Sports Are Back – But who’s watching and where are they watching?

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Following on from our first blog post with Marty Meyer our Strategic Account Manager, Post-Production & Production Rentals in the USA, this week we discussed the return of sports to US TV which was recently called an all-you-can-eat buffet by Sportico, served up to hungry fans who have been starved from the sporting action during the global pandemic. 

Marty stated whilst there is a lot to consume, it seems viewers may be dieting! Not everyone is rushing back to their pre-virus viewing habits and retaining young people seems to be the biggest challenge. 

She mentioned how a recent article in Next TV talks about where sports fans are going to watch their sports. With NLB, NBA and NHL premiering, there are big bucks on the advertising line. Networks need those dollars, and, while overall viewership is trending up for baseball and hockey, NBA viewership is down. 

However, Nielsen and Roku announced very different pictures of the viewing landscape. Nielsen announced that baseball saw some of the largest audiences for a network game since 2011.

Streamer Roku, however, after analyzing millions of connected Roku households, claims that the viewers who regularly watched major league sports in 2019 did not return to the nest.

Next TV finds that 1 in 3 households have cut their cable cords. Did the audience flock to streaming channels or did they abandon sports altogether? Old habits can be broken. After months of no sports, maybe folks are not so inclined to be out of pocket for pay television. The PGA has announced a schedule of 50 tournaments for the 2020 season – it remains to be seen how many folks will watch, and where they watch the action. 

Here at Gravity Media, we are interested to see where and how viewers will be tuning in to watch the latest sporting seasons. Whilst live sports make a return to screens globally, the Gravity Media teams across the globe are helping our clients to keep their people safe and their productions on schedule in these most challenging of times. 

From the US Open in New York, Formula 1 in Italy to the Supercars in Australia – Gravity Media was on hand to capture the action allowing audiences to tune in from the comfort of their own home! To find out more about Gravity Media and how we can help you on your next production either go to our website, download our introductory brochure here or email us directly on enquiries@gravitymedia.com