America’s biggest betting event of them all is about to get even bigger as more states give the greenlight on sports wagering. With access at an all-time high, programming continues to evolve to feed new appetites as oddsmakers get into the content business and vice versa. Among the offerings this week for the Super Bowl will see Bleacher Report and its B/R Betting vertical deliver an exclusive first look at DraftKings’ proprietary prop bets for the Big Game in a reveal show streamed live on the Bleacher Report app on Tuesday. The series will premiere on Feb. 8 at 6p, as a live reveal show giving fans their first look at the most talked-about and intriguing prop bets associated with the Big Game including: No Score First Drive (NSFD), Anytime TD and Dark Horse Over/Under.

Cynopsis Sports asked Mike Denevi, Director of B/R Betting, about the weekend and how betting-driven programming is evolving.

Denevi on the evolution of the B/R Betting vertical: It’s been a wild ride going from an experimental social account with zero followers to a leader in the sports betting digital space. We just surpassed 1M cross platform followers at the end of 2021 and remain the most engaged brand, 4x against our competition on IG alone. We’ve done it by zeroing in on the community and putting the fan and their relatable experiences at the center of everything we do on social and in the B/R app. When we first launched we over-indexed on stats, info, and picks: it was a one-way conversation. But as we’ve evolved we’ve taken engagement data and anecdotal user feedback to shift our voice into a more interactive, relatable and organic brand that talks with our audience, not at them — leaning on narrative journeys that highlight the humanity, humor, comradery and entertainment within the culture of sports betting. This relatability and connection to audience is a signature of Bleacher Report overall.

On prop bets: We’ve used our reach and analytics to figure out which props resonate and engage most with our audience, and then flipped those into unique betting journeys and odds boosts in collaboration with our amazing partners at DraftKings and FanDuel. For example, we’ve realized that our audience loves quick resolving and easy to digest bets so we launched campaigns with each partner to offer new custom bets and boosts – that move odds in favor of the bettor – around certain sports that tap into the early moments of those games.
These include the GIFT (Goal in First Ten Minutes for NHL), NRFI (No Run in First Inning for MLB) and NSFD (No Score First Drive for NFL) that we’ve created with DraftKings, and the 2×3 (2 3-pt FGs in first 3 min for NBA) that was created with FanDuel. This leads to genuine buy-in from our audience who feel like we are all in on these together as a “squad ride” of sorts, producing an amazing content journey that starts with an announcement of the prop/boost and ends with everything from social real-time follow, to user generated content submissions, and linear breakdown of TNT/TBS talent breaking down the bets — ultimately engaging our audience and driving them to our partners sites.

On Super Bowl plans: We’re incredibly excited about our offerings for The Big Game which include two live premium shows with our partners at DraftKings. The first, B/R Drop Zone: DraftKings Big Game Prop Reveal, will feature Super Bowl winner Aquib Talib on Tuesday of SB week and reveal all of our best props and bets ahead of Sunday. It’s an opportunity to eventize a major moment in the sports betting world that hasn’t really been touched before. The second, Squad Ride: Big Game Edition, will be a highly interactive preview of the Big Game that taps into the audience to vote on their best bets in which we will end up providing a special odds boost on Sunday AM before the game. Additionally, we have some elevated social journeys that will provide wall-to-wall coverage in the lead up. Some of the programming will include Big Bet Ride Along, which will follow whale bettors as they take in the action with millions on the line, My First Bet, following new bettors and all of the smart and funny ways they place their first-ever wagers, and a series showcasing high stakes football gaming with special guest, former Cincinnati Bengal — Chad Ochocinco.

On 2022: We will continue to use all of our data and learnings from the past five years on social and in the B/R app to take the successes we’ve had and use them to inform our investment in original content creation. Our aim is to create scalable IP of always on and premium content franchises supported by personalities that not only engage our audience, but build deep brand affinity and an eagerness to return. This means that we will build on our live, interactive content distributed on the B/R app and digestible and authentic content on social.

PROGRAMMING

As expected, the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Games took a hit out of Beijing, but still saw Friday’s coverage across NBC, USA Network, Peacock and other streaming platforms average a Total Audience Delivery of nearly 16 million viewers, according to preliminary data, down from 2018 numbers out of PyeongChang, which averaged 28.3 million viewers. Numbers indicate that Friday’s full-day Opening Ceremony coverage will average nearly 14 million TV-only viewers (14.4 million TAD) – ranking with NBC’s Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony in July and NBC’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as the most-watched entertainment shows on any network since last March. “Led by extensive multiplatform coverage of the compelling Opening Ceremony, and by Nathan Chen’s spectacular performance on Thursday night, we are off to a strong start that is in line with the expectations of our advertising partners,” said NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua. “We look forward to continuing our momentum with the competition tonight and in the weeks ahead.” Led by Peacock’s best-ever weekday viewership, total digital usage of Friday’s coverage amassed 190 million minutes – marking the largest digital consumption ever for an Opening Ceremony day for a Summer or Winter Games.

Elsewhere in viewership numbers, ESPN’s NFL studio viewership continued to rise with NFL Live, Postseason NFL Countdown, NFL Rewind and NFL Primetime all reporting year-over-year audience increases during January. The month saw NFL Live score the show’s best monthly audience in 64 months as the program averaged 482,000 viewers per show and up 37% and 32%, respectively, from the same month in 2021 and 2020.

FS1 averaged 843,000 viewers for the World Cup Qualifier win for the US Men’s National Team on Wednesday. That is up 4% over the USMNT match that ran on the network in Sept.

The NHL revealed that the NHL’s Global Series is coming back next season with preseason and regular-season games played across four countries in Europe. Preseason games will take place in Switzerland and Germany, while regular-season games run in Finland and the Czech Republic. “Internationally for us is a no-brainer,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. “We had established momentum in terms of having a greater and more regular presence of games in Europe. With the pandemic waning and hopefully a return to normalcy, it only makes sense to restart those efforts and to further them.”

Apple TV+ announced They Call Me Magic, a four-part documentary event that takes examines the life and career of Earvin “Magic” Johnson. The series will debut on April 22 on Apple TV+. According to the releases, the series “offers a rare glimpse into the incredible real life story of Johnson, who left his mark on history through his work—both on and off the court—and continues to impact our culture today.”

Alright hot shots, the door is starting to close so get ‘em in! Nominations for the Cynopsis Sports Media Awards are now being taken for their year’s ceremony, taking place on April 19, live (hopefully) in NYC. New categories are seeking champions! Have a gander by clicking here.

MMA promotion BELLATOR MMA locked in a partnership with BBC Sport which will see events emanating from outside America air live on the newly launched BBC Three channel and BBC iPlayer. BBC Three and BBC iPlayer will have live broadcast of BELLATOR events taking place outside of the USA throughout 2022 whilst the promotion’s USA events will be available to watch live on BBC iPlayer.

ESPN networks carries 450 NCAA women’s lacrosse games this season from across 10 conferences, with action on ESPNU, ACC Network (ACCN), ESPN3, ESPN+ and ACCNX. Play-by-play commentators for women’s coverage includes Jay Alter, Drew Carter, Mike Monaco and Leah Secondom while analysts will feature Sheehan Stanwick-Burch, Dana Boyle and Rachel DeCecco.

ARE YOU A SPORTS MEDIA ALL STAR?

NEW OPPORTUNITY: For the 2022 Sports Media Awards, we have added an “All Stars – 10 Up and Coming Sports Innovators” category. This award will honor 10 up-and-coming executives, producers, movers, shakers, investors, etc. who are under 30 and have already made an impact on sports business.

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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

NASCAR and Credit One Bank launch the 2022 racing season with the debut the Credit One Bank NASCAR American Express Card. “We are thrilled to expand our relationship with Credit One Bank with the addition of this new card for NASCAR fans on the American Express Network,” said William Stredwick, Senior Vice President, Global Network Services, American Express. “This partnership extends our brand, giving more customers access to the benefits, offers and protections of American Express.”

Sports retailer Lids inked first-ever retail partnerships with black sports institutions The Negro Leagues Museum, Black Fives, and the Harlem Globetrotters. Dubbed “They Gave Us Game,” each property’s products in partnership with Lids – including apparel and accessories like jerseys, caps and shorts – will be sold year-round for the first time in over 700 Lids stores across the U.S. starting this month.

ESPN’s 15th Annual V Week in support of the V Foundation for Cancer Research saw ESPN raise more than $13.35 million during V Week to support the V Foundation’s fight to achieve Victory Over Cancer. This surpasses the previous record total of $8.8 million set in 2019. “As the pandemic continues to pose many challenges, we entered V Week knowing that overall funding for cancer research was declining, and we hoped our messages to support cancer research would resonate,” said Kevin Martinez, vice president of ESPN Corporate Citizenship. “We are overwhelmed by the incredible generosity of our fans, employees and partners, as well as the outpouring support for Dick Vitale. We are proud of this incredible record-breaking milestone and we remain committed to accelerating our efforts, knowing that 100% of every donation is directed to science and research to find victory over cancer.”

DIGITAL, DATA & TECH

Comcast NBCUniversal launched the NBC Olympics VR by Xfinity app, available for the first time in 8K resolution, and offering more than 150 hours of live and on demand interactive virtual reality coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games. Content incudes live and on-demand coverage of six popular sports including figure skating, hockey and snowboarding in 180-degree environment. Select events will offer viewers the option to switch between different cameras to get alternative vantage points.

Anthem Sports & Entertainment announced that two of the company’s sports-themed properties—the combat sports outlet Fight Network and the professional wrestling promotion IMPACT Wrestling, are now available on YouTube TV as part of the platform’s Sports Plus add-on package.

ESPORTS

Twitch Rivals is hosting Streamer Bowl III— an esports tournament where NFL pro athletes like Juju Smith-Schuster and Christian McCaffrey are paired up with Twitch streamers and one fan from the community to go head-to-head in an elimination-style Fortnite tournament. Teams compete for a share of a $1 million charity prize pool. Official Marketing Partners will activate with initiatives that include: Guessin With Dunkin’; Logitech Chat Sweepstakes; Pizza Hut M-V-Pizza; the Samsung Mobile Skills Challenge; and the State Farm Spotlight – Presented by State Farm. Dunkin’ and State Farm are deepening their investment as Official Marketing Partners for Twitch Rivals North America, as they’ve renewed or expanded their 2022 sponsorships, respectively.

WHO WILL TAKE HOME THE TITLE FOR ‘BEST OF THE BEST’?

Find out at Cynopsis’ annual Best of the Best/Rising Star Virtual Awards Ceremony on February 24th at 1pm ET!

We will honor the insiders who make it all happen, from innovative programming to impactful campaigns and beyond.

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Cynopsis Team