NEW YORK—Women’s sports advertising continues to outperform primetime TV, according to the third annual Women’s Sports TV Outcomes Report from EDO.

The study found that women’s sports ads generated 15% more impact than the average ad on primetime broadcast and cable, marking the second consecutive year this programming has exceeded the benchmark.

From NCAA basketball, lacrosse, and gymnastics to U.S. Open tennis and the WNBA, women’s sports are an exciting and rich platform for brands aiming to connect with highly engaged audiences and drive tangible consumer action.

"Another year above the primetime benchmark proves women’s sports isn’t a moment — it’s a mainstay," said Laura Grover, senior vice president and head of client solutions at EDO. "For the second straight year, ads in women’s sports outperformed primetime, and brands that align creative with cultural moments are seeing measurable engagement gains."

Many top brands from diverse industries—including Target, KFC, Skechers, Home Depot, and Outback Steakhouse—ranked among 2025’s most effective TV advertisers in women’s sports, as measured by consumer behaviors that are proven predictors of future sales, like brand searches and site visits. As women’s sports continue to deliver substantial engagement, cross-platform outcomes measurement provides brands, agencies, and publishers with an immediate view of how TV ads drive results.

"For brands, the opportunity is clear. Women’s sports deliver a powerful combination of engagement, authenticity and cultural relevance to drive meaningful advertising outcomes,” said Danielle Brown, senior vice president of sports streaming and brand solutions at Disney Advertising. “What began as a surge in popularity around NCAA championships and the WNBA has expanded into high-value programming across tennis, soccer and emerging leagues."

Key findings from EDO’s 2026 Women’s Sports TV Outcomes Report include:

• Women’s sports beat primetime ad impact — again. The average 2025 women’s sports ads generated 1.15x as much impact as the average ad on primetime broadcast and cable, a figure inclusive of diverse events ranging from the WNBA to collegiate gymnastics. This marks the second consecutive year in which women’s sports have outperformed this benchmark.
• NCAA women’s hoops final tops list of most impactful events. The NCAA women’s basketball tournament final delivered 9.4x as much impact as the average primetime program, earning the title as 2025’s most engaging women’s sports event. Three Grand Slam tennis events rounded out the top five.
• Cultural relevance is a slam dunk for brands in the WNBA. WNBA ads featuring the league’s current and former stars were 59% more effective than the average WNBA ad — and 13% more effective than WBNA ads featuring NBA players.
• Credit Card, Insurance, & QSR brands soar. The Auto & Home Insurance, Credit Card, and Quick-Serve categories combined deep investment with powerful performance to maximize their women’s sports impact. The average women’s sports ad in these categories generated 1.6x, and 1.4x, and 1.2x as much impact as the categories’ primetime broadcast and cable averages, respectively.

Visit edo.com/womens-sports to download EDO’s 2026 Women’s Sports TV Outcomes Report.

ATLANTA—Gray Media has concluded an agreement with the Ohio Valley Conference (“OVC”) to broadcast OVC college basketball games across 20 Gray markets in five states.

As part of the Conference’s multi-year contract with ESPN, the entire package will also be simulcast live nationally on ESPN+ and available through the ESPN app without digital blackouts.

As part of the agreement, Gray’s Tennessee Valley Sports & Entertainment Network looks forward to bringing three Tennessee institutions – Tennessee State University, Tennessee Technological University, and University of Tennessee – Martin, to Tennessee viewers across the state.

The Tennessee Valley Sports & Entertainment Network broadcasts over-the-air in Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. Gray’s WMC+ in Memphis also participates in the network. The OVC is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee (just south of Nashville).

In addition, Gray’s Matrix Midwest in St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, Missouri, will serve hometown viewers of OVC’s Southeast Missouri State University, Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville, and Lindenwood University and Gray’s Illinois stations in Peoria, Quincy, and Rockford will serve fans of OVC’s Western Illinois University and Eastern Illinois University. Gray’s Indiana stations in Evansville, Ft. Wayne, and South Bend will focus on University of Southern Indiana, and Gray will also bring the package to fans of Morehead State University in Lexington, KY.

Gray reported that it anticipates signing an agreement for a third-party broadcast partner in Little Rock for the University of Arkansas – Little Rock.

Garson of Excelsior Sports and Entertainment represented OVC in the deal.

Grup Mediapro has outlined the work that Mediapro BMS—a Grup Mediapro business dedicated to audiovisual services—did earlier in May as the host broadcaster for the Final Four of the Basketball Champions League (BCL).

BCL is the International Basketball Federation’s (FIBA) top tier club competition in Europe. The ​Final Four powered by SUNE was held May 9-11 in Athens Greece.

A team of more than 50 professionals from Mediapro Greece has carried out the production and broadcast of the 4 matches for the BCL and its agent in Greece, TAF Media. The group deployed an extensive array of technical equipment featuring over 20 cameras.

For the BCL ​​Final Four final, the group used 1 PoleCam, 4 Super Slow cameras and various MiniCams to ensure all angles of the action were captured.

The group’s deployment also included a VAR Van in order to provide replay and review services to its client. Grup Mediapro’s production enabled global viewership of the games played between La Laguna Tenerife, Galatasaray, AEK Betsson BC and Unicaja.

Grup Mediapro, which produces more than 25,000 live events each year, has collaborated with FIBA ​​in the production of many top sporting events, such as the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 (Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines), the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup 2023 (Spain), the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 (Czechia, Georgia, Germany, Italy) and the FIBA AmeriCup 2022 (Brazil, 2022), among others.

ATLANTA—Gray Media and the Military Basketball Association have announced media rights deal for select MBA playoff games and other content to air on Gray’s local television stations and broadcast sports networks.

The first MBA over-the-air game airs on the Gray Media platforms on Sunday, April 13 at 6 p.m. ET. The initial airing features the MBA’s Eastern Conference Finals from the campus of Queens University of Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. Game production will be provided by the university.

Gray’s over-the-air broadcast sports networks, including Palmetto Sports & Entertainment Network, Peachtree Sports Network, Matrix Midwest, Arizona’s Family Sports, and Rock

Entertainment Sports Network plan to air the game. Gray said that certain additional Gray Media local stations may also air this game. Gray’s broadcast sports networks are concentrated in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest and cover many military bases, including bases with teams participating in the playoffs.

The non-profit Military Basketball Association aims to prevent suicide, fight the stigma of mental health, build resiliency and provide an outlet for the trauma associated with military service. A year- round tournament league, the MBA supports nearly 1,000 players, both veteran and active-duty military, on 50 teams across the United States, Europe and Asia.

“This opportunity brings together Gray’s goals of bringing sports to consumers and fostering

community in the markets we serve,” said Sandy Breland, chief operating officer of Gray. “Our over- the-air stations and broadcast sports networks include many military communities that benefit from the MBA’s work and play, and we are therefore honored to make the MBA playoff games available to our communities.”

“The Military Basketball Association is proud to have Gray air the 2025 MBA Eastern Conference Finals Championship Game on their platforms,” added Mike Meyers, commissioner of the MBA. “The critical message of resiliency through sports being transmitted on the Gray Media platforms will no doubt save lives and offer hope to so many who may be in need of services to support their mental health fitness. As the MBA continues to promote “Life Through Basketball” and “Resiliency in Action”, it’s important to recognize that we are not alone in this effort and that Gray Media supports the US Military and Veterans across our great nation."

The audience measurement company Samba TV is reporting that viewing trends for the the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Tournament were generally positive, with viewing for the Final Four up 19% from last year and the Championship, up by 18%.

The Championship game on CBS drew an audience of 11.8 million U.S. households, up 18% year-over-year, making it the most viewed game of the tournament. The second most viewed game was the Houston vs. Duke Final Four game, which drew an audience of 11.3 million U.S. households, according to Samba TV.

Overall viewership of the men’s tournament varied significantly from round to round, starting and ending strong but petering in the middle, Samba TV reported.

Fans were excited at the start of the tournament, with average First Round viewership up 54%, but Second Round viewership was flat, and Sweet Sixteen was down 7%. Elite 8 saw a slight 2% bump compared with 2024 levels.

Of the top 25 DMAs, Houston over-indexed by the highest margin based on viewership of the Championship game (+56%), rallying hard and outpacing Tampa, Florida which only over-indexed by 12%.

Samba TV reported that the women’s tournament dropped in viewership compared with 2024, impacted by Caitlin Clark no longer being a part of the tournament.

However, with 13.2 million U.S. households watching, viewership was still higher than 2022 levels, indicating that the baseline audience has increased. Throughout the tournament, early rounds were slightly more consistent year-over-year, with First Round actually up 3%, Second Round down 29%, and Sweet 16 down 28%. As the tournament progressed fans tuned out more, with Elite 8 down 67%, Final Four down 62%, and the Championship game dropping 56%.

Diverse, hard to reach audiences over-indexed in viewership of the women’s Championship game, with Black households over-indexing by 23%. By comparison, Black households under-indexed by 3% based on viewership of the men’s Championship, indicating that these valuable audiences are fans of women’s basketball in particular, Samba TV reported.

Samba found that that 81% of households that watched the women’s March Madness tournament also watched the men’s tournament, indicating that the airtime of women’s games is a good place to reach fans of both tournaments.

CHICAGO—The Chicago Sports Network (CHSN) has reached a deal to bring Missouri Valley Conference men’s and women’s basketball games to the network.

As part of the agreement, CHSN will be telecast both live and tape-delayed men’s and women’s regular-season games. Additionally, CHSN will televise the first round and quarterfinals of the conference’s men’s basketball tournament.

Coverage is slated to start on Dec .18 with men’s basketball, when the Murray State Racers take on the Indiana State Sycamores.

The CHSN coverage will highlight the MVC’s deep basketball tradition and feature four Illinois-based teams: University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Bradley University, Illinois State University (ISU) and Southern Illinois University (SIU).

“We are excited to deepen our commitment to Chicago and Midwest sports by bringing Missouri Valley Conference basketball to CHSN,” CHSN executive producer Joe Riley said. “The conference has many devoted fans in the Chicagoland area, and we look forward to becoming a premier destination for them to watch their favorite MVC teams.”

CHSN will also broadcast eight games of the State Farm MVC Men’s Basketball Tournament, set for March 6-9, 2025, in St. Louis. CHSN will televise the men’s opening round and quarterfinal games on CHSN and CHSN Plus, allowing fans to follow their teams’ journeys toward the MVC championship title.

In the runup to the first season of the NHL’s Utah Hockey Club, SEG Media launched UtahHC+, a dedicated, Utah Hockey Club-branded direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service similar to Jazz+, the Utah Jazz’s streaming service that SEG launched in September 2023. 

In addition, SEG Media has also introduced SEG+, a bundle that provides access to all UtahHC+ and Jazz+ content in one convenient place. 

SEG reported that the three services are equipped with enhanced capabilities including DVR and Search functionality and feature extensive programming – live games, video-on-demand (VOD) content, game-specific alternative broadcasts, and more insider programming – all produced by SEG Media. 

Subscriptions for SEG+, UtahHC+, and Jazz+ are available for purchase now at www.segplus.com.

“There has never been a more exciting time to be a sports fan in Utah, and we are committed to making sure our fanbase can easily engage in every minute of the action coming this season with Utah Hockey Club and the Utah Jazz - however they want to watch,” said Caroline Klein, chief communications officer for Smith Entertainment Group. “We gained valuable insight into our fans’ streaming preferences last season and look forward to creating even more memories with them through the front-row access and intuitive experiences that SEG+, UtahHC+, and Jazz+ provide.”

The SEG+ subscription sports streaming bundle is only available as an annual subscription priced at $174.99. 

UtahHC+ gives subscribers access to 75+ live Utah Hockey Club preseason and regular season games, excluding all exclusive nationally televised games. Live game coverage begins with the club’s first preseason game at 5 P.M. MT on Sept. 22 against the St. Louis Blues at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.

Annual subscriptions to UtahHC+ are available for $69.99 (less than $1 per game). Other UtahHC+ subscription options include monthly ($14.99) and pay-per-view (starting at $5 per live game). 

Jazz+ offers live streams of 75+ Jazz games and pre- and post-game coverage, excluding exclusive nationally televised games and other content.  An annual subscription to Jazz+ remains priced at $125.50, equivalent to less than $1.50 per game. Other Jazz+ subscription options include monthly ($19.99) and pay-per-view (starting at $5 per live game).

Only annual and monthly subscriptions include access to on-demand games and other content such as alt-casts, in addition to live games, SEG reported. 

New for this season, SEG Media has introduced enhanced capabilities across its three DTC services, including a DVR function during live games and a new search capability makes it easy to find desired content – from game replays to popular VOD content.

Also new this season, annual and monthly subscribers to SEG+, UtahHC+, and Jazz+ will be the first to access cross-over content that highlights players from the Jazz and Utah Hockey Club coming together as they showcase the best of Utah. This programming will be available via the streaming services 48 hours before it is released on other team-owned channels.

All 3.3 million plus Utahns can access and subscribe to all SEG Media subscription streaming services. UtahHC+ is available via an expansive territory including the state of Utah, as well as Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming, and parts of Nevada. 

Jazz+ is available to all fans who live within the Jazz broadcast footprint, which includes the state of Utah plus areas of Idaho and Wyoming. SEG+ is available where Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club broadcast regions overlap.

SEG is also offering free tickets to early purchasers of the streaming services. 

New data from Scripps Sports provides fresh evidence of a rapidly growing interest in women’s sports, with average viewership for the State Farm WNBA Friday Night Spotlight on ION in 2024 increasing by 133% compared to 2023. Overall, the network attracted 23.37 million unique viewers across games and wrap shows as the male audience (ages 25-54) grew 181%.

The E.W. Scripps Company and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) recently completed the second year of a multi-year agreement to televise weekly double-headers in primetime on Fridays during the regular season on ION, a national sports and entertainment broadcast network that reaches every U.S. TV household over-the-air and on all major pay TV and connected TV services.

ION broadcast a WNBA-high 43 regular-season games and a league-high 67 hours of WNBA regular-season content. This year ION also added a studio show that aired before, in-between and sometimes after games. Scripps Sports also unveiled a new studio designed and built, in part, specifically for ION on WNBA studio shows.

Highlights of "WNBA Friday Night Spotlight on ION" Season 2:

• WNBA games on ION averaged 670,000 P2+ viewers, a 133% increase from 2023.
• Of the total reach of 23.37 million – up from 12.3 million last year – 9.46 million viewers P2+ only watched games on ION. (One-minute qualifier Live+SD; excludes repeat broadcasts and ESPND)
• 7 telecasts exceeded an average of 1 million viewers, topped by the Aug. 30 games between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky, a national broadcast, and the Minnesota Lynx and Dallas Wings, a local broadcast, which together drew an average of 1.6 million and peaked at 1.92 million.
• ION delivered the largest percentage of female audience of any network airing WNBA games this season – 50% of the ION P18-49 audience was female and 45% of the P2+ audience was female.
• ION delivered more than 3.7 million hours of viewing across the season, including via Roku, Samsung TV+, LG, Vizio, Xumo, Plex, Amazon Fire Channels, Pluto, CW and Tablo.
• Scripps added more than 20 new advertisers as ratings surged in the second year of WNBA broadcasts on ION.
• The WNBA on ION social media saw strong year-over-year growth, generating 100 million+ impressions on Instagram, X and Facebook through collaborations with players, teams and the league.

"This season was a big step forward for the WNBA and its players in terms of exposure both in arenas and on television," said Brian Lawlor, Scripps Sports president. "It was so fun to watch the momentum build throughout the season. Scripps is thrilled to have played a part in that."

"We are incredibly pleased with the success of our partnership with Scripps Sports, which has played a pivotal role in amplifying the reach and visibility of the WNBA season," said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. "Through this partnership, we've been able to showcase great basketball with a broader audience, deepening the connection between the league, the players and our growing fanbase while delivering record-breaking viewership numbers."

ST. LOUIS—Missouri Valley Conference and Gray Media have announced a multi-year agreement to produce and distribute MVC men’s and women’s basketball regular-season games and opening-round/quarterfinal State Farm MVC Men’s Basketball Tournament contests (“Arch Madness”) beginning with the 2024-25 academic year.

The linear over-the-air station package will be distributed in 22 Gray Media markets in the states of Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa, and Tennessee and via third-party broadcast partners in markets outside of the Gray footprint.

As part of the agreement between The Valley and Gray, the men’s and women’s basketball content will be produced and distributed by Indianapolis-based Tupelo Honey, owned by Gray.

Under the conference’s multi-year contract with ESPN, the entire package will also be simulcast live nationally on ESPN+ and available through the ESPN app without digital blackouts.

“In the ever-changing landscape of live-event production and distribution, the Missouri Valley Conference remains committed to navigating the best path to reach college basketball fans, and this partnership with Gray does just that,” said Jeff Jackson, MVC commissioner.

“Tupelo Honey and Gray have had a long relationship with The Valley, and we’re excited to help them bring games directly to fans free over-the-air,” said John Servizzi, President of Tupelo Honey.

“Gray is committed to bringing live, local sports to its viewers,” added Sandy Breland, Gray’s Chief Operating Officer. “This collaboration with The Valley will benefit fans, schools, and local communities. We couldn’t be more proud to partner with The Valley.”

The Missouri Valley Conference is the nation’s second-oldest NCAA Division I conference and will be celebrating its 118th season in 2024-25. 

NEW YORK—The NBA has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit by Warner Bros. Discovery that sought to overturn the NBA’s decision to grant rights to a package of NBA games to Amazon. 

WBD's Turner Sports has NBA rights through the end of the 2024-25 season but lost out in the bidding for a new package of rights, which were granted to Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon. 

In a July lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York County Of New York, Commercial Division, WBD had argued that its existing NBA contract gave it the right to match any other offer and that the NBA has improperly rejected its matching offer.

In response, the NBA argued that Turner Sport had significantly altered the terms of the deal with Amazon in its response and that the NBA correctly rejected WBDs offer. 

“Plaintiffs’ claims fail at the outset because the MRE did not give TBS the right to match Amazon’s offer,” the NBA brief said. “As the Complaint acknowledges, TBS’s matching rights are limited to third- party offers relating to NBA game distribution rights that TBS `currently enjoy[s]’ under the NBA/TBS Agreement. TBS does not `currently enjoy’ the rights covered by Amazon’s offer—namely, rights to distribute live NBA games on a disaggregated, standalone basis via an SVOD service streamed over the Internet. Instead, TBS’s current rights are limited to distributing games as part of a linear cable television network, together with the rest of the network’s programming.”

The Turner Sports offer also “made substantive revisions to eight of the Amazon offer’s 27 sections (including revisions to 22 different subsections), changed 11 defined terms that are collectively used roughly 100 separate times, struck nearly 300 words, and added over 270 new words, substantially altering the parties’ rights and obligations in the process,” the NBA brief noted. “Controlling New York law forecloses TBS’s attempt to rewrite the terms of Amazon’s offer and then “accept” those rewritten terms.”

The NBA also noted that WBD did not meet the credit terms for the deal as its debts is currently rated below investment grade. 

The full NBA brief can be found here. 

In an analysis of the lawsuit and the NBA brief, analysts at LightShed Partners noted: “The NBA cited a 1970 NBA/ABC lawsuit, also over media rights, that appears problematic for Turner’s lawsuit: `every competitor has a right to attempt to win a contract by offering terms which its competitors can’t meet, and similarly NBA was … free to seek and accept such terms as were consistent with its legitimate business interests.’ If the NBA can demonstrate legitimate business reasons for each of the items spelled out in the Amazon contract (regardless of how onerous they are for WBD to match), WBD faces a steep uphill battle to enforce its matching rights. WBD will need to show substantial case law to support its attempted match, which nullifies all the NBA’s matching issues, otherwise a dismissal feels likely before year-end 2024.”

STAMFORD, Conn.—ESPN has announced a new long-term deal with Genius Sports Limited that ESPN said will help transform ESPN’s live data-driven storytelling for NCAA sports and enhance broadcasts for the NBA and WNBA. 

As part of the agreement, ESPN will expand its college sports coverage with real-time team and player stats from Genius Sports, the exclusive distributor of official NCAA Data, with access to data across 65,000 NCAA games a year inclusive of basketball, football, ice hockey, volleyball and soccer.

Additionally, ESPN is extending its deal with Genius Sports around NBA player-tracking data insights while adding the WNBA to its portfolio of sports properties leveraging its data. With the deal, ESPN has access to Genius Sports’ cutting-edge Insight tool used by every NBA and WNBA team. This tool will enable ESPN to easily research, identify and produce video clips that break down team and player performance across both leagues.

“Genius Sports is a proven entity in the space that we know very well from our previous work together,” said Jeff Bennett, vice president, stats & information group, ESPN. “The new long-term agreement creates a runway for both sides to ideate into the future using augmented reality live execution concepts in ways that unlock the next generation of fan experiences.”

ESPN and Genius Sports have previously worked together in a variety of capacities from powering immersive “altcasts” such as the NBA ‘Marvel Arena of Heroes’ presentation in 2021 to collaborating on live broadcast augmentations for immersive experiences around the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship.

“Following on from our work with ESPN to power the first fully branded sports broadcast with Marvel and immersive March Madness augmented megacasts, we are delighted to strike a major expansion with ESPN,” said Mark Locke, CEO of Genius Sports. “As well as powering crucial NBA and WNBA insights, ESPN can utilize Genius Sports technology to power all of its NCAA data needs including next generation context experiences through our new GeniusIQ technology.”

INDIANAPOLIS and Tysons, Va.—In the wake of record viewing levels for the NCAA Women’s Championship games, Tegna has announced that it has signed an agreement with the Indiana Fever WNBA franchise to broadcast select Fever games during the 2024 season. Seventeen games will be shown for free over the air on WTHR or WALV, Tegna’s NBC and MeTV affiliates in Indianapolis, giving fans across central Indiana the opportunity to watch the team and its young superstars compete to return to the WNBA playoffs.

Tegna also said it will work with additional broadcast companies in the coming weeks to expand free over the air access to all available television markets outside of Indianapolis.

Last week, the Fever selected Iowa star Caitlin Clark with the first pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. Clark, the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer, joins a talented roster that includes Olympian, WNBA All-Star, and unanimous 2023 Rookie of The Year Aliyah Boston; WNBA All-Star and 2023 Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award winner Kelsey Mitchell; NaLyssa Smith, the 2nd pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft; and more.

Earlier this month, the WNBA announced that 36 of the Fever’s 40 regular season games will be broadcast on national television, as well.

“So many new fans are tuning in to watch the world’s best basketball players compete in the WNBA, and the Fever have built a roster of incredible young talent that has caught the attention of basketball fans all over the globe,” said Rick Fuson, CEO of Pacers Sports & Entertainment. “Tegna and WTHR have been amazing local partners for years, and we are excited that more fans than ever before will get the chance to watch these amazing athletes play.”

“This is an exhilarating moment for women’s sports. The WNBA and Fever are leading the charge with this groundbreaking local broadcast rights agreement,” said Dave Lougee, president and CEO, Tegna. “The remarkable journey of Caitlin Clark and her teammates has captured the hearts and minds of millions. We’re thrilled to deliver all the Fever action to every household in the Indianapolis region.”

“We’re delighted to build on our strong marketing partnership with the Pacers and Fever and our longstanding commitment to local Indianapolis sports,” said Michael Brouder, general manager, WTHR. “Our station has always been at the center of the biggest local events that capture the spirit of Hoosiers far and wide. Our entire team in front of and behind the camera will be helping the Fever connect with our community and fans like never before.”

The partnership between the Fever and Tegna was brokered and negotiated by Dan Granik and David Sternberg of Range Sports, a Division of Range Media Partners, long-time consultants to Pacers Sports & Entertainment.

The following games will be shown for free over the air on WTHR or WALV:

 May 16 vs. New York, 7 p.m. WTHR

May 22 @ Seattle, 10 p.m. WTHR

May 25 @ Las Vegas, 9 p.m. WTHR

May 30 vs. Seattle, 7 p.m. WTHR

June 1 vs. Chicago, 1 p.m. WALV

June 10 @ Connecticut, 7 p.m. WTHR

June 13 vs. Atlanta, 7 p.m. WTHR

July 10 vs. Washington, Noon WTHR

August 24 @ Minnesota, 8 p.m. WALV

August 26 @ Atlanta, 7:30 p.m. WTHR

August 28 vs. Connecticut, 7 p.m. WALV

September 1 @ Dallas, 4 p.m. WALV

September 4 vs. Los Angeles, 7 p.m. WALV

September 8 vs. Atlanta, 4 p.m. WTHR

September 11 vs. Las Vegas, 7 p.m. WALV

September 15 vs. Dallas, 3 p.m. WALV

September 19 @ Washington, 7 p.m. WTHR

The NCAA has released figures showing that the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship and the Division 1 Women’s Basketball Championship both saw strong audience growth in opening rounds.

Through Saturday, the Men's Championship viewing on CBS, TBS, TVT and truTV averaged 9 million per game, a record while ESPN reported that the Women's second round games also set viewing records. 

In terms of the Men’s Championship, the NCAA reported that millions of fans tuned to linear coverage on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, beginning with the Selection Show on March 17, when 5.9 million viewers tuned in to CBS for the bracket unveiling. That number was up 16 percent from last year and is the best total in five years. 

First Four games attracted a total of 6.2 million viewers, up 14 percent from last year and the second highest total for Tuesday and Wednesday at the First Four since the format debuted in 2011.

First-round games Thursday and Friday drew an average 8.53 million viewers, which is the third most in tournament history, behind last year's total of 8.62 million and the 8.56 million who watched in 2015. Thursday's average of 8.5 million viewers makes it the most-watched opening day of the first round since 2015, and Friday's average of 8.6 million viewers is the second most ever for the Friday of the first round, trailing only last year's 8.8 million.

For the Men’s Championship games, the numbers got even better on the weekend. Saturday's games averaged 10.8 million viewers across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, making it the most-watched first day of the second round ever. That brought the tournament average through Saturday's games up to 9.0 million viewers, making it the most-watched tournament through that stage in the history of the event. 

"The Division I Men's Basketball Championship is off to a captivating and enthralling start by every measure," said JoAn Scott, the NCAA's vice president for men's basketball. "We should never take for granted the way the men's basketball championship delivers every March, and this year the tournament is as popular as it has been in many years. The competitiveness and talent of the student-athletes and teams leads to compelling performances and stories. March Madness is unlike anything else on the sports calendar, and the next two weeks of the tournament should be special."

For the Women’s Championship, ratings also continued to soar, with millions of fans tuning into coverage across ESPN platforms, inclusive of ABC, the NCAA reported. 

The NCAA Women's Selection Show on ESPN, which aired March 17, averaged 1.94 million viewers, which was up 52% from the 2023 Selection Show and was the most-watched edition in 20 years. Fueled by 236,000 viewers for the Arizona-Auburn game on March 21, First Four games averaged 184,000 viewers, up 24% from last year.

ESPN reported that the second Round games averaged 1.4 million viewers across ESPN platforms, becoming the most-watched Second Round on record. Viewership was also up 121% year-over-year, including ESPN recording its most-viewed Second Round on record with an average of 1.5 million viewers across two days. 

Tennessee/NC State and South Carolina/UNC each averaged 1.2 million to rank within the Top 10 most-watched games on record. 2024 Women’s NCAA Division I Women’s Championship is averaging 812,000 viewers through this point, up 108%. The Championship has amassed 4.2 billion total minutes, marking the most-consumed early rounds on record.

The NCAA also reported that 2024 DI Women’s Basketball Championship celebrated record-setting attendance record for a third consecutive season. A total of 292,456 fans came through the turnstiles to watch first- and second-round games, an increase of 60,779 fans over 2023, when a then-record 231,677 fans attended. Iowa City topped all hosting sites, welcoming sellout crowds totaling 28,764 fans for the first and second rounds, marking three straight years of sellouts at Carver Hawkeye Arena, with Caitlin Clark leading the way. 

Attendance at the opening rounds also helped to push the all-time NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship attendance over the 9 million mark, with 9,290,650 fans attending over the 41-plus years of the championship.

CHICAGO—American Basketball Association (ABA) has announced that it used Strimm TV's tech platform to launch Abagale TV. Leveraging Strimm platform, ABA has developed 100+ online television channels for their basketball teams, enabling them to offer 24/7 live tv broadcast of basketball games both online and via OTT devices. 

"Abagale TV marks a pivotal turning point for our organization's history, providing us with unprecedented fan engagement through Strimm TV technology, enabling our basketball teams to reach their fans everywhere,” Joe Newman, CEO of ABA.

"Television is the most efficient medium in the world. We are thrilled to partner with ABA on their goal to establish a television network," added Dmitry Kochman, CEO and founder of Strimm TV. "This collaboration showcases Strimm TV flexibility as it adapts to meet specific needs of different organizations. Working alongside [the ABA] we help bringing the excitement of ABA games right to their fans, anywhere they are."

NEW YORK—Fueled by the ongoing importance of sports programming on TV and streaming services, the annual sports report from S&P Global Market Intelligence estimates that U.S. TV and streaming sports media rights payments will likely total $25.57 billion in 2023 across broadcast, cable, RSNs and streaming services. 

That represents a significant rise from an estimated $14.64 billion in 2015 and is expected to grow to more than $30 billion in 2025 as new deals are forged.

The increases have occurred despite viewership declines, a contracting subscriber base in the traditional cable bundle and a growing list of alternative pay TV services that appeal to cost-conscious consumers, the researchers said. 

The forecast also shows that sports rights rose faster in even years than odd years due to spending on the Summer and Winter Olympics, with 2021 being an outlier as the 2020 Summer Olympics were held in 2021.

The report also contained data from Kagan's U.S. Consumer Insights survey, conducted in September 2022, of 2,528 adults who use the internet showing the important role that live sports plays for the American consumer. Over half of US internet households surveyed (55%) said they typically watch football, and about one-third of households tune into basketball (34%) and baseball games (33%). While not as popular, a host of other sports — including motorsports, golf, soccer and tennis — reach a healthy slice of US households.

More information on the report “From the Stadium to the Screen: Examining the Impact of Streaming on Sports Media and Consumption” by S&P Global Market Intelligence is available here. 

IRVINE, Calif.—In a relatively rare example of a TV set manufacturer partnering on the production of exclusive original content, Vizio has announced the launch of a branded entertainment series, “3 Pointers”, which will begin airing exclusively on Vizio on March 17. 

The show is being produced in partnership with BetMGM, a sports betting and gaming entertainment company. 

The partnership highlights the growing importance of the advertising businesses being developed by set makers like Vizio and their need for fresh original content to drive sponsorship revenue. 

Hosted by Casey Webb ("Man vs. Food"), the four-part limited series celebrates the culture of college basketball’s big month with game day recipes, beverages, and entertainment hacks designed to elevate the viewing experience. 

“`3 Pointers’ captures important criteria as we evaluate what to put in front of our audiences: relevance, timeliness, and premium storytelling,” said Steve DeMain, vice president of branded content and sponsorships at Vizio. “As we continue to evolve the experiences we deliver to our customers, we’re also expanding the opportunities we can provide brands to connect with our audience in unique ways that add value to their journey. It’s a win-win.”

“We collaborated with Vizio on this one-of-a-kind programming from concept to completion with the goal of creating a premium entertainment experience that taps into the excitement of March basketball,” said Matt Prevost, CRO at BetMGM. “`3 Pointers’ is a creative and dynamic series that we hope sports fans will enjoy throughout the month-long celebration of college basketball and beyond.”

“3 Pointers” is available on the Vizio home screen and on demand on WatchFree+. 

ATLANTA—The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations have concluded a multi-year deal to deploy Hawk-Eye’s 3D optical tracking technology starting with the 2023-24 season.

The agreement will enable NBA tracking data to capture the game in real-time in three dimensions, including the movement of each player on the court and the ball, all at sub-second latency. This technology will provide the opportunity to enhance officiating by increasing the accuracy of calls and the speed of gameplay, including, in future seasons, through automated calls on such plays as out-of-bounds and goaltending, the NBA reported. 

“We view it as a real privilege to partner with the NBA - a truly iconic global brand and a leader in innovative sports content,” said Rufus Hack, CEO of Sony’s Sports Businesses. “We look forward to helping them unlock the power of data to continue to enhance officiating and basketball analytics, as well as to drive new immersive fan experiences.” 

The introduction of Hawk-Eye’s state-of-the-art “pose” data capture product will also provide the NBA and its teams with new applications in basketball analytics that will help them evolve how they understand on-court data and give fans a real look into the action on the court and deeper analysis of the game, the companies said. 

The data generated will also provide collaboration opportunities between the NBA and Sony’s Sports Businesses around virtual game recreations, dynamic visualizations, unique content development and gamification. 

Hawk-Eye has worked closely with the NBA since 2019 in a Proof-of-Concept capacity to fully develop and test their basketball tracking systems. Through data collection at NBA Summer League and six NBA arenas, Hawk-Eye successfully demonstrated and developed a system that meets the accuracy and latency needed to provide best-in-class ball and pose tracking to the NBA, Sony reported. 

Sportradar, the league’s exclusive data provider, will also play a critical role in working alongside Hawk-Eye to allow for the generation of accurate, reliable, low-latency tracking data, and the application of best-in-class expertise to automatically generate events, metrics, advanced stats and new engaging insights. 

TEL AVIV—Videocites has announced the initial closing of a Series B round led by Velocity Capital Management (“Velocity”) with additional investments by Series A investor Infront Sports & Media AG, and NBA Equity. 

With offices around the globe, including one newly opened in New York, Videocites offers a next-generation solution for analyzing social media that the NBA is now using to provide insights into its global reach and brand exposure across social media content.

While user-generated content (UGC) has a significant influence on a brand's perception and popularity across social media, it’s challenging to identify and categorize at scale, Videocites noted. To address that issue, Videocites has developed an AI-generated identification capabilities and video-fingerprinting technology to recognize and analyze UGC and trademarked assets related to the brand. 

“We’re excited to collaborate with Videocites to better understand how user-generated content resonates with our fans,” said David Lee, head of NBA Equity. “This partnership and our investment in Videocites reflect our commitment to continue to grow and embrace our fans across the ever-evolving global social media landscape.” 

“Aggregating and analyzing real-time UGC and brand video data in one dashboard allows our clients to keep their finger on the pulse of their fanbase and partners,” said Eyal Arad, Videocites’ Co-Founder, and CEO. “It’s no secret that today’s user habits across social media have a significant impact on shaping public perception of any organization. We are turning that ‘perception’ into quantifiable data.”

“We believe that Videocites can become the industry standard for tracking and measuring intellectual property across social media. Videocites’ technology greatly enhances monetization opportunities for rightsholders and creates a platform for streamlined direct-to-consumer engagement,” said Velocity managing partner David Abrams.

Velocity is a sports, media, and entertainment domain-focused private equity firm founded in 2021 by Abrams and Arne Rees.

Videocites will use the funding to grow its global presence and recruit leading sales and business development professionals to expand its unique offerings in the United States and Europe. 

In the runup to this year’s March Madness men’s college basketball championship, a new analysis of viewership trends during the 2022 tournament argues that past viewing trends indicate the games are likely to be a slam dunk for advertisers. 

In 2022, a majority of households got into the sports spirit, with 65% tuning into the games for an average of 9.25 hours per household, according to researchers at Effectv, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable.

Findings also reveal March Madness ads reach more than double the households per commercial compared to the average program, according to the study, which highlighted the opportunity advertisers have in reaching a broad, engaged audience.

These insights, collected from Comcast’s aggregated viewership data as well as third-party sources during March Madness 2022, reflect the importance of this event for advertisers, the researchers said. 

“The March Madness timeframe is small but mighty with its ability to reach wide audiences efficiently,” said Travis Flood, executive director of insights, Comcast Advertising. “The engaged, live environment captivates viewers and encourages them to gather around the big screen – even those who don’t typically consume TV. Given the fragmentation in TV viewing today, this is an incredibly powerful tool for advertisers.”

The researchers also stressed that March Madness advertising is valuable in securing incremental viewership, as 50% of households reached by March Madness programming are uniquely incremental to the campaign. This means half of the audience reached with March Madness would not have otherwise been reached by the TV campaigns analyzed for 2022.

Other key highlights from the study include: 

• March Madness ads reach nearly 2.5x more households per commercial than the average program.
• Streaming viewership on networks airing March Madness increases 86% during the tournament (versus the prior period).
• 67% (two in three) of businesses tune into games during the first and second rounds of the tournament.
• 41% of March Madness viewing is done with another person.
• Advertisers that include March Madness in their campaigns receive as much as 87% greater reach than those that do not.
• March Madness advertising has the power to reach light TV viewing households – with this programming being 55% more likely to be viewed by this hard-to-reach audience.

“With March Madness, advertisers are reaching viewers who would not otherwise be seeing TV advertising,” added Flood. “Incremental reach is on everyone’s mind in 2023, and this event provides an opportunity to reach audiences more than twice as efficiently as an average ad. This is an opportunity that can benefit advertisers of all sizes.”

The full findings are available here. 

HACKENSACK, N.J.—The National Basketball League (NBL) in Australia has reported growing popularity of its NBL1 professional semi-elite basketball league—even during the pandemic—with the deployment of 75 LiveU Solo wireless video encoders at arenas around the country that have made games more accessible to fans.

Streaming via the LiveU cloud platform to online video platforms made it possible for fans to watch more than 900 NBL1 games live, including final matches and highlights, as well as to follow their favorite teams and players, the company said.

Australian broadcast services company 5Stream was responsible for remote production using the Cloudmix cloud-based production platform. LiveU local partner Pacific Live Media provided the LiveU Solo solution and technical support.

“LiveU has been a game changer for Australian basketball, enabling us to engage sports fans nationwide with exciting, high-quality live coverage for the best video experience,” said NBL1 general manager Dean Anglin.

Total game views throughout the 2021 NBL1 season numbered 733,000 with more than 16.2 million total minutes of the live streams viewed. That translated to 3.36 million views of LiveU Solo streamed video during the season of NBL1’s Instagram page.

“Live streaming the games has strengthened the NBL1 brand and generated a steep rise in interest in basketball. We've managed to increase the number of eyeballs online using cost-effective production,” said Anglin.

LiveU Solo enables wireless live streaming directly from cameras or other video sources to online platforms or customizable web destinations using the LiveU Solo cloud platform. LiveU Solo combines bandwidth from multiple network sources for reliable, high-quality video delivery to power the live video production.

Depending on the arena, single or multi-camera capture and streaming feed the cloud-based production workflow, which is managed from a central location. The Solo encoders are seamlessly integrated with the league’s Canon cameras and other production equipment. Live feeds are directly streamed by 5Stream to Sportsradar and the NBL1’s OTT broadcasting platform as well as the NBL1 website and NBL app, said Anglin.

“The set-up has been unbelievably simple, requiring minimal training for our ground staff. One training session with the kits, and they're ready to go,” said Anglin, who plans to increase the number of LiveU Solo encoders to more than 100 for the upcoming season.

“We had a dream to deliver NBL1 games from states around Australia, and LiveU's 4G bonded IP technology made it possible, enabling us to stream reliably from every venue, at any time, removing our previous single-point-of-failure issue,” said Anglin.

More information is available on the LiveU website.

NEW YORK—NBA fans will be able to enjoy the game action coming from the league’s restart in its Orlando, Fla., bubble through a couple of new ways, including the addition of a betting-focused telecast of select games.

These betting-focused game presentations, which began airing on Aug. 3, will be available to subscribers of NBA League Pass and NBA TV. The content will include analysis from experts at Bleacher Report, The Action Network, Yahoo Sports and others, while overlays provide betting odds.

BetMGM is serving as the presenting partner of NBABet Stream and is tasked with keeping fans up to date with real-time betting lines and statistics.

The games that will be available on NBA TV DTC will include the New Orleans Pelicans vs. the Sacramento Kings (Aug. 6), the Philadelphia 76ers vs. the Portland Trailblazers (Aug. 9), the Dallas Mavericks vs. the Utah Jazz (Aug. 10) and the Indiana Pacers vs. the Houston Rockets (Aug. 12).

Games on NBA League Pass include the Orlando Magic vs. the Pacers (Aug. 4), the Denver Nuggets vs. the San Antonio Spurs (Aug. 5), the Washington Wizards vs. the Pelicans (Aug. 7) and the Phoenix Suns vs. the 76ers (Aug. 11).

The NBA also recently announced a multi-year deal with Yahoo Sports with the goal of improving the at-home experience for fans. Among the things that Yahoo Sports will do is create fantasy and sports betting content, as well as expanding its existing distribution of NBA League Pass. Also, RYOT has been tapped as the live virtual reality partner during the NBA’s games in Orlando.

For more information, visit www.nba.com.  

NEW YORK—Basketball fans, and hungry sports fans in general, now know when their teams will be returning to the court and to their TV screens to resume the 2019-2020 NBA season, as the NBA has released an official schedule.

The NBA, like all professional sport leagues, suspended play in mid-March because of the coronavirus. They are resuming their season starting July 30 with eight games for 22 teams to determine final playoff seedings, with all games taking place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

Games will air nationally on TNT, ESPN and ABC. The restart will tipoff with a double-header on TNT featuring the Utah Jazz playing the New Orleans Pelicans and the LA Clippers playing Lebron James’ Los Angeles Lakers. NBA TV is also set to televise games during the seeding round.

Here is the complete schedule for the NBA’s return.

Tipoff times for the final games of the seeding round will be determined at a later date so that the most compelling matchups can be broadcast on national TV.

The NBA and its broadcast and technology partners are collaborating to enhance game telecasts for an “immersive, interactive viewing experience” for fans, according to the NBA. No details for what that entails were shared at this time.

The seeding games will conclude on Aug. 14. In the event that a play-in game is needed for a final playoff sport, that will take place from Aug. 15-16. The 2020 NBA Playoffs will then begin on Aug. 17.

Sports have been slowly making their return to play in recent weeks. NASCAR and the PGA have returned to a somewhat normal schedule, albeit without fans. Meanwhile, MLB and the NHL have revealed their plans for a return to play, but no official schedules have been released as of yet.

NEW YORK AND SAN FRANCISCO—As part of a deal with the National Basketball Association, Turner Sports and Twitter will allow NBA fans to follow single player action via an isolated camera feed during basketball games broadcast on TNT. The option, which will tip off with the 2019 NBA All Star Game Feb. 17, will be offered on 19 other regular season and playoff games and only be available to fans in the United States.

During the second half of the games, fans can vote via Twitter on which player to focus on, then the ISO camera will follow the fans’ selected player for the rest of the game.

“The NBA Twitter community is among the most vibrant in sports and entertainment,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “While watching NBA games on TNT, our fans on Twitter can now enjoy a unique second screen experience that will further enhance the way fans engage with each other and the game.”

“Turner and the NBA have always taken a leadership position in providing fans with engaging experiences and this partnership with Twitter is the latest example,” said David Levy, President of Turner. “This complementary live stream on Twitter – from the distinct vantage point of the fan-voted, most coveted player on a given night – will provide an additive experience for fans to go along with the fully-produced coverage on TNT.”

Since the NBA joined Twitter in 2009, the league says it has built the largest Twitter community of any sports league in the world with 27.5 million followers.

Photo credit: ESPN

BONN, GERMANY—Sports production at its best can give viewers –if even for a fleeting moment—the feeling that they’re part of the game.

Deutsche Telekom and MediaKind extended that immersive feeling with the help of 6K tiled 360-degree video to viewers via the Magenta VR app on Dec. 9 when the Telekom Basket Bonn met EWE Baskets Oldenburg on the hardwood at the Telekom Dome in Bonn, Germany.

“Consumers are always seeking new ways to experience their favorite sports content. Through the rapid evolution of 360-degree technology, we have the potential to push boundaries and take the consumer to the heart of the game itself,” said Angel Ruiz, CEO of MediaKind.

[Read: Samsung, USA Basketball Team Up On VR]

The multi-camera, 360-degree live stream was delivered to Deutsche Telekom customers via the company’s Magenta VR service on a consumer app. Technical project management was handled by MediaKind, which worked with Deutsche Telekom, Magnum Film, Tiledmedia, Iconic Engine and INVR. Magnum Film shot and produced the event in 360-degree video.

The coverage was the latest milestone in a collaboration over the past year and half between MediaKind and Tiledmedia to demo 360-degree viewport adaptive ClearVR video and supplement traditional broadcast production, bringing viewers closer to the action. “The success of this world first live sport event using 6K 360-degree video with ClearVR tiled format is a major milestone for our team of engineers and our partners who turned this around in a short space of time,” said Ruiz.

MediaKind’s virtualized software encoding technology was deployed in the Google Cloud Platform. MediaKind’s software-based probes were used to monitor every point of data traffic flow and cloud processing operation. They also created customizable and detailed operational dashboards using common cloud visualization tools.

Deutsche Telekom’s T-Labs research team sponsored the event.

More information is available on the MediaKind website.