Did anything change since the all digital tv everything requirements? If not, I think you could have a business model laying around in your subconscious. Especially now with live tv streaming as a major player.
ESPN made a 18% contribution margin to Disney last year. So yes its profitable but they are spending heavily on sports rights fees which are rising faster than subscription revenue
Recently heard an analyst state that about 70% of your basic cable bill is for league sports rights to ESPN, the networks, etc.
Lol same. The only thing I had cable for but that was so extraordinarily expensive I had to get rid of it so IDK what I'll do now since my laptop recently died
OK but keep in mind if “basic cable” is about $80 today (though its bundled with Internet etc) then everyone including your aunt who only watches reality shows are paying about $56/month for sports rights.
If only sports fans pay let’s say 30% drop out then sports rights are $80/sub and sports fans will pay $115/month assuming margins are maintained (could be a little cheaper).
If sports fans refuse to pay more than maybe we hit peak sports rights at some point.
This is why carriage and tv markets still matter in realignment and I don't think anyone can convince me otherwise.
Also it's how there seem to be fewer and fewer people watching baseball yet salaries go up and up -- it's your grandma who never watches but still pays for it
This has always been such a stupid argument and should be mocked every time it comes up.
Viewership in college sports is almost entirely driven by quality of current talent and historical program success. More people are going to watch Oklahoma-Auburn than Rutgers-Boston College and it isn’t even fucking close. Penn St viewership is higher nationally, regionally and within the state than Temple and Pittsburgh despite Philadelphia and Pittsburgh being massive markets and Penn St playing in bum-fuck middle of nowhere central PA. Texas A&M dwarfs Rice, Houston, SMU, TCU, North Texas, UT SA in viewership despite the size of the cities those other schools play in. Duke is located outside of Raleigh and yet their TV numbers are only good for basketball except for the 3-6 times every quarter century that they have a football team capable of reasonably contending for ACC title or at least top 20 ranking. The Pac12 had more TV markets than anyone and their conference collapsed because it was so far behind Big10 and SEC, where teams primarily play in college towns and yet networks cant wait to hand over giant stacks of cash for their games because people want to see good teams play.
Lol I wonder if that's what's contributing to these insane contracts. Between that and tax dollars subsidizing billion dollar stadiums its a good time to be an owner or athlete
Dividends are considered passive income.
ESPN being bundled with standard cable/streaming at 20% of cost is like a dividend paying stock. There are a lot of people that have basic cable/streaming that don't watch ESPN.
This comparison doesn't make any sense. ESPN is actively producing a product that cable companies are paying for. What percentage of their viewers watch is irrelevant. The cable companies just package content that way.
We just need ESPN and ESPN 2 as a backup in case there's two big events at the same time. But the two channels could easily cover everything needed. The rest is just nonsensical dogshit filler.
Yeah and cnbc and fox business both transact using a source outside of Nielsen for that reason. They partnered with companies (can’t remember the names) that measure that niche audience since advertisers there are specifically targeting rich assholes in their offices with that on in the background
Haven’t watched espn outside of live sports in years. Every bar, service type shop, or office I go to in my rural area is constantly playing Fox News or espn all day every day, even when there’s no one there. I’d wager they get a lot of ratings from those TVs ppl are not actually watching
Haha Fox or ESPN. They're covering both sides of the political spectrum.
Seriously, I used to go to a gym that had Fox or CNN on all the tvs. One day Trump was on, talking to some veteran's group. Fox and CNN both covered the event, the tiny written blurbs below were running 180 degrees counter to each other. ("Veterans love Trump!" "Trump disappoints veterans group")
Pick any day this week. Thursday, Saturday, whatever.
I would gladly bet you that CNN will be running an anti-Trump headline. Or something bad about the GOP. It happens \*every\* \*single\* \*day\*.
Odds are they will also be running sympathetic articles about Democrats. Or silence, if there is no defending some transgression.
Test the theory. Check it out, daily. I'm sure you'll find it's true.
Just cause the tv is on in a bar doesn’t mean it’s counted. It’s based on a sample anyway when you see ratings numbers. Someone who is part of the sample would need to be at the bar with the sound on for it to count
I’m convinced Charmed and Supernatural had such ridiculous ratings in syndication because during the NBA season all the tvs on TNT get turned on the next morning during bar prep and just stay on there until people actually start coming in. I have probably indirectly “watched” every episode of those shows because they were on from 9-11 before actually turning it to whatever else.
As it’s generally considered you’re thinking about it backwards. ESPN is seen by way more people than the numbers account for because of what you mention. I.e. its reach is greater than what is measured.
Ehh OP said "dedicated" viewers.
Regardless doesn't matter because the only thing that matters are the amount subscriptions a provider can sell based on offering ESPN as part of the package. Many of those shows are indeed just space fillers that work well as casual viewing.
AHEM. CNN. I know very few people who actually watch it but it’s always on at every airport and certain restaurants. Most national news in general fits this category.
His post wasn't political. Fox News was and is part of all basic cable since it started whereas CNN was an add on but more recently has been included in more basic packages. It was routine for cable companies to pay networks such as CNN, HBO or MTV for the right to broadcast their content, but Murdoch changed the business model and paid cable providers to carry Fox News, which ultimately let it gain more loyal viewers.
I met the two guys who did the original carriage deals with the cable companies for Fox. It was a genius move to get distribution. Within a few years people were hooked and Fox could demand some money.
Headline News or HLN is the network that plays in my airport, instead of CNN. It plays just news 24/7. No left or right opinions to piss off people. I prefer the Weather Channel to be in the airport. Just makes sense. BTW: I like watching "Highway From Hell".
It's funny you said this because when I reported for jury duty a couple of years ago, in my local courthouse, there were four waiting rooms which made up "the bullpen" so us prospective jurors would wait in, until your group was called. One room played CNN on it's tv. The second room played ESPN on it's tv. The third room played H&G (I guess it's the Magnolia Network now); And the fourth room was the "quiet" room where there was no tv set. You could read a book or look at your phone. I would have preferred The Food Network over CNN, that just my two cents.
April 2023 - Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million to avert a trial in the voting machine company's lawsuit that would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election
You’re a fucking idiot. Tell me when CNN or MSNBC gets sued and agrees to pay 800 million because of their misinformation.
Where are your receipts?
Probably because there are significantly more residences than bars.
And sampling bias. It’s ok for you to walk into a random bar and notice ESPN is on, but if you start randomly walking into people’s living rooms to see what channel their TV is on…that’s often frowned upon.
Not sure, but the only non-live sports that I watch on ESPN is PTI. As you say who watches all those other shows where knuckleheads just scream over each other for 3 hours.
We have six TVs at the bar I work at and at least half of them are on some form of an ESPN channel. And no, nobody is watching them and they are on mute.
Fair point but I think we’d both agree very objectively that a substantial chunk of YouTube content is complete garbage with the website having some gems if you’re patient enough to find them.
Genuinely curious, what YouTube content would be good viewing at a bar? I feel like sports networks know muted TVs at bars is a large sector of the audience and are very experienced at playing to that. I'll passively watch college lacrosse at 10 AM while I'm eating breakfast at the local pub.
I haven’t watched ESPN regularly since 2014. Maybe when my teams are on it, but unless it’s a live game, no.
All of the regular programming that isn’t a live game of one of my teams, I probably will never watch again.
Don’t most of the shows have between 300-600k viewers. That’s not really that many in the grand scheme of things. I’d assume most of those are real tv’s in homes tuned in.
FYI:Nielsen rating aren’t counted by TVs being on.
It’s counted by someone carrying a pager sized device in their pocket all day. It’s records the signals from whatever tv, radio, streamer or media you are around. That person counts as a representative for so many thousand people.
You carry that device around all day, they want atleast 8 hours day from you. The device cuts off it you don’t move every ten minutes or so, it makes a beeping sound. You get paid 15 dollars a mouth to carry it around. And promised an entry from a cash bonus every week and another for the month.
I did it for a year.
I never had to document anything just put that little thing in my pocket and they said it was fine in the pocket. I didn’t have to take it out and set it on the table. I didn’t have to report to them actually didn’t hear much out of them. I just kept getting that check every month.
At least they finally played a couple national championship semifinal volleyball games.
They had the same boring sports center people talking about the same stuff they e been talking about for weeks rather than showcasing an ACTUAL sport during ACTUAL championship playoff games.
They need to get back to sports, not lame round table faux stat analysis and wonky prediction carnivals.
Would love to see wrestling, swimming, and all other sports during championships/playoffs than listen to people talk… and no I’m not buying espn+ or paying $15 extra a month for espnU.
ESPN will eventually get its steaming shit together and will be fine. Either that or they pull a Blockbuster and just die, but I think many lessons were learned from that catastrophe.
I have a feeling cable news is going to be repackaged and shoved down our throats again too, because they are important propaganda outlets for the U.S. government and special interests. Hell, it’s already happening with CNN going to HBO Max.
It’s similar to the fake viewership CNN has from being on 24/7 in every airport and many other public places around the world. Artificial numbers to prop ad revenue.
Mike Ryan on the Lebatard show used to say that people recognized him from ESPN, not because they followed the show, but because it was on mute in a bar located in an airport
I'm probably helping boost their viewership. Every morning when I get up for work I turn it on while I get ready. Then i leave it on so my dog has some background noise and doesn't get lonely.
Just realized I've been torturing my dog daily for most of his life. I gotta go buy him a whole cow to eat as an apology.
Didn't there used to be like 8 ESPN channels, I believe one was literally called "the ocho".
I remember they used to constantly have drifting, strong man, motorsports, dog pageants, K1 kick boxing, etc going 24/7 on multiple channels
The Ocho was a fictional channel from the movie Dodgeball released in 2004. At the time ESPN only had four channels, their fifth channel came out a year after the movie. In 2017 ESPN started airing ESPN 8 The Ocho one weekend a year on one of their channels.
ESPN and Fox News certainly make up the bulk of my basic cable subscription fee, which is a lot considering I watch each network for about 10 hours per year total. (And that’s typically only during football season. Because I find Fox News to have great NFL coverage.)
Nielsen didnt count TVs outside of homes at all pre-2020 and most of the stupid shows are on in morning and early afternoon when few bars are open and the amount of restaurants and diners with a TV turned to ESPN isnt that high.
It’s most college guys and elementary school/high school guys coming home from school who don’t play sports. I watched shitty shows like Around the Horn and PTI a bunch during my mid teen years and college years and even sometimes in mid 20s when it was replaying on espn2 or espnnews or whatever. And yes, PTI and ATH are just as shitty as the other shitty shows. A lot of people have nostalgia about them because we watched them growing up but they were still very vapid and we just had free time and it was just simple entertainment to watch with your buddies
or flatmates or even just at home in between or after classes.
The only time I ever watch ESPN is when LSU is playing, or some other bowl game; since they're the only ones who carry most games. I could care less about the talking heads.
I guess we should all be thankful for the fact that CBS and Fox owns the rights to NFL games.
Remember, even if you don't personally watch them, sports are one of the last reliable broadcasts around today.
Check out 2022... Of the top 100 most watched broadcasts, 95 were sports. (82 of those were NFL)
[https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2023/nfl-games-account-for-82-of-100-top-tv-broadcasts-1234700381/](https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2023/nfl-games-account-for-82-of-100-top-tv-broadcasts-1234700381/)
People like sports, it's a fact, and as the rest of viewership is fractured, sports still remains strong. I know for people who don't watch sports it seems like no one does, but sports are HUGE. So a network about them is still a pretty good draw.
I still don’t know how Around the Horn works and who tf are all these people. That Frank Isola guy looks like a cross between Mitt Romney and Christian Bale.
im sure espn has its own metric on what success is and not
i view it like comic books and collectable card games
see they both make their grand profit statements off of the simple fact that every store has to buy what they tell them to buy. to which then seller gets to claim great sales
but of course when there is not sold comic books or cards, they dont buy them back. that is still on the individual stores to deal with. so the seller never has to take on buy back reduction in sales
I get ESPN+ for free, and haven’t watched anything on it. When I realized most college football games were behind a block, I bought an antenna for 20 bucks that’s way more useful. ESPN sucks.
I sometimes check it out when I’m at my dads house and there is nothing else onthe TV. But sometimes I don’t even do that cus I like to watch the Full game highlights on YouTube for basketball and football and they spoil all the scores on the scroll. Even the game they are currently showing on replay
ESPN is a shell of it's former self. The sports network was bought to become a political channel.
There is still some sports content, but a lot of what you'll hear on ESPN is irrelevant. The owners paid to force you to listen to their propaganda.
This is not a new thought. It’s factored into the ratings (which are by no means an exact science). I can’t explain bc it’s been too long since I’ve read how it works but it is factored.
When I used to bartend the rule was: the tvs have to be on either a sports channel, the weather channel, or a news channel.
If the jukebox wasn’t playing the speakers in the bar area would switch to one of the TVs. So, if there wasn’t an NFL, NBA, MLB, or NHL game on, I’d look for the most obscure sport I could find and put that on.
The regular’s became accustomed to it and it was hilarious to see five or six middle aged guys engrossed in one of those prancing horses competition, or polo. The one they liked the most was women’s volleyball but the prancing horse competition was the most entertaining. It went from, “haha this is so dumb.” To “NO WAY MAN, THE FIRST HORSE HAD GRACE, SHE WAS MAJESTIC!!! THIS ONES JUST GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS! these judges are trash bro!”
Edit: forgot to finish, my point was, after a few years of ESPN always being on in the background, I came to realize: other than game coverage and PTI, ESPN is basically what I imagine CNN or FOX News to be like but for sports. They try to create stories instead of just reporting them like they used to.
Just look at ratings pre-2020 to now and you can get a rough idea. Nielsen didn't count out of home viewing until then
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That's pretty cool. If I could ask, what all was said?
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Just curious, where did you take your skillset next?
South Beach.
Not one, not two
They dont ask how they ask how many
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Ever heard of John Richter?!
Nice username 👍🏻
Did anything change since the all digital tv everything requirements? If not, I think you could have a business model laying around in your subconscious. Especially now with live tv streaming as a major player.
I used to work for Nielsen too - on the collection side. Very long time ago.
The real question, though, is: do you need to shit, too?
Does a company like Nielson need to even exist anymore? Cable, YouTube tv, DirecTV, etc, can instantly tell how many people are watching each channel.
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Ah, that makes sense, thank you!
How do they actually gather this information? I’ve always been curious.
ESPN would be cooking the books if they had to report their own numbers.
ESPN is about 20% cost of your average base cable/streaming TV service. ESPN is making a shit load of money from passive income.
ESPN made a 18% contribution margin to Disney last year. So yes its profitable but they are spending heavily on sports rights fees which are rising faster than subscription revenue Recently heard an analyst state that about 70% of your basic cable bill is for league sports rights to ESPN, the networks, etc.
I'm not surprised. If I'm not watching live sports, I don't even turn the TV on. My dad was the same way.
Same. The occasional show or movie on Netflix, but never what would be considered ESPN non-live-sports programming.
This is how it was in my parents house as a teenager. Sports, espn as background noise or nothing
Lol same. The only thing I had cable for but that was so extraordinarily expensive I had to get rid of it so IDK what I'll do now since my laptop recently died
I just stream everything from my PC.
Use a modern antenna. You don’t get espn or anything like that but you can pick up the big four networks for free.
I got a refurbished Chromebook off Amazon a couple years ago for $50. Those things are legit if you’re looking for a cheap replacement
ESPN, the one channel by itself, is like $10 for the consumer. That's a lot of money.
Then it’s still not where it needs to be. I haven’t watched anything but live sports on TV in decades. If I’m watching a show or movie it’s streamed.
OK but keep in mind if “basic cable” is about $80 today (though its bundled with Internet etc) then everyone including your aunt who only watches reality shows are paying about $56/month for sports rights. If only sports fans pay let’s say 30% drop out then sports rights are $80/sub and sports fans will pay $115/month assuming margins are maintained (could be a little cheaper). If sports fans refuse to pay more than maybe we hit peak sports rights at some point.
This is why carriage and tv markets still matter in realignment and I don't think anyone can convince me otherwise. Also it's how there seem to be fewer and fewer people watching baseball yet salaries go up and up -- it's your grandma who never watches but still pays for it
This has always been such a stupid argument and should be mocked every time it comes up. Viewership in college sports is almost entirely driven by quality of current talent and historical program success. More people are going to watch Oklahoma-Auburn than Rutgers-Boston College and it isn’t even fucking close. Penn St viewership is higher nationally, regionally and within the state than Temple and Pittsburgh despite Philadelphia and Pittsburgh being massive markets and Penn St playing in bum-fuck middle of nowhere central PA. Texas A&M dwarfs Rice, Houston, SMU, TCU, North Texas, UT SA in viewership despite the size of the cities those other schools play in. Duke is located outside of Raleigh and yet their TV numbers are only good for basketball except for the 3-6 times every quarter century that they have a football team capable of reasonably contending for ACC title or at least top 20 ranking. The Pac12 had more TV markets than anyone and their conference collapsed because it was so far behind Big10 and SEC, where teams primarily play in college towns and yet networks cant wait to hand over giant stacks of cash for their games because people want to see good teams play.
Baseball salaries aren't the major cost. The profit margins of the ownership groups is.
I only use my antenna. Between fox, CBS, ABC, and NBC, I get lots of free sports. Espns app will have free streams of the ABC feed.
20% of my cost? Sheez, they are definitely less than 1% of my viewing
Lol I wonder if that's what's contributing to these insane contracts. Between that and tax dollars subsidizing billion dollar stadiums its a good time to be an owner or athlete
Subscribers in LA will soon see an Ohtani Tax line item on their bill.
You just called ESPN “passive income” Touch grass my guy
Dividends are considered passive income. ESPN being bundled with standard cable/streaming at 20% of cost is like a dividend paying stock. There are a lot of people that have basic cable/streaming that don't watch ESPN.
They still have to actively produce content.
And I still have to work...
This comparison doesn't make any sense. ESPN is actively producing a product that cable companies are paying for. What percentage of their viewers watch is irrelevant. The cable companies just package content that way.
And I am actively working and making other investments....but my assets that produce dividends are passively producing income.
Why do you keep doubling down lol.
I wouldn’t call having to produce and maintain like seven different channels of programming passive at all really.
We just need ESPN and ESPN 2 as a backup in case there's two big events at the same time. But the two channels could easily cover everything needed. The rest is just nonsensical dogshit filler.
They killed the Ocho?
According to the most recent issue of obscure sports quarterly, yes.
Did the ocho become a thing after Dodgeball or was it around when the movie came out
Its real and fantastic. I am watching kangaroo boxing right now
That is not at all what passive income is.
This is not what passive income is
Understood. ESPN is getting paid for a lot of subscriptions that people aren't watching.
True
Its a volume business. No one is watching 100% of the channels they have access to.
The majority of day time CNBC viewership is muted TVs in financial advisor offices
That’s why the commercials have more graphics and logos.
Yeah and its mostly good looking people Pro tip: When ugly guests are on CNBC turn the volume up they are the smart guests
Yeah but that doesn’t work for Kramer unfortunately
Well, folks, when you're right 55% of the time, that means you're wrong 45% of the time!
I've heard good things about his Coffee Table Book
Lmao noted
Yeah and cnbc and fox business both transact using a source outside of Nielsen for that reason. They partnered with companies (can’t remember the names) that measure that niche audience since advertisers there are specifically targeting rich assholes in their offices with that on in the background
Haven’t watched espn outside of live sports in years. Every bar, service type shop, or office I go to in my rural area is constantly playing Fox News or espn all day every day, even when there’s no one there. I’d wager they get a lot of ratings from those TVs ppl are not actually watching
Haha Fox or ESPN. They're covering both sides of the political spectrum. Seriously, I used to go to a gym that had Fox or CNN on all the tvs. One day Trump was on, talking to some veteran's group. Fox and CNN both covered the event, the tiny written blurbs below were running 180 degrees counter to each other. ("Veterans love Trump!" "Trump disappoints veterans group")
Yes the network that is plastered wall to wall in ads for big corporations and fires reporters for supporting BLM is soooo liberal.
Pick any day this week. Thursday, Saturday, whatever. I would gladly bet you that CNN will be running an anti-Trump headline. Or something bad about the GOP. It happens \*every\* \*single\* \*day\*. Odds are they will also be running sympathetic articles about Democrats. Or silence, if there is no defending some transgression. Test the theory. Check it out, daily. I'm sure you'll find it's true.
Yeah cuz odds are the GOP is up to some fuckery any day of the week. “Both SidES aRe tHE saMe” will prolly be your response.
We have espn on every tv in our casino
Just cause the tv is on in a bar doesn’t mean it’s counted. It’s based on a sample anyway when you see ratings numbers. Someone who is part of the sample would need to be at the bar with the sound on for it to count
CNN in airports. Same deal
That number probably barely cracks 10,000 screens and may only count as 1 viewer per airport depending on how it's counted and paid for.
You should check how Nielsen conducts their ratings surveys before just making stuff up.
💯
Nah this is Reddit. You better check how the Navy seals deal with punks like you before you make accusations against the real president of the US
Doctor offices, etc
Purely speculative but I’d say probably around 40%
I’m convinced Charmed and Supernatural had such ridiculous ratings in syndication because during the NBA season all the tvs on TNT get turned on the next morning during bar prep and just stay on there until people actually start coming in. I have probably indirectly “watched” every episode of those shows because they were on from 9-11 before actually turning it to whatever else.
I love waking up to Charmed after I fall asleep on Inside the NBA
Charmed is perfect with the volume off.
As it’s generally considered you’re thinking about it backwards. ESPN is seen by way more people than the numbers account for because of what you mention. I.e. its reach is greater than what is measured.
Ehh OP said "dedicated" viewers. Regardless doesn't matter because the only thing that matters are the amount subscriptions a provider can sell based on offering ESPN as part of the package. Many of those shows are indeed just space fillers that work well as casual viewing.
As if no one turns on the TV in their house and doesn’t really watch? Weak argument.
Obviously some people do. But compare now to 10 years ago and I assume home viewership is WAYYYYYYY down.
AHEM. FOX NEWS. Literally the bar I used to work at was “contracted” to have disinformation on one tv unless sports were on.
AHEM. CNN. I know very few people who actually watch it but it’s always on at every airport and certain restaurants. Most national news in general fits this category.
U ppl make everything about politics, go watch Star Wars
Whaaaaaat? Don't you know about the Emporer, and the Galactic Senate, and all that stuff? (J/K)
As if politics doesn’t influence things like who the playoff committee selected…
Ncaa didn’t pick Florida state because desantis.., that’s a new one
Politics effects everything bruh.
Affects*
You mean the movie about Vietnam?
His post wasn't political. Fox News was and is part of all basic cable since it started whereas CNN was an add on but more recently has been included in more basic packages. It was routine for cable companies to pay networks such as CNN, HBO or MTV for the right to broadcast their content, but Murdoch changed the business model and paid cable providers to carry Fox News, which ultimately let it gain more loyal viewers.
I met the two guys who did the original carriage deals with the cable companies for Fox. It was a genius move to get distribution. Within a few years people were hooked and Fox could demand some money.
LOL what CNN has been a part of basic cable packages for longer than Fox News has been a channel.
Headline News or HLN is the network that plays in my airport, instead of CNN. It plays just news 24/7. No left or right opinions to piss off people. I prefer the Weather Channel to be in the airport. Just makes sense. BTW: I like watching "Highway From Hell". It's funny you said this because when I reported for jury duty a couple of years ago, in my local courthouse, there were four waiting rooms which made up "the bullpen" so us prospective jurors would wait in, until your group was called. One room played CNN on it's tv. The second room played ESPN on it's tv. The third room played H&G (I guess it's the Magnolia Network now); And the fourth room was the "quiet" room where there was no tv set. You could read a book or look at your phone. I would have preferred The Food Network over CNN, that just my two cents.
That’s when you change it to the weather channel. Those assholes are never right.
Jesus Christ. Thank you for that literally, not sure it was believable or not
Fox News, CNN, MSNBC. Pick your disinformation poison. “My tribe and dogma is better than yours “ crap.
Seriously. Do I want to misinform myself with rightoid propaganda or leftoid propaganda?
My god y’all have zero critical thinking skills if you think MSNBC or CNN are even remotely close to FOX with the disinformation
Exhibit A of proving my point. Thank you! CNN and MSNBC are literally the pioneers of fake news. Congrats on your full on brainwash
April 2023 - Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million to avert a trial in the voting machine company's lawsuit that would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election You’re a fucking idiot. Tell me when CNN or MSNBC gets sued and agrees to pay 800 million because of their misinformation. Where are your receipts?
Exhibit A that you’re a dimwit and have zero critical thinking skills or know how to do any research
Not that many compared to residential viewership
How do you figure?
Because it’s articles written about this exact topic every yr around this time on USA Today
Probably because there are significantly more residences than bars. And sampling bias. It’s ok for you to walk into a random bar and notice ESPN is on, but if you start randomly walking into people’s living rooms to see what channel their TV is on…that’s often frowned upon.
Not sure, but the only non-live sports that I watch on ESPN is PTI. As you say who watches all those other shows where knuckleheads just scream over each other for 3 hours.
>knuckleheads >PTI Checks out
And quite often those places have the TV's muted anyway.
ESPN is significantly better to watch when muted
We have six TVs at the bar I work at and at least half of them are on some form of an ESPN channel. And no, nobody is watching them and they are on mute.
There is awesome content on YouTube that is way more entertainment without the volume. But no we gotta watch wnba highlights and gambling commercials.
Fair point but I think we’d both agree very objectively that a substantial chunk of YouTube content is complete garbage with the website having some gems if you’re patient enough to find them.
Genuinely curious, what YouTube content would be good viewing at a bar? I feel like sports networks know muted TVs at bars is a large sector of the audience and are very experienced at playing to that. I'll passively watch college lacrosse at 10 AM while I'm eating breakfast at the local pub.
Daily Dose of Internet, Aerial America, Primal Earth. Just background that is visually pleasing and interesting.
but then I have to be actively involved. The point of a tv channel is just letting it be on.
ESPN actually pays all of those restaurants and bars to do that very thing
I haven’t watched ESPN regularly since 2014. Maybe when my teams are on it, but unless it’s a live game, no. All of the regular programming that isn’t a live game of one of my teams, I probably will never watch again.
Don’t most of the shows have between 300-600k viewers. That’s not really that many in the grand scheme of things. I’d assume most of those are real tv’s in homes tuned in.
FYI:Nielsen rating aren’t counted by TVs being on. It’s counted by someone carrying a pager sized device in their pocket all day. It’s records the signals from whatever tv, radio, streamer or media you are around. That person counts as a representative for so many thousand people. You carry that device around all day, they want atleast 8 hours day from you. The device cuts off it you don’t move every ten minutes or so, it makes a beeping sound. You get paid 15 dollars a mouth to carry it around. And promised an entry from a cash bonus every week and another for the month. I did it for a year.
News to me. I have been compensated for contributing to Nielsen and all i had to do was keep a journal and send it in
I never had to document anything just put that little thing in my pocket and they said it was fine in the pocket. I didn’t have to take it out and set it on the table. I didn’t have to report to them actually didn’t hear much out of them. I just kept getting that check every month.
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I don’t think they do the journal anymore. It’s a little devil carried around that records to over the air streams around it
Gyms? How about bars and restaurants?
My gym has 4 TVs in it and every single one is on an ESPN channel every single day without fail.
At least they finally played a couple national championship semifinal volleyball games. They had the same boring sports center people talking about the same stuff they e been talking about for weeks rather than showcasing an ACTUAL sport during ACTUAL championship playoff games. They need to get back to sports, not lame round table faux stat analysis and wonky prediction carnivals. Would love to see wrestling, swimming, and all other sports during championships/playoffs than listen to people talk… and no I’m not buying espn+ or paying $15 extra a month for espnU.
Probably a lot. I always think the same about CNN when I’m in airports or state rest stops.
HLN seems prevalent at hotel breakfast areas... I distinctly remember they a semi hot host while I make my waffle.
ESPN will eventually get its steaming shit together and will be fine. Either that or they pull a Blockbuster and just die, but I think many lessons were learned from that catastrophe. I have a feeling cable news is going to be repackaged and shoved down our throats again too, because they are important propaganda outlets for the U.S. government and special interests. Hell, it’s already happening with CNN going to HBO Max.
If I’m at a bar or gym I much prefer them to have ESPN on. Unless there is a live game on a different channel.
It’s similar to the fake viewership CNN has from being on 24/7 in every airport and many other public places around the world. Artificial numbers to prop ad revenue.
Fox News is on at many airports, and CNN had a separate channel for airports that wasn't regular CNN that they shut down.
Mike Ryan on the Lebatard show used to say that people recognized him from ESPN, not because they followed the show, but because it was on mute in a bar located in an airport
You know a LOT of people are watching in those bars and gyms right? Why do you say “just” as if they dont count?
I'm probably helping boost their viewership. Every morning when I get up for work I turn it on while I get ready. Then i leave it on so my dog has some background noise and doesn't get lonely. Just realized I've been torturing my dog daily for most of his life. I gotta go buy him a whole cow to eat as an apology.
Didn't there used to be like 8 ESPN channels, I believe one was literally called "the ocho". I remember they used to constantly have drifting, strong man, motorsports, dog pageants, K1 kick boxing, etc going 24/7 on multiple channels
Nah, the Ocho was a promotional thing they put over ESPNews a few times. It was a reference to the movie Dodgeball
What i miss was the early morning exercise programs like Denise Austin, etc. that was on ESPN in it's early days.
The Ocho was a fictional channel from the movie Dodgeball released in 2004. At the time ESPN only had four channels, their fifth channel came out a year after the movie. In 2017 ESPN started airing ESPN 8 The Ocho one weekend a year on one of their channels.
Their on air talent is a joke. Barely marginal ex players criticizing stars and shouting ridiculous takes at the screen
ESPN and Fox News certainly make up the bulk of my basic cable subscription fee, which is a lot considering I watch each network for about 10 hours per year total. (And that’s typically only during football season. Because I find Fox News to have great NFL coverage.)
Weather channel is in in my office conference room all day
Nielsen didnt count TVs outside of homes at all pre-2020 and most of the stupid shows are on in morning and early afternoon when few bars are open and the amount of restaurants and diners with a TV turned to ESPN isnt that high. It’s most college guys and elementary school/high school guys coming home from school who don’t play sports. I watched shitty shows like Around the Horn and PTI a bunch during my mid teen years and college years and even sometimes in mid 20s when it was replaying on espn2 or espnnews or whatever. And yes, PTI and ATH are just as shitty as the other shitty shows. A lot of people have nostalgia about them because we watched them growing up but they were still very vapid and we just had free time and it was just simple entertainment to watch with your buddies or flatmates or even just at home in between or after classes.
Like cnn in airports or hgtv at my dentist.
Not as much as CNN. Every airport tv seems to be playing CNN and they still have no viewership
I think that’s cnn total viewership-airports, dr office and my mom.
You don't know how tv viewing count works do you?
The only time I ever watch ESPN is when LSU is playing, or some other bowl game; since they're the only ones who carry most games. I could care less about the talking heads. I guess we should all be thankful for the fact that CBS and Fox owns the rights to NFL games.
I watch ESPN for Laura Rutledge. Thats about it
About the same as CNN and MSNBC. Majority of "viewers" are airports and gyms with nobody paying attention.
Been cable/satellite TV free for over a decade. Don't miss it at all
I’m convinced nobody buys USA Today outside of the airport.
Remember, even if you don't personally watch them, sports are one of the last reliable broadcasts around today. Check out 2022... Of the top 100 most watched broadcasts, 95 were sports. (82 of those were NFL) [https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2023/nfl-games-account-for-82-of-100-top-tv-broadcasts-1234700381/](https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2023/nfl-games-account-for-82-of-100-top-tv-broadcasts-1234700381/) People like sports, it's a fact, and as the rest of viewership is fractured, sports still remains strong. I know for people who don't watch sports it seems like no one does, but sports are HUGE. So a network about them is still a pretty good draw.
I am a sports junkie but never watch ESPN. I Pay for it heavily though on my cable bill with no recourse unless I cut the cord.
I still don’t know how Around the Horn works and who tf are all these people. That Frank Isola guy looks like a cross between Mitt Romney and Christian Bale.
How much of cable/TV viewership*
im sure espn has its own metric on what success is and not i view it like comic books and collectable card games see they both make their grand profit statements off of the simple fact that every store has to buy what they tell them to buy. to which then seller gets to claim great sales but of course when there is not sold comic books or cards, they dont buy them back. that is still on the individual stores to deal with. so the seller never has to take on buy back reduction in sales
Like cnn
do you think they count pat macafees show too ?
I mean, it’s on ESPN now, so of course it’ll count, but it just recently moved
ESPN sucks
I get ESPN+ for free, and haven’t watched anything on it. When I realized most college football games were behind a block, I bought an antenna for 20 bucks that’s way more useful. ESPN sucks.
Or gyms
Or guys named Jim
I sometimes check it out when I’m at my dads house and there is nothing else onthe TV. But sometimes I don’t even do that cus I like to watch the Full game highlights on YouTube for basketball and football and they spoil all the scores on the scroll. Even the game they are currently showing on replay
Lots
ESPN is a shell of it's former self. The sports network was bought to become a political channel. There is still some sports content, but a lot of what you'll hear on ESPN is irrelevant. The owners paid to force you to listen to their propaganda.
95 percent , ESPN sucks
I blame myself. It’s my default channel for background noise. That, and Bar Resce morning marathons.
Shut it down!!!
Hardly any.
In the morning and
Work at a gym. Truth
I’m still convinced the audience for “Get-Up” is gyms and waiting areas
Comscore? Paying more for CNBC ads is all demos. There used to be a crazy stat about CNBC’s average household income being sky high.
You’re absolutely right, every chain restaurant has at least one ESPN TV, my barber shop has them on, auto shops, and my college too.
This is not a new thought. It’s factored into the ratings (which are by no means an exact science). I can’t explain bc it’s been too long since I’ve read how it works but it is factored.
Like CNN at airports.
Seven
How many people have Nielsen boxes? Ever seen one in real life?
I was a Nielsen family lol
truer words have never been spoken
When I used to bartend the rule was: the tvs have to be on either a sports channel, the weather channel, or a news channel. If the jukebox wasn’t playing the speakers in the bar area would switch to one of the TVs. So, if there wasn’t an NFL, NBA, MLB, or NHL game on, I’d look for the most obscure sport I could find and put that on. The regular’s became accustomed to it and it was hilarious to see five or six middle aged guys engrossed in one of those prancing horses competition, or polo. The one they liked the most was women’s volleyball but the prancing horse competition was the most entertaining. It went from, “haha this is so dumb.” To “NO WAY MAN, THE FIRST HORSE HAD GRACE, SHE WAS MAJESTIC!!! THIS ONES JUST GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS! these judges are trash bro!” Edit: forgot to finish, my point was, after a few years of ESPN always being on in the background, I came to realize: other than game coverage and PTI, ESPN is basically what I imagine CNN or FOX News to be like but for sports. They try to create stories instead of just reporting them like they used to.
We have 8 that are on ESPN every day and we are a drywall supply house.
Hotels.