The “Big” Apple and Yankees almost made history
Apple TV+ was almost part of Yankees history against rival Boston as Aaron Judge was vying to tie Roger Maris’ home run record of 61 and was only two shy of being the Yankees all time HR leader. This just after passing Babe Ruth’s mark. Quite a feat after coming off the steroid era of the past few decades. While Judge didn’t match the home run record that night, it was still a great opportunity for Apple TV+, which had exclusive rights to air the game as part of its recent MLB Friday Night Baseball deal. The good news is the game was televised for free through the Apple TV app. The bad news is that not everyone had an internet-connected TV or could watch TV on a computer or phone. On the flip side, our data shows that more U.S. Internet households have a TV connected device than a pay TV service (80% vs 77%), although that does – of course – ignore the homes that do not have an Internet connection still.
The NPD Take:
- This was a home run (pun intended) for Apple as it pulled in a potential new audience to their service for a chance to watch history being made.
- Of course, sometimes luck plays a part, but sports rights are very profitable. Amazon recently signed an exclusive 11 year Thursday night football deal with the NFL. Look for more companies to compete for exclusive sports deals to boost viewership, albeit at a premium cost.
Lionsgate focuses on studio business sale
Lionsgate is considering a sale of its studio business, according to a securities filing last week. This appears to be quite an abrupt shift in strategy from the company’s previous plan, which was to spin off its premium channel Starz instead. The media and entertainment company was, apparently, in talks to sell a 20% share in Starz, but changed approaches when it saw more interest in the studio side, which will result in a more lucrative deal. The studio business creates movies and TV shows with a library of over 17,000 titles including blockbusters The Hunger Games, The Expendables and Mad Men. In addition, Lionsgate is planning to rebrand its Starzplay international brand to Lionsgate+, but keep the Starz branding in the U.S.
The NPD Take:
- There seems to be a trend towards studios separating their content creation and distribution channels, with Disney also recently going through a similar reorg offering multiple content premieres from its studios on Disney+ Day. Content remains king.
- Branding and name recognition remains an important part of the marketing campaign for companies in their quest for new ways to promote value and drive revenue. And Lionsgate is hardly alone: Epix has just announced it will rebrand to MGM+ in January to gain greater brand recognition. South Park could have a field day with this.