Pink's Bottom Line on Media, Money and Sports

Super Bowl viewership, a cross border media deal and electronic officiating

In today’s newsletter, I discuss viewership of this year’s Super Bowl, a cross border deal and electronic officiating.

MEDIA: Super Bowl Viewership

While the Super Bowl still attracts a huge audience, fewer people tuned in to watch it this year compared to 2020.

According to a press release from CBS, across all the different viewing platforms — including television and digital — 96.4 million viewers in total watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in one of the more one-sided games in years. (Note: CBS carried the game on television this year.)

In 2020, when the Super Bowl ran on Fox television and when the game itself was far more competitive, more than 101 million viewers in total watched across all platforms.

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While television accounted for the lion’s share of total viewership, 65% more viewers — as measured on an average minute basis — streamed the game live, according to that CBS press release.

Three key themes emerge from this data.

First, television still remains the medium of choice for large, live sports events as an estimated 91.6 million watched the game on television, according to reporting from the Sports Business Journal.

Second, live streaming of sports is also emerging as a potent force to attract an audience, and that trend appears to be accelerating.

Finally, a competitive game means is still crucial in attracting a big audience, and this year’s blowout likely contributed to the overall lower viewership of the game in general.

MONEY: Cross Border Deal

Match Group, the company that owns a number of dating services including Match, Tinder and OkCupid, said today that it will purchase South Korea’s Hyperconnect in a deal valued at more than $1.7 billion.

If you’ve never heard of Hyperconnect, it’s essentially a social media company, and its two apps — Azar and Hakuna Live — focus on connecting users via video and audio streaming.

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The deal broadens the scope and type of services for the Match Group, which has focused on dating services to this point.

Meanwhile, Hyperconnect, with most of its users and revenue coming from Asia, now joins a strong US media company.

Most importantly, though, it shows just how valuable any service that offers video or audio streaming in just about any form has become.

SPORTS: No Line Judges

If you watch the Australian Open tennis tournament, which began on Monday, you’ll notice that something is missing — there are no line judges on the court.

Instead, the calls are being made fully electronically with remote cameras that track the movement of the tennis balls — the only people on the court are the players, the umpire and the ball boys and girls.

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As I’ve said many times, the pandemic impacts just about everything, and it has even impacted officiating at a major tennis tournament.

The Australian Open’s move to an automated system to make lines calls reflects the desire to have as few people as possible on the tennis court because it reduces the potential transmission of coronavirus.

If this tournament is successful in implementing this electronic system, such a move could act as an accelerant to move away from human officiating in other sports.

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Jeremy Pink is currently COO of Geniecast, a leading virtual content and experience company. He is the former CEO of private-equity backed Broadcast Sports International where he helped lead the company to a successful sale and exit during his tenure there. He is also a former CNBC television executive in New York, London and Singapore.

The information contained in this communication is strictly for general informational and entertainment purposes and is not meant to be construed as financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. This communication is not a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. I am not a financial advisor or offering professional advice of any kind. Users should not act upon the content or information found within this communication without first seeking professional advice appropriate for their individual situation. Decisions based on information contained in this communication are the sole responsibility of the user, and use of this communication and its contents constitutes an explicit understanding and acceptance of the foregoing disclaimers.

(Newsletter Editor: Karina Pink)