04/10/19: NCAA grades out

Good morning. It’s Wednesday April 10, 2019 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

Virginia’s epic OT win over Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament Men’s National Championship Game on CBS capped a month of successes for CBS Sports and Turner Sports’ coverage of the tournament. The championship game drew a 12.4/22 HH rating/share, based on Nielsen metered market ratings for a rise of 20% over last year’s numbers (but off-pace from the last time the game aired on CBS), peaking at a 15.0/30 from 11:30-11:45p. Overall, 2019 NCAA Tournament coverage across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV averaged a 7.1/15, up 11% from last year (6.4/14). Richmond (31.3/48) was the top local market for last night’s game, followed by Norfolk (23.4/39), Minneapolis (23.3/41), Louisville (23.2/37) and Kansas City (21.1/36).

NCAA March Madness Live set all-time tournament records in live streams (over 100 million) and live hours consumed (over 24 million), up 31% and 29% vs. last year. NCAA March Madness Live generated a record for last night’s NCAA Championship Game based on live uniques, with live streams and live hours consumed showing increases of 19% and 7% vs. last year.

PROGRAMMING

The NFL revealed the 2019 preseason schedule, with 65 games slated including eight nationally televised games. The 2019 preseason will kick off on Aug. 1 on NBC when the Atlanta Falcons face the Denver Broncos in the NFL/Hall of Fame Game. In addition, NFL Network will provide extensive coverage of the NFL preseason, including live or re-aired broadcasts of all 65 games. Week two of the preseason sees ESPN carry Raiders/Cardinals on Aug. 15 at 8p, CBS offers Saints/Chargers on Aug. 18 at 4p, while FOX showcases Seahawks/Vikings at 8p. ESPN then delivers 49ers/Broncos on Aug. 19 at 8p. Week three then sees FOX deliver Jaguars/Dolphins on Aug. 22, CBS carry Bills/Lions on Aug. 23 and Steelers/Titans on NBC on Aug. 25.

Republica Deportiva, the longest-running sports news program in the US, regardless of language, is celebrating its 20-year anniversary with a special on-air event on April 14 at 3p on Univision and Univision Deportes Network. “El Presidente” Fernando Fiore and “La Comadre” Rosana Franco, the founding hosts of “Republica Deportiva” in 1999, will join the celebration, along with the unforgettable “Senadoras.” Meanwhile, hosts Félix Fernández, Adriana Monsalveand Xavier Sol will share special messages of congratulations from celebrities who have taken part in the popular show.

The National Women’s Soccer League locked in a deal with Yahoo Sports to stream the 2019 regular season live exclusively on the Yahoo Sports app for digital distribution in the US. The 2019 NWSL regular season will kick off Saturday, as the reigning NWSL champions the North Carolina Courage square off against the Chicago Red Stars.

With more numbers in the books, ESPN reports that the 2019 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship game between Baylor and Notre Dame on April 7, delivered a Nielsen reported audience of 3,689,000 viewers on ESPN, up 3% from last year’s championship game to rank as the second most watched women’s basketball national championship game since 2014. The audience peaked at 5,598,000 viewers as the matchup came down to the final minutes of the game. The three game NCAA Women’s Final Four on ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 2,475,000 viewers, up from last year’s three thrilling games.

With the puck dropping on the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs today, ESPN+ announced coverage plans that give subscribers access to an exclusive behind-the-scenes series, expert post-game analysis and on-demand replays of every game following the final buzzer. Quest for the Stanley Cup, the behind-the-scenes documentary series chronicling the final eight teams as they compete in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, will premiere on May 3, while NHL experts and co-hosts Linda Cohn and Barry Melrose will provide viewers with analysis and comprehensive highlights of every playoff game on In the Crease.

Cadence13, a premium podcast company, announced The GM Shuffle, a new weekly podcast hosted by Michael Lombardi and Adnan Virk covering all aspects of football and the NFL. The GM Shuffle launches today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Radio.com, etc. with new episodes available weekly.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Cynopsis Top Women in Media Awards

Featured Category: Distinguished Companies

In addition to honoring the contributions of outstanding women in every facet of the media industry, we’re also recognizing companies that support and encourage women to positions of prominence. These companies implement policies and programs thoughtfully crafted to create a culture of inclusion, diversity, equal opportunity and to amplify women’s voices at every level of the media landscape.

[ NOMINATE BY APRIL 16 ]

SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Competitive intelligence platforms BrandTotal reports that AT&T, Buffalo Wild Wings and Infiniti ran some of the top social media campaigns during the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, with BWW posting fairly evenly across social using Facebook (31%), Instagram (39%), and Twitter (30%) with the most viewed ad, in terms of engagement, being an Instagram Dark post about March Madness. AT&T leveraged YouTube (69%) as their main medium, with Instagram (21%) as its second and Facebook third(9%) and scored a positive sentiment report of 45% and a negative sentiment 18%. Infinity used Instagram in 85% of its posts with the other 14% coming from Facebook, scoring a 2% negative sentiment report for its campaign and 29% positive.

Budweiser unveiled a tribute film honoring Dwyane Wade’s retirement, celebrating his athletic achievements, impact and legacy off the court. The film, “This Bud’s For 3,” takes Dwyane’s season-long jersey swap ritual “to the next level as he comes face-to-face with some of the fans he’s impacted the most throughout his career” and while Dwyane thinks he is showing up to swap more jerseys. Once he arrives, he learns it is actually fans who he has personally impacted.

DIGITAL, DATA & STREAMING

US sportsbook operator PointsBet announced that the company will now guarantee that it will honor a minimum bet to win amount of $10,000 for all customers on game day for every single MLB matchup, all NBA and NHL playoff games, and into the NFL Season. PointsBet will guarantee this “to win” amount on all spreadline and moneyline bets starting at 10a. The Game Day Guarantee will extend until the end of the NFL Season in 2020, empowering all “sharp” or winning bettors, who are often drastically reduced or banned from betting altogether, with the ability to place large wagers all season long.

Topgolf revealed its first Topgolf Lounge, set to officially open outside Seattle later this year. Topgolf Lounge will expand the company’s traditional venue footprint into urban areas, with each Topgolf Lounge featuring live sports on massive flat screens, industry-leading Full Swing simulators with a broad selection of virtual games, music and locally curated dishes, hand-crafted desserts and cocktail selections.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced a multi-year partnership with Tickets.com, including an integration of Tickets.com’s ProVenue platform for Museum membership and premier stadium events. The ProVenue platform will allow the Hall of Fame to sell tickets online, create marketing campaigns to a targeted audience, and enhance customer service experience for guests.

PokerStars announced the launch of UFC-branded Spin & Go’s as part of PokerStars’ exclusive global partnership with the MMA promotion. Poker fans will see UFC branding emblazon newly relaunched Spin & Go’s, fast-paced, three-player poker tournaments with randomly assigned prize pools and cash prizes for the taking. The UFC-branded Spin & Go is now live on PokerStars where, for the first time, players can play poker inside UFC’s world-famous Octagon,

NASCAR’s Food City 500 race, airing on Fox Sports, broke into the top five of Tunity Analytics out-of-home sports programs list for the week of April 1, which continues to be dominated by NCAA games. Three of the remaining four entries aired on CBS, with the network delivering over five million more viewers to the Texas Tech vs. Michigan State game – the second highest delivery of OOH viewers – than the third highest game, Baylor vs. Notre Dame on ESPN.

Show/Network/Date/(000’s)

NCAAM Auburn/Virginia on CBS on April 6 (6943)
NCAAM Texas Tech/Michigan State on CBS on April 6 (6100)
NCAAW Baylor/Notre Dame on ESPN on April 7 (1084)
NASCAR – Food City 500 on FOX Sports on April 7 (843)
The Final Four Show on CBS on April 6 (656)

Source: Tunity Analytics. Viewing estimates are derived from Tunity mobile app usage for the week beginning April 1, 2019. OOH viewer impressions are calculated using Tunity Analytics proprietary estimation model.

Fan voting for the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2020 opened on NASCAR.com and runs through Monday, May 20 The five nominees receiving the highest percentage of votes will comprise the Fan Vote ballot with 20 nomninees in contention, including names such as Joe Gibbs, Bobby Labonte, Ricky Rudd, and Tony Stewart.

ESPORTS

The NBA 2K League and YouTube announced that the video platform will stream live broadcasts of NBA 2K League games and distribute highlights on the official NBA 2K League YouTube Channel throughout the current second season of the league. YouTube will now carry all NBA 2K League games this season, including more than 230 regular-season, tournament and NBA 2K League Playoff and Finals games combined.

Echo Fox signed a deal with Celsius Holdings, makers of the fitness drink, CELSIUS as its official performance energy drink sponsor. The partnership marks the beverage company’s first foray into the esports arena and – as part of the partnership – CELSIUS will provide all four of their product lines to Echo Fox and their players.

HyperX locked in a sponsorship of the FACEIT Global Summit: PUBG Classic, the first public global PUBG esports event of the 2019 season. HyperX will be the official sponsor of mice, mouse pads, DRAM, and SSD products at the global summit and finals. The FACEIT Global Summit: PUBG Classic has a prize pool of $400K and will culminate with the crowning of the first champion of the PUBG Classic series at the ExCel London. The deal includes branding and ad placements in the tournament stream, in-arena branding, dedicated social media posts.

Empress Intelligence’s 24/7 esports channel, ESR locked in a deal to launch on OTT platform STIRR, owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. The platform will now host ESR’s blend of esports content, including tournaments, live events, match highlights, docuseries, reality shows, and talk shows. ESR chief executive Wendy Wang said: “Our goal is to share the growing excitement for esports to a broader audience, reaching across the entire range of gamers, fans, and future fans with the best esports content and gaming entertainment.”

INDUSTRY/ROSTER MOVES

The Men’s League of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association announced an agreement on a new multi-year contract for President and Men’s Commissioner Bill Robertson, who completed his fifth season with the WCHA in 2018-19 and was the driving force behind the WCHA’s move to an on-campus playoff model in 2017. “The WCHA has seen continued growth and success under Bill Robertson’s leadership and we are thrilled to announce he will continue as our Men’s League Commissioner,” Northern Michigan University President and WCHA Men’s Board of Directors Chairman Dr. Fritz Erickson said. “Bill joined the Association at a pivotal point in our history in 2014 and has steered us through an era of change to position the league well for the future.”

RIP to Marilyn Smith, who was one of the 13 founders of the LPGA Tour and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame who died on Tuesday at 89. Smith was president of the LPGA from 1958 to 1960, and in 1973 she became the first woman to work a PGA Tour event as a TV broadcaster.

THE MAIN EVENT

Stanley Cup Playoffs get underway starting with Blue Jackets/Lightning on USA at 7p.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Cynopsis Sports Media Awards

April 25 | 8:30am – 10:30am | NYAC, NYC

In addition to the talented Luminary Award honorees below, we’re thrilled to celebrate the finalists representing the best companies in sports media.

GEM AWARD: MGM Resorts (accepted by: Scott Butera, President, Interactive Gaming)

LEGACY AWARD: NFL Films (accepted by: Steve Trout, Host/Sr. Director)

VISION AWARD: ONE Championship’s CEO, International, Victor Cui

NAVIGATOR AWARD: NBC Sports’ CMO & EVP, Content Strategy, Jenny Storms

ON THIS DAY in 1983: Eddie Murray gets hit #1000.

In the Know: Masters week! Which hole at Augusta National is the shortest? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: There are three dedicated bridges at Augusta National, name one of the players that they are named after. Answer: Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, and Gene Sarazen. Kudos: Michael Brown-UEG/NY; Chris Faulds-Eyereturn Marketing/Toronto; Tom Wetzel-MMSI/Warwick; Matt Sautter-WideOrbit/Harrisburg; Paul Brewer-TV Talent Agents/North Augusta; Mike May-PHIT America/Wellington; Joe Lyons-ESPN/Dallas; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; John Tingue-Hulu/Chicago; Lance Phegley-Texas Runner and Triathlete magazine/Houston; Greg Moloznik-GLM Media/Scottsdale; Larry Hutchings/Nipomo; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA

Later — Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
Kerry Smith Division President Access Intelligence Roberta Caploe Publisher @robertacaploe	Cynopsis Ad Sales Mike Farina 203-218-6480 Albert Nassour 917-545-3129	Cynopsis Job Listings Sales Trish Pihonak 203-899-8459 Director of Operations

CYNOPSISJOBS – For More jobs, please visit Cynopsis.com

JOB OF THE DAY

ACCOUNT SERVICE REP
Crown Media Family Networks
NY

Train/mentor sales planners & sales assts. Present new prgrmng & mktg opps to clients & new bus. prospects. Negotiate scatter deals & build targeted sales pitches. Min 2 yrs sales plan’g or buying exp. Ability to create flowcharts & PP pres. BA/BS req.

Full info/apply HERE

COORDINATOR, INTEGRATED MARKETING/Tennis Channel/NYC: Provide marketing support to the Ad Sales team in NY, CHI & LA. Dvlp, activate & execute monetizable & innovative multi-platform mktg solutions for new & existing sponsors. Ideally 1-2 yrs exp in sports mktg, media, or advertising. Full info HERE (4/21)

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE/Telemundo/San Diego: Identify/target/dvlp & secure new business for NBC 7 & Telemundo 20 through a variety of platforms including on-air, on-line, mobile & OOH. BA deg, strong written comm skills & min 2 yrs previous advertising exp. Full info HERE (4/18)

ACCOUNT SERVICE REP/Crown Media Family Networks/NY: Train/mentor sales planners & sales assts. Present new prgrmng & mktg opps to clients & new bus. prospects. Negotiate scatter deals & build targeted sales pitches. Min 2 yrs sales plan’g or buying exp. Ability to create flowcharts & PP pres. BA/BS req. Full info/apply HERE (4/18)

SALES PLANNER/Crown Media Family Networks/ATL: Provide sales and support to the Ad Sales team for Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries & Hallmark Drama. Maintain media schedules, build sales plans, manage added value. BA/BS & min 1 yr exp. req. Apply HERE (4/18)

DIGITAL RESEARCH ANALYST/Crown Media Family Networks/LA: Analyze subscriber behavior for SVOD, Hallmark Movies Now. Create, maintain & present daily, wkly &monthly reports. Track/analyze Hallmark Channel Podcast data. BA/BS & min 1 yr exp. translating complex data into bus. insights req. Apply HERE (4/18)

MGR, AD SALES PARTNERSHIPS/A+E Networks/NY: Serve as ad sales partnerships resource & thought leader in the sales dept, managing ideation & response to RFPs, creating prod knwldg one sheets based on assigned network & disciplines, knowledgeable in digital/social mktg products & tools, effectively demonstrating how they can be leveraged in strategic 360 campaigns. Full info HERE (4/18)

SR ANALYST, SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS/Viacom/NYC: Monitor/report/analyst performance of content across VIMN properties on digital media platforms, primarily social incl reporting and analysis across all key performance metrics. Exp providing digital/social research analytics and data to senior partners. Full info HERE (4/18)

EXECUTIVE/PERSONAL ASSISTANT/OFFICE MGR/TWO CATS TV/NYC: Support Sr. Producer and overall office in small prodco. Phones, filing, supplies, calendars, inventory, bookkeeping, shipping, payroll. Some travel. Must be able to drive crew van in NYC. WORD/EXCEL a must. 2+ yrs. exp. Resume and cover letter [email protected] (4/17)

SOCIAL MEDIA PRODUCER/Fox News Channel/NYC: Help produce content for all of our social media platforms. Team player with a positive attitude a must & comfortable working under pressure in a fast-paced envir. Your passion for news is bar none! Exc writing skills & 3+ yrs of exp in news, TV or web. Full info HERE (4/17)

PROGRAM PLANNING COORDINATOR/Discovery Inc/NYC: Responsibilities include gathering, entering and disseminating scheduling materials. Assist the Program Planning team in maintaining programming schedules and timeliness of program delivery. 2 yr exp in area of responsibility. Full info HERE (4/17)

ACCOUNT SERVICES REP /Weigel NTWRKS/CHI – Responsible for maintaining all aspects of account management for the Chicago advertising sales team and providing timely and accurate info to the sales team and to the client. BA deg or previous media exp pref’d. MS PP, Excel, word exp a must. Full info HERE (4/16)

VIDEO PRODUCER/SYFY WIRE/NYC: Resp for the creative ideation & execution of longform & shortform video content across all platforms SYFY WIRE, SYFY’s genre news & lifestyle brand. Take projects from dvlpmnt thru post-prod. Support one-off creative needs as they arise. Own prod process, mng projects. 3+ yrs related exp. Full info HERE (4/16)

DIR, SALES MARKETING/ION MEDIA/NY: Ideal candidate will develop strategic sales positioning for ION Television’s unique value proposition. This position will help the sales organization drive revenue growth on existing accounts in new business categories. Min of 5yrs exp at a media co, expert in MS Office Suite and PPT. Full info HERE (4/13)

ACCT EXEC, SALES DEVELOPMENT (Consumer Tech)/ION MEDIA/NY: Seeking sales professional to generate new advrtg accts and revenue for ION’s linear television platform. Dedicated category focus on companies which specialize in consumer technology, social media, e-commerce and OTT. Self-starter with 8-10yrs of TV selling or related adv sales exp. Full info HERE (4/13)

SALES-MARKETING COORD/AMERICAN TARGET NETWORK/NY: Ideal Candidate will work closely with sales managing client relationships and processing requests, inputting order and traffic. Be able to create mktg sales decks and promotional materials. Manage internal process for credit applications, monthly billing and weekly budget reports. Full info HERE Send resume and salary requirements to [email protected] (4/13)

Cynopsis • Access Intelligence LLC • 9211 Corporate Blvd., 4th Floor, Rockville, MD 20850 | Privacy Policy