CYNOPSISSPORTS
04.03.17 Good morning. It’s Monday April 3, 2017 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.
As the sports industry turns its attention to Augusta this week with The Masters on ESPN and CBS, Golf Channel is continuing its own run of wins, announcing last week that the network had notched its eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year viewership growth. Now, with The Masters in its sights, the network will look to continue that run with nearly 90 hours of live news and Masters-themed programming this week, led by the network’s signature Golf Central Live From the Masters news coverage, anchored by Mike Tirico, Rich Lerner and Steve Sands, in addition to The Players next month as well as The Open.
Cynopsis Sports caught up with Mike McCarley, President, Golf for NBC Sports Group, to talk about its growing viewership, programming strategy and The Masters.
McCarley on viewership: For eight straight quarters, Golf Channel has been on a streak of year-over-year quarterly viewership growth, as well as nine straight quarters of streaming growth. Some of this growth is fueled by new, live programming, some by original programming, and some is by news not all programming works all the time, but the prevailing trend is extremely positive and viewers are taking notice of our commitment to quality. And as the golf season heats up with the Masters, we’re providing comprehensive news coverage anchored by our recently Emmy-nominated Golf Central platform, which is Live From the Masters all week. We’re unique because our audience not only watches, but also plays golf so we can tailor content that serves their wants and needs by engaging their favorite golfer, which is usually themselves.
On Masters coverage: This week, the wider sports world turns to golf and those sports fans rely on us for the latest from The Masters every day, at nearly every hour. Golf Central Live From the Masters serves viewers with comprehensive news and analysis, as well as high-quality storytelling, which is a hallmark of NBC Sports. Golf Central Live From the Masters will examine everything from the significance of Tiger Woods’ win in 1997 to showcasing the exceptional experience for patrons lucky enough to live out a sports fan’s dream of walking the grounds of Augusta National.
On boosting Monday-Wednesday content: Golf tournaments are traditionally staged Thursday-Sunday and Golf Channel has traditionally bridged between tournaments with compelling news, instruction and entertainment programming. However, this also is an opportunity for live events to cut through the weekend sports clutter. This non-traditional golf window allows us to expand live primetime programming, especially from West Coast venues.
On the new documentary Jack: Our original programming slate ranges from exploring the rich history of the game to in-depth instructional content, as well as being home to one of the most unique voices in sports, David Feherty. His award-winning series, Feherty, is not only a critical success, but this season is off to a hot start. The first two episodes this March were the highest-rated original programs in Golf Channel’s 22-year history. This season includes a who’s who across genres, from Steph Curry to Matthew McConaughey to Condoleezza Rice. Additionally, one of the cornerstones of our original productions is the award-winning and critically acclaimed Golf Films productions. Jack is a three-night television event starting this Sunday after the Masters and features more than 100 interviews from well-known figures providing insight as to why he is one of the greats of all time. Tom Selleck lends his voice to the project that serves as a way for us to extend the viewing experience for the Masters Week audience.
On the year ahead: Golf Channel is committed to bringing sports fans the absolute best coverage of the world’s tours and golf’s biggest events, including The Players, The Open and Presidents Cup this year. Golf’s young stars are appealing to our millennial audience, which has doubled over the past two years. The LPGA Tour continues to experience remarkable growth with their roster of international and American stars competing on increasingly larger stages, most prominently during last summer’s Rio Olympics. But Golf Channel’s success is grounded in providing the highest-quality content, each and every week.
A pair of tight Final Four contests have now pushed coverage of the 2017 NCAA Tournament to rank as the second most-watched in 23 years, with the entire event now averaging 10.4 million viewers, up 14% from last year and the second-highest average viewership through the Final Four since 1994. Additionally, NCAA March Madness Live has generated an all-time best 93.5 million live video streams through the Final Four. The two Semifinal games on Saturday averaged 16.8 million viewers, making it the second most-watched Final Four in 19 years, up 44% over last year, where it ran on TBS. The North Carolina/Oregon game alone averaged 18.8 million viewers, up 46% from 2016, and the second highest average viewership for the late Final Four game in 19 years, according to Nielsen.
On the women’s side of the Final Four coin, the big Mississippi State upset over UConn on Friday night scored a 1.9 overnight on ESPN2 while 233,000 viewers streamed the game, equaling the best overnight for a Women’s Final Four Semifinal during UConn’s four-year national championship run.
Speaking of ESPN, the company lined up its Masters plans as it prepared for the tenth year of live play of the first and second rounds starting Thursday at 3p on ESPN with an edited encore presentation in prime time each night from 8-11p. Scott Van Pelt now moves into the host role for ESPN telecasts where he will join analyst Curtis Strange. Prior to the live television windows, SportsCenter, meanwhile, tackles the event with Sage Steele covering the Masters for the first time, and joining Van Pelt will be lead anchors for the weekday SportsCenter segments.
Meanwhile, CBS Sports announced plans to carry three CBS Sports Spectacular golf specials on Masters weekend. The specials include: The Masters: Magical Moments and The Masters: Legends of Magnolia Lane at 1:30p and 2p respectively. Sunday sees CBS offer its third special, The Masters: Phil! At 12:30p.
Finally, SiriusXM announced its coverage for the Masters, programming over 20 hours of live Tournament play-by-play, as well as exclusive shows hosted by past Masters champions and contenders. Listeners will hear live hole-by-hole commentary starting Tuesday at 2p, while audio from Augusta National’s exclusive archives will run on Masters History show this week. “SiriusXM’s Masters week programming will feature a remarkable group of hosts who will share their insight and experiences competing in the Masters at Augusta National,” said Scott Greenstein, SiriusXM’s President and Chief Content Officer. “Listeners will get extraordinary coverage of the tournament, its players, the course and the Masters’ rich history.”
Amazon is taking season two of All of Nothing and bringing it to LA to focus on the Rams 2016 season. Subscribers will get to see the Rams’ entire 2016 season as the moves from St. Louis.“Since bringing pro football back to the Los Angeles region last year after a 21-year absence, we have been committed to giving NFL fans an up-close view of our journey,” said Rams executive vice president of football operations and chief operating officer Kevin Demoff. “We are pleased that NFL Films captured this important chapter in the NFL’s history and are looking forward to working with Amazon to bring this behind-the-scenes look at our team to their customers.”
MLB Network takes the mound for Opening Day with 15 straight hours of coverage today starting at 9a with Intentional Talk. Studio shows MLB Central, High Heat with Christopher Russo and 10 consecutive hours of MLB Tonight, then air throughout the day. Quick Pitch wraps up the lineup, hosted by Heidi Watney, at 11p.
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Coca-Cola is replacing Pepsi as the official soft drink sponsor of Major League Baseball, according to an Ad Age report. A Coca-Cola spokeswoman to the publication that the partnership would be a multi-year deal, ending PepsiCo’s run as MLB sponsor which began in 2007.
Speaking of baseball, Papa John’s second go-around as the Official Pizza of Major League Baseball sees the brand offer 40% off any pizza at regular menu price using promo code: PAPASLAM through April 6. Then the Papa Slam promotion will kick in, where for every Grand Slam hit over the course of the MLB regular season and Postseason, fans will receive 40% off any pizza at regular menu price the following day.
Sportsrocket launched Sportsrocket Turbine during the Formula Drift Streets of Long Beach event over the weekend, with the tech designed to serve “ the first live sports syndication platform to empower rights holders to reach fans wherever they consume on almost any platform, within the platform’s native player.” “Sports fans, especially the younger ones, consume content on the platforms they already inhabit and rarely go to destinations anymore,” said Sportsrocket founder and CEO, Brian Bedol. “Turbine was created to offer rights-holders the ability to easily reach these fans, like home delivery for sports.”
WWE announced that – for the first time in company history – 32 of the top female competitors from around the world will participate in a tournament this summer on WWE Network. Competitors from 17 countries are expected to participate in the tournament, which comes as part of WWE Reimagined, a presentation held at a business partner summit in Orlando, Fla., during WrestleMania Week.
Blizzard opened the doors to Blizzard eStadium, a new gaming venue in Taipei that can seat up to 250 fans. The arena will be leveraged for both local and international competition for the Asia-pacific region, beginning with the Overwatch Pacific Championship on April 8.
Smilegate is looking to revive the World Cyber Games, acquiring rights to the former esports staple, which shut down in 2013. Samsung previously owned the event’s rights.
PENTA Sports announced that Stephen A. Crystal – who recently was named a partner for Denial eSports was joining the company as a partner. “Rarely have I seen the level of energy and commitment to the growth and success in eSports worldwide than I have seen with owners and team members of PENTA Sports,” said Crystal. “It is inspiring. And it is a major factor in my decision to join PENTA as a Co-Owner and Shareholder. The joining of forces between Europe and USA perspectives can only strengthen the foundation of what is already a major force in eSports in PENTA. They have a created a culture which is nurturing to professional players on its teams and engaging to IRS growing fan base. I am excited to play a small part in making a great organization even greater. Thank you to the other Co-Owners for this opportunity.”
TSN reports that Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment informed the NBA on Friday that it will launch a basketball esports team. MLSE’s decision comes after the NBA said it would partner with Take-Two Interactive Software to produce the NBA 2K eLeague.
UFC named Dr. Duncan French as Vice President of Performance for the new UFC Performance Institute, which will be located in Las Vegas. Dr. French brings more than 20 years of experience coaching athletes on the amateur, collegiate, professional and Olympic levels while most recently serving as the Director of Performance Sciences and Director of Olympic Sport Strength & Conditioning at the University of Notre Dame.
North Carolina/Gonzaga face off on CBS at 9p.
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ON THIS DAY in 1998: Michael Jordan scores his 29,000th point.
In The Know: Which current Atlantic 10 school has won the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)
Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: WrestleMania IV was anchored by a single elimination tournament for the Heavyweight Championship. Who came out on top? Answer: The Macho Man Randy Savage. Kudos: Charmaine Leary-NBCU Content Distribution/NY; Ed Jones-Katz Media Group/NY; Michael Strauss-CoxReps/NY; Matthew Willence-ITN Networks/NY; Ken White/Charlotte; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Deerfield Beach; Matt Marini-MLB Network/New Jersey; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Paul Barrere-FOX Sports/LA.
Later — Chris
Chris Pursell for Cynopsis | Sports @VegasandVine
04.03.17
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