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State of the Screens

The Biggest NFL Schedule Release Story Is Whether ESPN Gets Stuck With Bad MNF Games Again

By March 22, 2018No Comments

Chart — I posted this on Twitter which shows the amount each network pays per year to air various NFL games.

ESPN is the big dog — They account for 35% of the total for all networks and near double the next closest (Fox — Sunday NFC).

$80/year — That is how much the average cable subscriber in the United States pays for ESPN in 2017. As of August 2016, there were 88.8Msubscribers which mean that ESPN makes $7.1B/yearin subscriber fees or $592M/month.

100.1M subscribers — That is the peak total for ESPN back in 2011 which has fallen 11.3M (11%).

The Trend — NFL rights fees for ESPN (since 2013) ↑ 70% while subscription revenue from consumers (since 2011) ↓ 11%. The model for a network like ESPN was always to grow revenue (subscriptions, etc.) at a greater rate than content costs. The big question is whether they can find alternative revenue streams (advertising, OTT, etc.) to accomplish this goal. Link

Michael Beach

Michael Beach is the Chief Executive Officer of Cross Screen Media, a media analytics and software company that enables marketers to plan, activate, and measure CTV and linear TV at the local level. Michael is also the founder and editor of State of the Screens, a weekly newsletter focused on video advertising that is a must-read for thought leaders in the advertising industry. He has appeared in such publications as PBS Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg, and on NPR’s Planet Money podcast.