It’s May and the Orioles aren’t last in the AL East. I REPEAT: IT’S MAY, AND THE ORIOLES ARE NOT LAST IN THE EASTERN AL.
Much of the feedback I’ve seen about Sinclair’s planned local sports streaming service pricing has been negative, with most complaints being about the high price. The service, which will be soft-launching over the next month and a half, will cost $19.99 per month or $189.99 per year.
Sinclair arrived at its plan’s pricing levels through carriage negotiations with cable companies, according to multiple sources. During Sinclair’s recent carriage negotiations, including its recent discussions with Charter, distributors demanded that Sinclair price its upcoming DTC service at a monthly rate approximately three times the rate paid by major distributors.
Sinclair had to agree to those terms to have the ability to launch a DTC service while maintaining the distribution levels they need for linear RSNs, which are still a profitable business, sources said.
The streaming service‘s asking price illustrates how difficult the model is to stream RSNs. That’s because Sinclair has to balance the economics of the legacy model with the cable operators’ desire to try to protect that model.
Two of my favorite media reads – Puck’s Matt Belloni and Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw – have finished drafting the streaming services they think will be most successful in the next 10 years in this space. entertaining podcast.
My main takeaway: sports aren’t a big part of streamers’ plans, at least not yet. Considering a 10-year-old track, the two barely talked about sports content. Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime may be into sports, but clearly no one knows what sports will look like in the future.
The sport emerged when Shaw took on Disney+ with the second overall pick and he mentioned that the service’s subscriber base could take a hit if it loses cricketing rights in India. Regarding ESPN+, Shaw said, “With ESPN, the broader corporate entity has the best assortment of sports rights. Who knows how these affect what Disney+ will look like in the next few years?
Shaw also touched on sports after choosing Paramount+, highlighting his soccer and soccer rights deals.
As for the draft, Belloni took HBO Max with the first pick. Netflix went third to Belloni and Apple TV+ went fourth to Shaw. Amazon Prime Video (Belloni) and Paramount+ (Shaw) completed the project.
A grand total of 37 brands collectively spent $33.8 million on advertising during NBC’s Kentucky Derby coverage on Saturday. That’s up from the 33 brands that spent $24.5 million in 2019 before the pandemic, according to an analysis of iSpot.tv data by my colleague David Broughton. A total of 61 unique adverts and 118 total advert spots ran during this year’s Derby coverage, compared to 78 adverts and 145 total advert spots three years ago.
Ford, which came on board as official Derby/Churchill Downs sponsor in 2020, was the biggest spender this year on NBC with $4.6 million. The car marque has supplanted the Derby’s longest-serving sponsor at Woodford Reserve, which was top in 2019 but fell to No 2 this year. White Claw Hard Seltzer, which joined as a sponsor in 2019, also came in at #4 in ad spend this year.
| 2022: The brands spending the most on Kentucky Derby ads | ||||
| RANK | BRAND | SPOTS | BROADCASTS | IS. NAT’L TV EXPENSES |
| 1 | Ford* | 5 | 11 | $4,570,802 |
| 2 | Woodford Reserve* | 2 | 11 | $3,867,601 |
| 3 | TwinSpires ^ | 1 | 12 | $2,812,801 |
| 4 | White Claw Hard Seltzer* | 1 | 6 | $2,461,201 |
| 5 | American bank | 4 | 7 | $2,461,201 |
| 6 | Liberty Mutual | 2 | 6 | $2,109,601 |
| 7 | GEICO | 6 | 6 | $2,109,601 |
| 8 | just for men | 1 | 6 | $1,054,800 |
| 9 | Napoleon grills | 1 | 3 | $1,054,800 |
| ten | Chopped | 2 | 5 | $879,000 |
| 2019: Brands spending the most on Kentucky Derby ads | ||||
| RANK | BRAND | SPOTS | BROADCASTS | IS. NAT’L TV EXPENSES |
| 1 | Woodford Reserve | 2 | ten | $2,625,773 |
| 2 | angry orchard | 4 | 9 | $2,275,670 |
| 3 | Ram Trucks | 5 | 8 | $2,100,618 |
| 4 | GEICO | 7 | 7 | $1,838,041 |
| 5 | American bank | 1 | 5 | $1,312,886 |
| 6 | Longines | 1 | 8 | $1,050,309 |
| 7 | TwinSpires | 1 | 8 | $1,050,309 |
| 8 | Rocket Mortgage | 1 | 4 | $1,050,309 |
| 9 | DAZN | 1 | 4 | $919,020 |
| ten | Target | 2 | 6 | $787,732 |
REMARKS:* = Current sponsor of the Kentucky Derby/Churchill Downs. ^= TwinSpires is owned by Churchill Downs Inc.
- Those $110 billion in NFL media deals struck last year couldn’t have happened without the personal connections Patriots owner Robert Kraft established, writes SBJ’s Ben Fischer. “I feel that Robert always has the best interests of Fox Sports at heart,” said Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks. “Our friendship runs much deeper than the media relationship we have with the NFL,” CBS Sports President Sean McManus said. Check out Kraft’s Award of Excellence write-up in this week’s SBJ.
- Among adults 18-49, Turner Sports had the two most-watched shows on all television in April with the North Carolina-Duke NCAA basketball semifinal and the Kansas-UNC championship game. Turner also had six of the top 10 overall.
- If you didn’t catch Vin Scully narrating the intro to Peacock’s first MLB game on Sunday, listen to it.
- BetMGM leverages Astros’ gaming reach on AT&T SportsNet Southwest, signing an agreement with the MLB team that includes a presence on gaming shows that air in much of Louisiana’s sports betting-friendly TV market, reports my colleague Bill King.
- The second leg of the Real Madrid-Manchester City match was by far the most-watched UEFA Champions League semi-final to date on American airwaves, reports SBJ’s Austin Karp. Univision/TUDN averaged 1.28 million viewers on Wednesday afternoon (a record in any language), while CBS averaged 1.11 million (an English record).
- NHL local television ratings have taken a hit this season as regular-season games on US RSNs posted a 23% drop from the COVID-shortened 2021-22 season, according to reports. data analyzed by my colleague David Broughton.
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