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SBJ Media: UFC Drives ESPN+ Sub Growth


The Univ. of Maryland rugby teams from 1989 and 1990 had a reunion party Saturday night. Two of our teammates, Ian Hiltner and Chip Becker, have died over the past four months, so it was nice to get together, embellish old stories and laugh too loud.

 

 

SHAPIRO ON ESPN+: UFC "DRIVING" SIGN-UPS

  • Endeavor President Mark Shapiro’s cell phone practically blew up soon after Disney Chair Bob Iger highlighted the UFC as a main driver for ESPN+ subscriber growth during last week’s earnings call. The subscriber count for ESPN+ rose to 7.6 million as of Feb. 3, up from 1.4 million in December 2018. It did not surprise Shapiro that the UFC was the only sports property Iger mentioned on the call. “Well, of course! That’s what they pay the freight for. They’re not paying anyone else the kind of rights fees they are paying us for ESPN+,” he said. “It’s the UFC that is driving sign-ups by every metric we look at. It’s not even close. There are a lot of nice-to-have (properties) on the platform. But UFC is appointment viewing.”

  • Shapiro referenced the Jan. 18 UFC pay-per-view card that featured Conor McGregor against Donald CowboyCerrone, which had 1 million PPV purchases and brought 500,000 new subscribers to ESPN+. “At one point, we hit a high where they sold 50,000 pay-per-views in one minute,” Shapiro said. “There were no tech issues whatsoever.”

  • It’s not just ESPN+. Shapiro pointed to UFC’s linear TV viewership, which has seen an increase. In 2019, UFC events averaged 1.1 million viewers, up 43% compared to live events on FS1 in 2018, UFC said. ESPN was the most-viewed cable network in the male 18-34 demo 13 of the last 16 times it carried live UFC events. Shapiro: “We are in the trenches with [Disney] on every aspect of the league -- from matchups to marketing to city selection. They are a partner through and through. We have weekly meetings. We have thrice daily meetings on the weekends. UFC truly is inside the House of Mouse. It’s extraordinary.”

 

 

IGER TALKS DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER WITH BILL SIMMONS

  • Disney has taken more meaningful steps with its direct-to-consumer businesses than any of the other legacy media companies. Still, it was jarring to hear Bob Iger talk about how ESPN -- the most-expensive channel on cable systems -- will change with the times. Speaking on Bill Simmons’ podcast, Iger said, “Eventually, ESPN will be a far more direct-to-consumer product.”

  • The entire 1 hour, 11 minute podcast is worth a click. But it’s Iger’s comments on ESPN+, which start around the 26-minute mark, that I found the most interesting. Here are some highlights:

    • “If you’re running a business in a dynamic world, specifically in a dynamic industry like the information and entertainment industry, and you try to maintain any level of status quo, even if the status quo is working for you that day, you’ll eventually become irrelevant.”

    • “ESPN’s base business, the multichannel cable and satellite business, has been extremely profitable over the years and that business model, while it is under some duress from all this disruption, is still delivering a fair amount of profitability. The alternative, which is a pivot in the direction of what they call direct-to-consumer over-the-top services, was not as obvious.”

    • “Existing distributors ... had rights that we had to keep in mind and then a lot of the rights deals that we did with some of the big sports organizations, like the NFL and NBA, didn’t give us the ability to distribute in a different way.”
           

 

 

 

RAUCOUS CROWDS HIT XFL VENUES

  • With six minutes left in the XFL’s inaugural game at Audi Field, Commissioner Oliver Luck walked from the Seattle Dragons' side of the field to the D.C. Defenders' side. As he walked around one end zone, the fans on that side of the field gave him a loud standing ovation. Seemingly every arm in the first few rows reached out for high fives. A few stopped Luck to take selfies.

  • At MetLife Stadium, boisterous N.Y. Guardians fans crowded into the lower bowl’s $30 end zone seats, erupting in a beer-fueled “MVP” chant when QB Matt McGloin converted a daring fourth-down conversion on the opening drive, according to colleague Ben Fischer, who attended the game. Later, with the Guardians up 17-0, those same fans roundly mocked Tampa Bay’s harmless field goal on fourth down.

  • The raucous atmospheres in D.C.and New York this weekend surprised several seasoned sports business pros. “That was one thing I noticed,” said XFL President & COO Jeffrey Pollack, who attended games in D.C. and New York. “The fans in each venue already seemed connected and emotionally invested in the Defenders and the Guardians.”

  • The XFL’s Connecticut HQ was packed today following a weekend of good numbers -- both on TV (ABC averaged 3.3 million for the debut game) and at the gate (all venues had more than 17,000 fans). “It was a good start,” Pollack said. “But no one is resting on it. We all are prepared to take on the Herculean task ahead of us.”

 

 

ESPN TAKING ADVANTAGE OF XFL ACCESS

  • The biggest play during Saturday’s XFL game in D.C. was a third quarter flea flicker that resulted in a TD. Soon after the score, viewers on ABC were able to hear Defenders coach Pep Hamilton call the play and calm down QB Cardale Jones at the same time -- the type of conversation that only had been done via NFL Films before. “It was unprecedented, and it was awesome,” said ESPN VP/Production Lee Fitting. “It was something that the viewer had never been privy to. Ultimately, that’s what made the difference this weekend.”

  • After Saturday’s game, Fitting's team gave the ESPN team covering Sunday’s XFL game in Dallas a list of production tips based on its experience in D.C. The main point: take advantage of all the access the XFL allows. “When you think we’re doing enough access or hearing enough of the live audio, do more,” Fitting said. “We kept telling our crews to take chances, push the envelope, don’t be afraid to try something that we otherwise wouldn’t try when covering a college football game or an NFL game.”

  • On Sunday, for example, ESPN’s producers were more comfortable putting the QBs live on air as they were making their calls. “We didn’t do much of that Saturday,” Fitting said. “We dabbled in it, but we weren’t there yet. In one day, that’s one way in which the telecast evolved."

 

ESPN's Pat McAfee talked to the BattleHawks' Jordan Ta'amu on the XFL sidelines during a game yesterday

 


SPEED READS

  • Amazon hired former Fox distribution chief Mike Hopkins as Senior VP overseeing its video entertainment businesses, Prime Video and Amazon Studios. Hopkins will report directly to Chair & CEO Jeff Bezos. Currently chair of Sony Pictures TV, Hopkins has no sports on his plate, as of now.

  • The L.A. Times hired former Sports Illustrated editor Chris Stone as executive sports editor. Stone, who was part of SI’s layoffs last fall, announced via Twitter that he will be moving from New York for the job. Stone: “The Times’ leadership, the ambition of its journalists and its essential place in a city that will be sports’ epicenter in the 20s (SB, WC, Olympics, CFB champ) made for a rare opportunity.” 

  • Dick Cavett is still going strong at 83. The longtime talk show host tomorrow night will be the focus of an HBO documentary on his friendship with Muhammad Ali, titled "Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes." Cavett told SBJ's Thomas Leary that he was captivated by Ali's charisma from the start of the boxer's career in the mid-'60s. "He was great fun. He was smart. He told stories well. He had every show business instinct of a performer." See tomorrow's issue of SBD for more from Cavett. 

  • Super Bowl viewership is closer to 135-140 million people, according to a Nielsen survey that was commissioned by the NFL. The survey more accurately counts the number of people who attend parties, the NFL says. In this survey, Nielsen found that Super Bowl averaged 35-40% more viewers per household than the regular season and playoffs.

  • My favorite part about last week’s panel session at the Univ. of Maryland was an unexpected appearance by Tim Kurkjian’s junior high gym teacher sitting in the back row. The realization came when the former gym teacher, Mike Stutz, asked the longtime ESPN reporter about the likelihood that MLB will ban all tech in the dugout in the wake of the sign-stealing scandal. Kurkjian, who did not expect to see Stutz in the audience, announced to the crowd: “Mr. Stutz was my gym teacher at North Bethesda Junior High School. I’m 63 years old, and I still call him Mr. Stutz.” George Solomon, the journalism school’s director, immediately jumped in, “He said you were very good but too short to make it into the NBA.”

  

Maryland's Povich Center last week hosted a panel examining MLB's sign-stealing scandal




 

------- Register now for the CAA World Congress of Sports -- March 25-26 -------

 

  • Hear from dynamic thought leaders, stakeholders, and dealmakers such as:

    • Rob Manfred, MLB Commissioner
    • Zion Armstrong, Adidas North America President
    • Don Garber, MLS Commissioner
    • Cynthia Marshall, Mavericks CEO
    • Anthony Noto, SoFi CEO
    • Molly Solomon, NBC Olympics Productions Executive Producer & President

  • Network with more than 700 of your peers on the Grand Lawn of the Monarch Beach Resort following day one. Be sure to join fellow attendees at the welcome reception on the evening of March 24. To register, go to www.WorldCongressofSports.com.

 

 

 

Enjoying this newsletter? We've got more! Check out SBJ College with Michael Smith on Tuesdays and Thursdays for insights into all the latest news around the world of college sports. Also check out SBJ Football with Ben Fischer on Friday afternoons.

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).