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dmendyk
dmendyk
11/22/2016 11:56:38 AM
User Rank
Platinum
The appeal is more selective
Adi -- I'm not sure there's a link between ratings and "sports economics" except for the overabundance of options. Putting Netflix et al. aside, on a given Saturday in the U.S. there are about 40 or so college football games airing on different networks. That's simply an absurd number. I do think that younger people are generally less interested/invested in following sports than in the past, which is probably a good thing. Also, it makes sense that people would start time-shifting "live" events because, well, that's what they do with other video options.

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faryl
faryl
11/22/2016 4:44:10 PM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: The appeal is more selective
Not only are there a ton of options, in many markets you can't watch the local games unless the stadiums sell out.

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clrmoney
clrmoney
11/22/2016 12:42:36 PM
User Rank
Platinum
Sports is not to blame
I think that people are just interested in more things besides sports like more important things going on in the world like important news or something.

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dmendyk
dmendyk
11/22/2016 4:58:51 PM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: Sports is not to blame
Given what we've just been through in the US for the past two years, more escapism is probably a good thing. It may be the key to maintaining sanity. I wonder if there are any studies showing the amount of time people spend on gaming as opposed to watching sporting events.

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Adi
Adi
11/23/2016 4:50:55 AM
User Rank
Author
Video escapism
There is a theory on tough times and escapist content-- the great depression was a golden era for Hollywood, with epic productions and rich sets that were hugely successful. Producers created opulent movies that would take people away from their tougher reality. Haven't seen any hard data on it, but I buy the logic.

Maybe that's what the current vampire and zombie craze is all about. The walking dead don't have to worry about nukes in kaliningrad.

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freehe
freehe
11/26/2016 12:42:58 PM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: Sports is not to blame
@clrmoney, I totally agree. There are so many more options for tv viewing. TV companies have to change their outdated business practices if they want to remain competitive and profitable. Eventually everyone gets tired of a good thing.

 

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ms.akkineni
ms.akkineni
11/22/2016 6:03:42 PM
User Rank
Platinum
Sports Stats
I am a bit surprised to see the declining stats. I thought the craze for sports viewing has been ever chnaging in my view. I may have been in dark. :) 

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afwriter
afwriter
11/22/2016 11:45:44 PM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: Sports Stats
As a Minnesota sports fan I can tell you that part of it is people starting to not care when their team goes south.  With the NFL, for example, the way it has been this year with so many teams up and down it is no wonder that a lot of people are tuning out.  At the end of the day I think there are so many factors that it is hard to pin it down to just one. 

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dmendyk
dmendyk
11/23/2016 11:23:14 AM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: Sports Stats
Between the Wild and the Wolves, it's a good thing Minnesotans have 1000 lakes for ice fishing. But at least you have the Twins. Oh, wait... never mind.

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ms.akkineni
ms.akkineni
11/23/2016 11:53:22 AM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: Sports Stats
Minnesotans are lucky for the options that they have, besides the sport. Nature related activity supposedly good option to wipe off all carry over feelings.

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dmendyk
dmendyk
11/23/2016 11:56:20 AM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: Sports Stats
And, if Garrison Keillor is to be believed, there's the lutefisk. Nothing beats a lye-treated whitefish dinner.

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ms.akkineni
ms.akkineni
11/23/2016 11:50:10 AM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: Sports Stats
@afwriter: I can not completely deny what you are saying.

But still having hard time to get it in, as I heard completely different outpour when Kansas team won last time. My brother lives there and he was part of the celebration.

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ms.akkineni
ms.akkineni
11/22/2016 6:05:37 PM
User Rank
Platinum
Recent Political Situation
And the stats makes sense when we think about recent poilitical developments in US. This certainly must have impacted viewing trend across the globe, not just limited to US.

 

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afwriter
afwriter
11/22/2016 11:48:29 PM
User Rank
Platinum
Big Events
@Adi I would be interested to see if we see the same declines in the "big" events like the Superbowl or the World Cup.

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Adi
Adi
11/23/2016 5:10:25 AM
User Rank
Author
Re: Big Events
@afwriter - no impact on Superbowl, ratings and share fairly steady over the past few years. No world cup this year, and I think 2014 is a bit far back since the downward trend is more recent -- really just this year.

I think the really big events -- and they don't come much bigger than the Superbowl -- will be the last to be affected. It's the smaller stuff that gets dropped first. But it's also a bit more complicated than that.

Interesting story from Hungary - at the Euros, Magyar Telecom streamed the matches, anticipating fairly low viewership. (Hungary, unlike most European countries, is not really into sports). But the team did really well, and streaming traffic spiked. Network management folks at the operator were starting to get really worried about capcity, when usage suddenly dropped. Turned out, now that Hungary was doing well, people wanted to watch the matches with their friends, at bars, on TV sets -- rather than stream them. 

That being said, ratings for the Euro 2016 tournament in England were at a 7-tournament low this year.

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dmendyk
dmendyk
11/23/2016 9:19:18 AM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: Big Events
Hi, Adi -- In the context of content value, live sports events are one of the last premium draws for viewers. The immediacy of the moment is the magic bean. But you know much better than I that placing a value on this content is far from simple. The problem for video distributors is that they have to commit to very long-term agreements (five years or more being the norm) at current market rates, with little or no leeway for a downward adjustment. ESPN is now spending billions of dollars on packages (mainly college sports) whose value to advertisers is diminishing as ratings drop. Meanwhile, cord cutting and cord shaving is resulting in declining up-front subscriber revenue as well. The golden goose that is sports programming is far from dead, but it's definitely losing some feathers.

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Ariella
Ariella
11/23/2016 10:59:43 AM
User Rank
Author
Re: Big Events
@dmendyk five years is indeed a very long term agreement, especially in light of how quickly programming and broadcasting has been changing in recent years. Perhaps they will have to rethink those contracts going forward.

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dmendyk
dmendyk
11/23/2016 11:20:22 AM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: Big Events
The problem is that the precedent for long-term deals has been set, and it won't change unless every single content distributor decides to pass on those deals, which is not likely to happen. With sports content, there are deals that even stretch out to 10 years or more. Content owners -- professional leagues and "amateur" college conferences -- aren't going to reduce contract lengths unless they absolutely have to.

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freehe
freehe
11/26/2016 12:44:37 PM
User Rank
Platinum
Sports Economics
I saw the decline 5 years ago, unfortunately some companies are just now seeing it. Other companies are still using the old business model. This is a tough market and if companies want to remain competitive they will constantly have to assess what content their viewers want, how they want it and when they want it. Otherwise, they should switch to another industry.

Change is inevitable. Nothing stays the same!

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Ariella
Ariella
11/26/2016 5:57:26 PM
User Rank
Author
Re: Sports Economics
Bloomberg just posted this article https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-11-25/tv-sport-loses-its-allure-for-younger-viewers "Young people in eight of the ten countries surveyed displayed less interest in sports than the average for the country. "

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elizabethv
elizabethv
11/29/2016 8:34:48 AM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: Sports Economics
@Ariella - That's a really interesting article! It likely relates to the wider range of options available to the younger generations for entertainment than was available before. Even just the kids that are absorbed into the video gaming world I am sure take a big hit out of people who, had they been born 50 years earlier, would have enjoyed sports. Another caveat is that people don't tend to be as dedicated in one thing as they used to. We tend to spread ourselves out more. I enjoy watching baseball, but if I miss the games, I don't really mind. 

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Ariella
Ariella
11/29/2016 8:36:18 AM
User Rank
Author
Re: Sports Economics
@elizabethv certainly, there are a lot more entertainment options vying for our attention these days.  

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dlr5288
dlr5288
11/29/2016 10:48:30 PM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: Sports Economics
I totally agree! I think some companies are scared of change, but it's something that has to be done. Technology and consumers needs are always changing.

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elizabethv
elizabethv
11/30/2016 4:02:32 AM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: Sports Economics
@dlr5288 - people in general are certainly resistent to change. But I think overall Telco changes so rapidly, you just have to accept it. The real exception being sports. Where I think a lot of people involved in the production of sports just accept that it's a money maker and don't worry too much about trying to please customers. Even when they should be worried about it. 

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dlr5288
dlr5288
11/30/2016 6:20:49 PM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: Sports Economics
Good point, I agree. I think being able to keep up with the consumers even with something as sports they should be able to chnage with the times and be able to adapt.

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ms.akkineni
ms.akkineni
11/23/2016 11:55:59 AM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: Big Events
@afwriter: That will make both of us. I am equally curious to see the trend for big events. I am aware of the enormous craze for the sport CRICKET in many countries. I know US has no suck professional sport. But elsewhere the countries that are into that sport, usually are very obsessed.

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Ariella
Ariella
11/23/2016 1:24:47 PM
User Rank
Author
Re: Big Events
@ms.akikineni Well, here they get excited for the counterpart of that sport, baseball, especially this past World Series with the Cubs' win. Football also draws quite a bit of attention with the excitement of a single game determining the winner at the Super Bowl. Basketball is some people's favorite sport. Soccer doesn't get much attention (in contrast to other parts of the world). My impression is that hockey doesn't get all that much either.

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elizabethv
elizabethv
11/23/2016 7:42:20 AM
User Rank
Platinum
$$$$
I think it's well passed time for all sports teams and broadcast companies to re-evaluate their future. The need and the demand for watching live sporting events just isn't what it once was, and unless something big changes, it may never be again.  The need just doesn't exist like it used to, when you can get live updates on your phone and you dont. I'm genuinely surprised the cost of actually attending a sporting event hasn't gone down yet. I was at a basketball game Sunday night, because I'd won tickets. And if I hadn't won the tickets, I wouldn't have been there. They even had "Star Wars Night" that night, and still the stadium was half empty. If nothing else, the future will be intesting  that's for sure.                                                                                                                                                                                                      

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freehe
freehe
11/26/2016 12:40:17 PM
User Rank
Platinum
Re: $$$$
@elizabethv, Good points.

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JohnBarnes
JohnBarnes
11/30/2016 8:26:33 AM
User Rank
Platinum
Viewing protocol becoming drastically different for younger viewers
To talk professorese for a moment: younger consumers in general don't consume narrative arts (sports is a narrative art -- you'd better be able to tell the beginning from the middle from the end of the game, and it matters what order the events happen in!) in anything like the way their grandparents did. There's a tendency to stream movies in the background while doing other things, for example, and just back up a couple of minutes whenever something visually or aurally interesting happens. Literature, theatre, and media profs are reporting many students can't give even the simplest plot summaries and that some seem to have trouble seeing what the plot summry has to do with the thing they're reading or watching. "Dip and flip" reading is endemic and widespread (see this old blog piece by me for more than you are ever likely to want to know). So it makes sense that younger viewers only want box scores (public record and all but impossible to monetize) and highlights (with many of the same problems as monetizing music -- too brief and too portable and a strong sense by the consumer that it should be free anyway).

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