This weekend I watched College Football. And given my love/hate relationship with sports, it is extremely rare that I would last through almost six hours of it. But, I was in good company because 28 million other people did the same thing. ESPN delivered the two biggest audiences in cable television history last Thursday, January 1 with the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl averaging 28 million viewers.
Yes, this marks the first year college football will be decided by the playoffs. And yes, each game had a surprising twist of fate with the Ducks decimating FSU and OSU overcoming the top-ranked Alabama. So naturally, both telecasts carried a lot of buzz and many people should be interested. But, can we take a moment and talk about how Pay TV – especially cable – is supposed to be on the decline yet ESPN can get 28 million people to watch football at the same time…on television…not Netflix..not Hulu?
For more on television’s decline, read Deadline’s piece – Digital Media Starting to Eat Television’s Lunch
I talk a lot about the future of television and even have my own recommendations on how the TV business needs to change to win. And my two biggest findings on content are: Build immersive, socialized experiences & Avoid content overexposure to strengthen future revenue streams.
My own shameless plug, check my presentation – The Future of Television
And sports just so happen to naturally do both. You can’t stream it (well…you can but we all know it’s not as good). You want to watch it and scream about it with friends both online and in your house. And, it really sucks when you don’t watch it live so replays online or TV are rare.
If we take a walk through the top 4 cable-television ratings – they’re all sports on ESPN.
- 2015 College Football Playoff Semifinals, Allstate Sugar Bowl, 28M people
- 2015 College Football Playoff Semifinals, Rose Bowl, 28M people
- 2011 BCS Championship on ESPN, 27M people
- 2013 BCS Championship on ESPN, 26M people
Is this a quick solution for the industry – buy up sports rights, or specifically college sports rights? And if so, will the price tag be worth it to networks given the decline in TV Ad Sales? Can ESPN afford the whopping $7.3 billion price tag for the rights to the playoffs & championship games for the next 12 years?
ESPN could save TV. But what happens with the streaming services buy legit sports rights? As a consumer who’s given up cable, I’d literally have no second thoughts. Great perspective Jess!!