SBJ Media: Executive Shuffle At Disney

It feels like Groundhog Day. But we’re gearing up for Memorial Day weekend. SBJ Media will take Monday off. I’ll see you again in a week.

DISNEY'S CONNOLLY, FERRO WILL REPORT TO PITARO, RICE

• ESPN’s Jimmy Pitaro saw his number of direct reports increase after Kevin Mayer’s decision to leave Disney for TikTok. Both Disney Media Distribution President Justin Connolly and Ad Sales President Rita Ferro will report to Pitaro and Disney Media Networks co-Chair Peter Rice, according to a report in The Information. Both had reported to Mayer. The move makes the streaming division “more manageable” for Rebecca Campbell, who was tapped to replace Mayer in running it, the publication writes.

JOE ROGAN GETS BIG MONEY, EVEN WITH A CROWDED PODCAST MARKET

• The idea that the podcasting business is red-hot right now is hardly an original thought. But seeing the numbers Spotify is paying Joe Rogan for a licensing deal of an unknown length -- the Wall Street Journal pegs it at north of $100 million -- still makes my jaw drop. It’s almost certain that $100 million is the top number Rogan would get if he hits all the necessary benchmarks for this licensing deal.
  
  
• Why would Spotify commit so much in such a crowded marketplace? Don’t ignore the size of Rogan’s YouTube audience. Spotify wants to build out its video offerings. It wants people to watch and listen to their podcasts. Rogan offers huge audiences for both platforms.
  
  
• Bill Simmons spoke of Spotify’s place in the podcasting market during a wide-ranging interview with Vulture. Simmons sold The Ringer to Spotify in February. The whole piece is worth a read. I want to focus on Simmons’ comments of the podcast market, which seems to be getting more crowded every day. He offered several reasons when Vulture’s Nicholas Quah asked about podcasting’s declining audiences during the pandemic. "In the moment" shows are suffering, he said. During the pandemic, podcasts compete with other at-home entertainment (TV, streaming services).
  
  
• Simmons: “The other thing is just that there are more podcasts. ... You’re competing against more shows. When I launched The BS Podcast in 2007, I was really the only sports podcast that was prominent for a few years until ESPN started to get traction with the fantasy podcast. ... Now you look at the charts, you have all these pods that are targeted to specific audiences. There’s what, 800,000 podcasts now? So it makes sense that audiences would, for the bigger properties, stay the same or maybe slightly go down. I’m not making excuses; I just think it’s the reality of it.”

AMAZON EYEING MORE SPORTS RIGHTS AFTER EPL RESPONSE

• Amazon remains interested in picking up sports rights for its Prime Video service. But Amazon VP/Global Sports Video Marie Donoghue offered few hints at what type of sports rights interests her deep-pocketed company. Speaking at the LeadersWeek online event today, Donoghue said, “We don’t have a formula, per se. But we look at everything. If customers find it valuable, we’ll consider getting them that selection.”
  
  
• The former ESPN exec said that results from its three-year Premier League deal in the U.K. -- which led to Amazon Prime’s two biggest sign-up days in Britain -- “reaffirmed our commitment to live sports.” Donoghue: “We wanted to make a good impression. We want people to come back.”
  
  
• Like sports TV networks, Amazon will spend the next several months testing various tech if games, as expected, as played in empty stadiums. “Broadcast, in many ways, hasn’t changed in decades in some instances,” Donoghue said. “This is a real opportunity to innovate and try things differently. Fans will be more forgiving as we try things during this period. ... We will be trying different innovative things both to bring the feel and the passion of fans to the event. While we’re in this horrible, horrible situation in the world, it’s an opportunity and we have an obligation to innovate. We can’t waste this opportunity.”

ENGINE MEDIA LOOKS TO VIRTUAL RACING TO BOOST ESPORTS

• We can see all the money flowing into podcasting, but two other hot media trends are still out there: esports and gambling. Just last week, Torque Esports bought two outfits -- Frankly and WinView -- to create a new combined entity called Engine Media. The company’s executive chairman, Tom Rogers, said that he plans to fill a widening hole in the media business due to cord cutting. “We intend to develop new revenue sources for the sports and news worlds as the traditional support for sports and news content disintegrate in front of our eyes.”
  
  
• Rogers pointed to the success of different forms of esports during the pandemic -- like virtual car racing -- as further “blurring of the line between virtual and traditional sports.” Rogers: “What we are trying to do in terms of esports is to define a much stronger business model that it’s had,” Rogers said. “Esports' financial model has largely been dependent on sponsorship revenue. ... It has a massive global audience. They’ve under-monetized that huge viewing potential solely off the back of this sponsorship.”
  
  
• For Rogers, that potential will be realized this weekend, when ESPN2 carries the Race All-Star Series from on a virtual Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with previous winners of the Indy 500, F1, 24 Hours of Le Mans and World Rally Championship competing against each other. “Virtual car racing draws from both the sport and the gamer community as viewers,” Rogers said. “That’s why the rating on that have been particularly good.”

SPEED READS

• It's easy to overlook the fact that "Sunday Night Football" is the primetime TV king again. In television terms, this run for NBC is remarkable. With the 2019-20 TV season wrapping up tonight, “SNF” will finish as the No. 1 primetime show in all key metrics for a record ninth consecutive season. No. 2? Also the NFL -- "Thursday Night Football" on Fox/NFL Network. "SNF" led the top scripted TV show -- "NCIS" on CBS -- by 72%.
  
  
• I’ve been wondering why my profile of HBO Sports' Peter Nelson for our "Forty Under 40" honorees last year has been showing up recently in our most-read list. Turns out one of the hosts of Barstool Sports’ “Call Her Daddy” podcast dates Nelson and is now embroiled in a contract negotiation that has gone public in the pages of the N.Y. Times.
  
  
• The biggest challenge for “The Match” from Turner this weekend is dubbed the “Michelob Ultra Hole In One Challenge.” An ace by any player on the 8th or 16th holes triggers an additional donation of up to $25 million by WarnerMedia, reports SBD’s Andrew Levin. Turner also is rolling out the “Capital One Club Challenge” for the 5th hole, which will see each player play the par-4 at Medalist Golf Club using just one club; the winner gets an additional $250,000. Expect other challenges as part of the broadcast, including the “Barkley Bogey Challenge.” If Sir Charles can get a bogey or better on No. 18, he’ll earn a $200,000 contribution to COVID-19 relief. More to come in SBD tomorrow.
  
  
• The end of primetime TV season means the start of summer programming, which includes the debut for "Ultimate Tag" tonight on Fox. The Texans' J.J. Watt is an executive producer and host for the show, which pits amateur contestants against "professional taggers" (think of an updated version of "American Gladiators"). Tomorrow night, look for the return of the Steph Curry-produced "Holey Moley" on ABC, with ESPN's Joe Tessitore returning as lead announcer for the putt-putt show.
  
  
• Despite rain throughout the Southeast earlier today, Darlington tonight is playing host to the first NASCAR Cup Series race on a Wednesday night in 36 years. One interesting data nugget from last weekend's return to the track (per Fox Sports exec Michael Mulvihill): 30% of the TV viewers on Sunday had not watched any Cup races this season prior to the shutdown.

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR SBJ GAME CHANGERS!

• Online nominations for Game Changers have opened. We’ll be accepting nominations through midnight June 21. The Game Changers event will be Oct. 27-28, and a special section will run in SBJ in the Oct. 19 issue.

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 Unpacks on weeknights, as we look at the day's events surrounding sports and COVID-19.

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).