More people than ever tuned into this year’s World Baseball Classic championship game. Tuesday’s final between Team USA and Venezuela drew 10,784,000 viewers across Fox and Fox Deportes, making it the most-watched game in the tournament’s history, Fox Sports PR posted said on Thursday. This is up a whopping 128 percent jump from 2023’s championship … Read more
President Trump vowed early Wednesday to find out why Seth Meyers’ contract was renewed by NBC — ripping the late-night host as “one of the least talented” out there. “There is a sick rumor going around that Fake News NBC extended the contract of one of the least talented Late Night television hosts out there, … Read more
Charles Barkley said JJ Redick “is a dead man walking” in his first year as head coach of the Lakers. During Thursday’s “Inside the NBA,” Barkley ripped Redick for comments he made about NBA ratings last month — when the former ESPN analyst placed blame on the league’s media partners for fueling negative talk about … Read more
The battle for Christmas is on between the NFL and the NBA after both leagues released viewership numbers for the Christmas Day slate of games on Thursday, with Netflix’s first venture into broadcast live football games coming with historic numbers. The popular streaming service carried both NFL contests (Steelers-Chiefs and Ravens-Texans) on Christmas Day, drawing … Read more
Life’s unfair — and then there’s the Michelin 2024 guide to New York City restaurants. If MAGA-believers and far-left progressives can agree on one book to ban, it should be the tire company’s red-jacketed travesty of culinary justice. Twenty years since Michelin invaded the Big Apple with its hilariously error-filled debut edition, the publication remains influential enough … Read more
“Saturday Night Live” should be very scared. Spirit Halloween went after the NBC sketch comedy series for its Season 50 premiere skit that took a dig at the pop-up costume store. “We are great at raising things back from the dead,” the store wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, alongside a photo of a fake … Read more
Even as you know Caitlin Clark had a profound effect on how many people watched the WNBA this season, the numbers written out are remarkable. With the WNBA regular season concluded and the playoffs set to start on Sunday, the numbers of how many eyeballs she delivered both on TV and in the arenas have … Read more
Mike Francesa isn’t happy about this week’s lull in the NBA playoffs schedule. The Celtics swept the Pacers and then the Mavericks took down the Timberwolves in five games a few days later, leaving sports fans waiting a full seven days before the NBA Finals start. It’s something that will spell “disaster” for the league, … Read more
The British Board of Film Classification has been busy. Last year, the group rerated more than 30 older films to meet contemporary standards. In February, it gave a stricter rating to “Mary Poppins” because of racial slurs. And last week, it began using an updated set of guidelines after surveying thousands of British moviegoers to … Read more
Paige Spiranac offered an interesting theory Tuesday as to why the TV ratings for the final round of the 2024 Masters slid compared to last year’s. When responding to a post on X from Nuclr Golf that reported 9.589 million viewers tuned in Sunday to watch Scottie Scheffler win his second green jacket — “a … Read more
On Halloween night, 1977, the first in the crucial sweeps week for “Night Owls,” Delroy and his producers come up with a desperate, last ditch idea to spike ratings: they design a show full of spectacle that will tap into the cultural craze for all things occult. The guest list that night includes a medium … Read more
The comeback of live event TV continues. ABC’s telecast of the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday drew 19.5 million viewers, hitting a four-year viewership high, according to Nielsen. The live TV audience was up from last year’s 18.8 million, the third consecutive year that Oscar viewership has grown. The ratings report will prompt cheers at … Read more
Bill Simmons has swung back at Pat McAfee as the feud between sports media heavyweights continues. The beef started when Simmons did an impression of “The Pat McAfee Show” on his podcast, making the show sound meathead-y and disorganized. McAfee responded by accusing Simmons of having paltry gambling affiliate numbers and insinuating that the Ringer … Read more
There was not a blank space when it came to Super Bowl viewership. As was announced on Monday, Super Bowl 2024 averaged 123.4 million viewers on CBS platforms, a record not just for the Super Bowl but for any event since the 1969 moon landing, and an increase of about 7 percent from last year’s … Read more
On this week’s pod, Andrew Marchand is joined by Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp to discuss the $5 billion WWE deal with Netflix and what it means for the future of sports rights. The duo discuss the impact of the agreement on the NBA’s forthcoming broadcast negotiations. They also highlight the bonkers NFL TV ratings, … Read more
It’s always about the numbers, not the words. That’s how big-time sports TV talent is judged — and it will be no different with Pat McAfee. Upon hiring McAfee in the fall, ESPN knew he would be a headache. They even agreed to it, allowing him to swear on its air, wear a tank top … Read more
Jason and Travis Kelce are skeptical of how anyone can claim that teen girls were flocking to “Sunday Night Football” in droves. After talking about how the NFL’s broadcast partners are “overdoing” the shots of Taylor Swift — cheering on her rumored boyfriend, Travis, and his Chiefs — on their “New Heights” podcast, they started … Read more
Changes to the college football television landscape is the top topic on this week’s show, with hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discussing the new Big Ten deals that take effect this season on CBS, Fox and NBC. The co-hosts discuss everything from the analysts that will be used on these games to Peacock’s role … Read more
Victor Wembanyama is already delivering big for the NBA, even before stepping foot on the court for the San Antonio Spurs. Even with the 19-year-old’s selection at No. 1 in the 2023 NBA Draft all but a formality, fans watched the draft coverage from Barclays Center at record numbers on Thursday — particularly to check … Read more
Despite a compelling finish and a win by one of golf’s biggest stars, the final round of the PGA Championship drew disappointing ratings on Sunday. Brooks Koepka pulled away from Viktor Hovland and a looming Scottie Scheffler on Sunday to finish 9-under and win his fifth career major at Oak Hill in New Jersey this … Read more