JULY AD SPENDING WAY UP…THANKS OLYMPICS!

Boosted by the five days of Summer Olympics coverage that fell in July, the U.S. ad market increased by 14 percent for the month.  The Paris Games accounted for six percentage points of that, as organic, non-Olympic growth was a still-healthy 8%—one of the strongest year-over-year increases in the past 15 months.  Looking specifically at National TV, the Olympics represented 17 percentage points of growth and without it, TV would have been down seven percent instead of up 10% (since the Olympics drew viewership away from any network that wasn’t NBCUniversal).  (MediaPost: Aug 29, 2024)

SYNDICATION’S NEW DISTRIBUTION MODEL: MULTIPLATFORM

This fall, necessity is the mother of invention as syndicators face increased production costs and decreasing ratings.  Some have acquired existing shows from streamers to air on additional platforms, while others will produce new programs to air on TV while also available digitally.  Take for instance, Good Morning Football: Overtime, an expansion of the original Good Morning Football, which airs on the NFL network.  Overtime will stream on the Roku Channel and will also be available on Fox TV stations, where it is cleared in 92% of the country.  The existing program True Crime News, which already has a website, a YouTube channel, and a podcast, will now be syndicated to television with 98% clearance.  (NextTV: Sep 3, 2024)

DISNEY, DIRECTV AND THE FUTURE OF CABLE BUNDLING

Yet another network and provider have found themselves at an impasse, unable to reach an agreement on a new carriage contract.  This time, it’s Disney and DirecTV.  Disney’s TV networks, including ABC, are no longer available on the service as of September 1.  The primary issue is cable bundling:  DirecTV wants the flexibility to offer subscribers slimmer packages that don’t include some of the more expensive networks, which could reduce subscription costs. The thing is, it would also decrease the amount that DirecTV would have to pay Disney, which Disney isn’t keen on.  The fight over bundling has gone on for decades, with providers and subscribers required to pay for lower-tier networks in order to get the more desirable ones.  It’s frustrating, but the reality is that it’s kept the pay TV industry going for years and it’s going to take more than another spat between companies to change that. (Reuters: Sep 1, 2024)

WNBA VIEWERSHIP BEATS COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Friday Night’s (8/30) WNBA game pitting the Indiana Fever against the Chicago Sky—a faceoff between stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese—was a ratings juggernaut.  Not only did its peak viewership of 1.92 million set a record for the ION network, it topped any college football game on any network that night.  Even without a Clark/Reese showdown, WNBA ratings have been strong.  On average, games on ION have delivered 639,000 viewers, an increase of 123% versus last year’s 287k.  With the Fever having clinched a playoff spot and the Sky working to secure a place in the post-season, look for WNBA audiences to keep growing.  (Sports Illustrated: Sep 4, 2024)    

THIS WEEK IN VIDEO HISTORY

September 5, 1966 – Jerry Lewis hosts the first Muscular Dystrophy Association Labor Day telethon, raising $1,00,000 for “Jerry’s Kids.”  That’s around $9.7 million in today’s dollars.  Through 2015 when the final telethon aired, nearly $2 billion had been donated.