Monthly Archives: June 2010
Sports Media Weekly Podcast #39- Jason McIntyre, The Big Lead
Ken Fang of Fang’s Bites and I are back for another edition of the Sports Media Weekly Podcast.
This week we do not spend any time with the sports media news of the week, we spend the entire show with our guest.
Joining us this week is Jason McIntyre, Editor of The Big Lead, one of the most popular sports blogs on the web. Jason and The Big Lead were in the news of late as the site was recently purchased by Fantasy Sports Ventures, which owns and markets multiple sports websites and blogs.
We talk to Jason about his career and growth of The Big Lead. We also touch upon the role large sports blog networks like Fantasy Sports Ventures has in providing diverse, and relevant sports content. We explore how The Big Lead has impacted the way the sports media is covered. And we ask Jason whether he sent ESPN’s Colin Cowherd a thank you card after the site’s acquisition was complete.
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We Had More Viewers, No We Had More Viewers
File this under, “kids will be kids”.
Two sports media entities are claiming they’ve had the most online viewers for a sporting event. Let me explain.
It all started when ESPN sent out a press release yesterday claiming the following:
The U.S. vs. Algeria game marked a milestone for online video, logging the largest U.S. audience ever for a sports event on the web. It attracted nearly 1.1 million unique viewers with an average time spent viewing of 43 minutes.
CBS Sports saw the news report with ESPN claiming the audience eclipsed the online viewing of the Duke/Butler NCAA Championship Game. CBS PR responded thusly:
As anyone who has followed NCAA March Madness on Demand (MMOD) since we started streaming the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship in 2003 will tell you, CBSSports.com has always said we get the biggest audiences for the first round games. With that in mind, it was incorrect for ESPN to assume the Duke-Butler championship game, which was viewed by 48 million people on CBS Television in primetime, would produce the largest online number for the tournament. Unfortunately, we were never contacted by ESPN to confirm that the Duke-Butler game was our largest single game from the 2010 tournament before they reported it.
To set the facts straight, we pulled the per game streaming data for 2010 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship on MMOD and the attached chart shows traffic for the individual games – 3rd party sourced by Akamai – with the two World Cup games and the data that ESPN is reporting.
Here’s the chart:
Are these the facts? Who knows. Do you care? Can’t we all get along?
Sports Media Weekly Podcast #38- Neil Best, Newsday
Time again for the latest Sports Media Weekly Podcast.
Today Ken Fang from Fang’s Bites and I are joined for the entire show by Neil Best, Sports Media Columnist for Newsday.
We start the discussion on the impressive ratings thus far for ESPN and it’s coverage of the World Cup, both on television and online.
We also discuss the impact the NBA and NHL Playoff ratings will have long term, how a projected NFL lockout will impact the television networks, and whether the agenda at the Associated Press Sports Editors Convention really fits into the future of newspapers.
We also discuss with Neil a couple of New York-centric sports media items…the Jerry Seinfeld/Lady Gaga rift as the behind-the-scenes alleged treatment of WFAN interns.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Random Video Clip #24
It’s been a while since we’ve done this…post a random video clip which depicts the sports media.
Today I have a documentary on the behind-the-scenes of ABC producing a college football telecast from 1975. The video is long (28 minutes) but provides great insight into the equipment of the era and the workings inside the truck, events that still play out today. Please take the time to watch it…
