SBJ Media: Disney Doubles Down On DTC

SBJ’s stable of newsletters will grow again tomorrow afternoon when my friend and colleague -- the incredibly well-connected Terry Lefton -- sends out his first SBJ Marketing newsletter. I can’t wait to read it.

DISNEY LEANS INTO STREAMING WITH REORG

• My first thought when I heard about Disney’s reorganization announced late this afternoon was about how mad cable and satellite distribution execs would be when they saw news of this move crossing the wires. The reorg essentially doubles down on Disney’s direct-to-consumer strategy and, as CEO Bob Chapek told CNBC, is about “tilting the scale pretty dramatically to our direct-to-consumer platforms.”
  
  
• The cord-cutting trend has accelerated during pandemic. By focusing more on direct-to-consumer, Disney is making a clear bet that streaming services soon will overtake its linear TV business. “We’re trying to skate where the puck is going to be,” Chapek said.
  
  
• What does this mean for sports? Not much -- at least not yet. ESPN can’t move its games from linear TV to ESPN+ unless it has a contract that specifically allows for such a swap. Most rights deals have specific language about where ESPN can carry games. Many insiders point to sports and live news as the two genres helping to hold the pay-TV business together, so any change to ESPN’s programming schedule will cause angst throughout the cable community.
  
  
• But it’s clear that Disney sees streaming as the future for ESPN, too. CNBC’s Julia Boorstin asked Chapek about the message Disney’s reorg sends to distributors. Chapek’s answer: “[Consumers] are going to lead us with the way that they make their transactional decisions. Right now, they are voting with their pocketbooks and they are voting very heavily towards Disney+.”
  
  
• Here’s what the news means to ESPN. Jimmy Pitaro will continue to head up the sports unit, one of three content groups alongside studios and general entertainment. Pitaro, who gains a new title as chair of ESPN & Sports Content, will continue to report to Chapek.
  
  
• The distribution, operations, sales, advertising and tech groups will be led by Kareem Daniel, who will oversee the general entertainment group. The Daniel-led group will oversee operations for all of Disney’s streaming services and “have sole P&L accountability for Disney’s media and entertainment businesses,” according to a formal release.

NBA FINALLY WRAPS UP 355-DAY SEASON

• I’m sure Adam Silver is not losing much sleep over record-low TV numbers for this year’s NBA Finals. It is no small feat to see the NBA crown a champion and complete its season during the pandemic. The Orlando bubble was a huge success. More importantly, the league’s TV partners still are bullish on the sport.
  
  
• But our job is to crunch the TV numbers, and the results are not pretty. Numbers for the clinching Lakers-Heat Game 6 won’t be available until tomorrow. Regardless of what Game 6 draws (we think 10 million viewers would be a good number up against "Sunday Night Football"), this year will the least-watched NBA Finals on record.
  
  
• The NBA Finals were averaging 7.3 million viewers heading into last night’s Game 6 -- down considerably from last year’s six-game Raptors-Warriors series that averaged 15 million viewers (a number that doesn’t even have the benefit of the Toronto market). Games 1-4 of this year’s Finals marked the four least-watched NBA Finals games on record, including an all-time low of 5.94 million viewers for Game 3 (also up against “SNF"). A potentially-series clinching Game 5 drew 8.89 million viewers on Friday night.
  
  
• The TV ratings news isn’t all bad for the NBA, especially considering across-the-board sports drops for the NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS, college football, NASCAR, horse racing, etc. NBA Finals games were TV’s top-rated show for four of its first five games. And the league's conference finals faced unprecedented competition: four of 11 game competed against NFL games; two of 11 competed against college football; four of 11 competed against the Stanley Cup Final.

BIDEN OUTSPENDING TRUMP ON SPORTS TV ADS

• Joe Biden is spending nearly four times more on sports advertising during nationally televised sports telecasts than Donald Trump during the period from Aug. 17 (the first day of the Democratic National Convention) through Election Day on Nov. 3, according to numbers crunched by SBJ’s David Broughton. Biden has spent $19.689 million on 101 ads; Trump has spent $5.241 million on 44 ads.
  
  
• Both Biden and Trump have concentrated most of their national sports TV spend on the NFL, with Biden spending $18.31 million on games and Trump spending $5.03 million. Biden’s other top national sports buys include the NBA ($753,760), college football ($430,759), the NWSL ($86,720) and soccer's UEFA Super Cup ($84,310). Trump’s other top sports buys are: MLB ($74,600), WWE ($47,080), college football ($31,180) and Liga MX soccer ($28,610).
  
  
• Broughton: “Fluctuations in voter sentiment and schedule changes in the sports world generated almost daily adjustments in the more than 25 hours of ads ordered. CBS’ Patriots-Chiefs game on Oct. 4, for example, was bumped to the next night. The 22 affiliates that we tracked had booked $607,000 of NFL-related orders for that day, much of which will be either shifted to a different timeslot, different market or cancelled altogether.”

SPEED READS

• Bud Selig, David Hill and Joe Buck are just a few of the names that talked to SBJ's Eric Prisbell and me for an oral history of Fox's long-running relationship with MLB. What once seemed strange -- the World Series on Fox -- has now become standard, as the network has had exclusive coverage of the Fall Classic for each of the past 20 years. I also talked to Fox Sports President Eric Shanks about the start of the MLB-Fox relationship and where it's going next.
  
  
• Amazon Prime Video has landed media rights in France for what will be the first night sessions for the French Open,starting next year, per Reuters. Event organizers said that one match daily from the first Monday until the quarterfinals would be in primetime locally. Wimbledon is now the only of the four Grand Slam tournaments without a night session.
  
  
• The PGA Tour for the first time will include live betting odds and other in-play wagering information during TV coverage of The CJ Cup at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas this week, reports SBJ's John Lombardo. Odds from BetMGM will be integrated twice per hour during all four rounds of Golf Channel’s coverage Thursday through Sunday.
  
  
• Electronic Arts saw its stock rise close to 3% today on the heels of the release of "FIFA 21" on Friday. CNBC's Josh Lipton said on "Squawk Alley" that the soccer title's strong usage and engagement have helped develop “one of the largest gaming communities out there.” Lipton: “EA has benefited, like other videogame publishers such as Activision and Take-Two, as so many more people around the world are now looking for in-home entertainment due to the pandemic”
  
  
• Pac-12 Networks is not currently scheduled to "carry any of the conference football games this season," per the Oregonian. The six weeks of the conference's football regular season "will be televised by a combination of ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, Fox and FS1."
  
  
• Rick Kay, a member of the ownership group at Monumental Sports & Entertainment, died over the weekend. “Rick was an integral member of the Monumental family and was never happier than when he was at a Capitals, Wizards or Mystics game,” Ted Leonsis wrote in an email that was sent to employees today. “Rick was proud to always mention that he had the best free throw shooting percentage in the history of the Michael Jordan Celebrity Basketball Camp in Las Vegas. Having played basketball with Rick, I believe this to be true -- he had ‘game.’”
  
  
• Shout out to SB Nation writer Sabreena Merchant, who was a contestant on “Jeopardy!” on Friday night. Merchant finished in second with $2,000.

THE LAST WORD

• Tonight’s last word goes to longtime ESPN baseball voice Jon Miller, who remembered his "Sunday Night Baseball" broadcast partner Joe Morgan, who died Sunday.
  
  
• Miller: “Joe is rightfully remembered as a great player and Hall of Famer -- and in my opinion is the greatest second baseman there ever was -- but his pioneering efforts are not always as appreciated. He was the first Black or African-American baseball game analyst in prime time on national television and he did that for 21 seasons. He was the pioneering trailblazer among commentators. And, before he did that, he was a broadcaster for the San Francisco Giants with Duane Kuiper. He used to do the play-by-play. Joe did a lot of different things. He taught me so much about the game and there was no place that either one of us would have rather been than at the ballpark.”

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