the MLB season with its ad sales inventory 85% sold, which is better than the previous three years. Its pricing is up low single digit percentages from last year. The top 25 national advertisers from last season all renewed for this season, which was an unexpected result given all the questions about who would own the group of RSNs. Typically, between three and five of those top advertisers do not renew their MLB schedules each year, Sloan said. “Our messaging is resonating that baseball is a large reach vehicle during summer for adults 18-49,” Sloan said.
  
  
• HTS still sells off of average regular-season ratings -- the standard metric used in ad sales. But it has found some success by touting RSNs’ total number of minutes watched across an entire MLB season, which dwarfs even the most popular primetime shows. The message is simple -- baseball is healthier than ever at the RSN level. The ad sales performance this season offers proof of that.
  
  
• MillerCoors, T-Mobile, Taco Bell and USAA are some of the top returning sponsors for its RSN telecasts. TD Ameritrade bought a presenting sponsorship around MLB’s opening week. HTS also signed companies like Amazon, eBay, TruGreen and Rakuten as new sponsors. HTS has had luck selling the RSNs’ social and digital feeds in addition to the linear game feed, with BMW sponsoring content on social. MillerCoors and T-Mobile bought presenting sponsorships to local streaming services. “More brands are seeing this as a bigger platform rather than just seeing us as a media spend,” Sloan said.
  
  
  

HOW IS THAT RSN SALE GOING? 

• Sinclair has hired Guggenheim Partners to advise the media company on its bid to buy the 21 Fox Sports-branded RSNs from Disney, according to sources cited by SBJ's Dan Kaplan. Guggenheim Exec Chair Alan Schwartz is leading the process for Sinclair.
  
  
• This is an important development in the process, as it lends financial credibility to Sinclair’s bid. Sources had been suggesting that Sinclair would have trouble funding such a big purchase -- said to be in the $10 billion range. The involvement of such a well-known investment firm allays those concerns.
  
  
  

PLENTY OF DEMAND FOR TIGER

• I was surprised to hear that Discovery, as part of its deal with Tiger Woods, will produce competitions patterned after “The Match” -- the Turner Sports PPV with Phil Mickelson last fall. Sources told me that when Woods and Mickelson signed their deal with Turner, it covered three of these types of events. At least two more of these types of competitions involving Woods or Mickelson would have to be produced by Turner if they occur in the United States.
  
  
• Discovery’s plan is to stage the events outside of the United States, with the first one coming in Tokyo. Discovery boss David Zaslav said that he’s still working on the timing. “It'll be a global event,” he said last week when I interviewed him at the CAA World Congress of Sports. “People in America will see it, and people everywhere in the world. ”
  
  
• While it will be patterned after “The Match,” Zaslav was quick to say that we should expect some tweaks. “Tiger is going to decide the best format,” he said. “Should it be one-on-one? Should it be two-on-two? Should we have two matches going on at the same time? We could bring in some local players. We could evolve the format so that it really works.” 
  
  
• Check out a podcast I did with Zaslav out in California last week, where we discuss Discovery's growing golf business.
  
  
  

THIS WEEK IN SBJ

• My colleague Michael Smith and I broke the news on Endeavor closing in on a deal to buy On Location Experiences, the high-end hospitality firm partly owned by the NFL.

• I took a look at how Endeavor’s strategy of buying leagues --- and owning all of their content -- is starting to pay off.
  
  
• Amy Trask dished on Ice Cube's effort to buy the former Fox RSNs, which Disney is very much taking seriously. 
  
  

• The NCAA men's basketball championship will likely bounce back from record-low viewership last year with its return to CBS. The common perception is that the defensively minded Texas Tech-Virginia game will be a ratings dud. If it’s a close game, viewers will follow. I see it pulling in a shade under 20 million viewers on TV (19.8 million). SBJ's Austin Karp predicted 19 million viewers. SBJ's Michael Smith expects a close game that will draw 20.5 million viewers.
  
  

  NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TREND
  YEAR	NETWORK(S)	VIEWERS (000)	MATCHUP
  2018	TBS/TNT/truTV	15,967	Villanova-Michigan
  2017	CBS	22,998	North Carolina-Gonzaga
  2016	TBS/TNT/truTV	17,752	Villanova-North Carolina
  2015	CBS	28,263	Duke-Wisconsin
  2014	CBS	21,196	UConn-Kentucky

  Download the NCAA Championship Audience Trend

• NBC Sports is heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs with momentum. Viewership for the NHL regular season across cable, broadcast and digital platforms bounced back 2% after NBC Sports last season had its lowest audience under the current media-rights deal. It's going to be a high bar though for NBC -- as the 2018 postseason was tied with 2015 and 2014 as the second-best playoffs since 1997.
  
  
• Deadspin has another new owner, as private equity firm Great Hill Partners announced its purchase of the Gizmodo Media Group from Univision. The Wall Street Journal cited sources as saying the purchase price is much less than the $135 million Univision paid for the group in 2016. What I’ll be looking for? How the fiercely independent sports blog plays with its new owners. In an internal memo to staff, Jim Spanfeller, CEO of the newly formed G/O Media group, wrote: “While editorial independence is critically important, there needs to be a healthy and productive partnership with the business side for the company to be truly successful.”
  
  
• Steve Buckhantz, the voice of the Wizards for the last 22 seasons, may have called his last game for the team. NBC Sports Washington has not picked up an option on Buckhantz’s contract and has been non-committal about whether he will come back. Buckhantz closed out Sunday’s game, a loss to the Knicks, by saying, “Hope you have a safe summer everyone, and hope to see you in the fall.” Meanwhile, The Ringer profiles longtime Clippers broadcaster Ralph Lawler, who will call his last regular season game this week after 40 years as the voice of the team. 
  
  
• Discovery's Zaslav said he felt "like a kid again" as he jumped around and whooped in celebration after his first hole-in-one yesterday on the 8th green at Fairview Country Club in Greenwich, Conn. Zaslav used a 6-iron on the 170-yard hole. He could not see the shot land on the green from the tee box. As he approached the green with his playing partner, grade school friend Jeff Scheine, he did not see his ball anywhere. He checked the sand traps and behind the green before finally finding it in the hole. As for the tradition of golfers who make a hole-in-one buying a round of drinks in the clubhouse, Zaslav and Scheine were the first group off, completing their round by 11:30am. “Nobody was in the clubhouse,” he laughed. “I got off easy.” 
  
  
  

  Zaslav (r) used a 6-iron from 170 yards out to get his first hole-in-one yesterday

LET'S DO THE NUMBERS

• 805,000 -- Viewers for Texas’ win over Lipscomb in the men's NIT Championship on Thursday on ESPN. That figure is up from 693,000 for the Penn State-Utah title game on ESPN2 last year, but well below the 1.1 million that TCU-Georgia Tech drew on ESPN in 2017.
  
  
• $5.4 million -- Amount Justin Thomas should generate in TV exposure for his corporate partners --  if he's able to capture the green jacket at the Masters this week (over four rounds). The 25-year-old enters the week at Augusta National with a leading 5.35% win probability, per Block Six Analytics. His corporate partners include Titleist, FootJoy, Citi and Polo.

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