Pink's Bottom Line on Media, Money and Sports
Debate viewership, small cap stocks and French Open tennis
I talk debates, small cap stocks and tennis in today’s edition of the newsletter.
MEDIA: Debate Viewership
Television viewership for last week’s vice-presidential debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, totaled 57.9 million viewers, according to data from Nielsen.
It was the second most watched vice-presidential debate of all time, trailing only the 2008 debate between Sarah Palin, the then Republican nominee for vice president, and Joe Biden, who then was the Democratic nominee for vice president.
Last week’s debate also topped the number of viewers of the 2016 vice-presidential debate between Pence and Senator Tim Kaine. For that debate, 37.2 million tuned in to watch.
Pink's Bottom Line
The viewership numbers from last week’s vice-presidential debate show what appears to be an insatiable appetite among viewers for any information related to the overall presidential election, which is 23 days from now.
In the next presidential debate of 2020 between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, I expect viewership to approach levels comparable to the first 2016 presidential debate between then Republican presidential nominee Trump and then Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
In that Trump-Clinton debate, 84 million viewers tuned in to watch.
MONEY: Small Cap Surge
Stocks of smaller companies quietly enjoyed a terrific week even against the backdrop of an increasingly contentious US presidential election campaign and uncertainty around a new fiscal stimulus plan.
The Russell 2000 Index, an index that measures the performance of 2000 small cap stocks in the United States, jumped nearly 6.4% last week, far outpacing last week’s performance of larger stock market indexes like the S&P 500.
Pink's Bottom Line
Last week’s performance of the Russell 2000 suggests that, at least among publicly traded smaller companies, investors could be becoming more optimistic.
While the stock market isn’t the economy, perhaps the performance of these small cap stocks also could be one indication of improving economic expectations.
SPORTS: French Open Winner
In a sea of sports this weekend, you might have missed one remarkable event from Saturday.
That’s when unseeded, 19 year-old Iga Swiatek from Poland powered past fourth-seeded American Sofia Kenin in the final of the French Open women’s tennis championship.
Swiatek is the youngest player in 28 years to win the French Open, and she didn’t lose a set during her seven matches. In fact, she lost only 28 games during the entire tournament.
Pink's Bottom Line
Swiatek’s performance doesn’t look like a fluke in any way — she looked dominant. I expect her to become one of the top players on the women’s tour for many years to come.
Additionally, on the men’s side of the draw of the French Open, we saw a stellar performance from another teenager, Italy’s Jannik Sinner.
The 19 year-old Sinner reached the quarterfinals, displaying a wide array of shotmaking ability coupled with an unflappable and confident demeanor.
We’re going to look back at this year’s French Open as the event where Swiatek and Sinner emerged as two stars of tennis’s next generation.
Jeremy Pink is former CEO of private-equity backed Broadcast Sports International where he led 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. Jeremy currently serves as an advisor, consultant or board member to companies in New York, London, Hong Kong and Dubai in the media, technology, sports and financial tech sectors.
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