Super Bowl ad revenue fell for a second straight year; a pair of former ESPN anchors have found new gigs; there are new contenders for the Fox-owned RSNs.
Ad revenue down for Super Bowl 53
CBS generated $382 million in ad revenue for Sunday’s Super Bowl 53, according to preliminary results from Kantar Media, down 5% from last year ($408M) and down 8% from 2017 ($419M), but still the third-largest figure on record. CBS made $370 million on its previous Super Bowl broadcast in 2016.
Advertisers purchased the fewest minutes of commercial time during the Super Bowl — 37 minutes and 25 seconds — since 2010. That is nearly five fewer minutes of ads (or ten 30-second ad units) than two years ago. To compensate, CBS aired nine minutes and 55 seconds of in-house promos, the most for any Super Bowl broadcaster on record. [Kantar Media 2.4]
Czarniak, Walsh, get Fox NASCAR gigs
Former ESPN SportsCenter anchors Lindsay Czarniak and Sara Walsh have joined Fox Sports as weekend anchors for NASCAR Race Hub, Fox Sports announced Tuesday. Czarniak worked for ESPN from 2011-17, serving as anchor of the 6 PM ET SportsCenter from 2012-16 and hosting ABC’s Indianapolis 500 coverage from 2013-17. Prior to joining ESPN, she hosted NASCAR on TNT from 2010-11. She left ESPN in 2017 after she was offered a significant pay cut and job reduction upon return from maternity leave, per a Boston Globe report that year.
Walsh worked for ESPN from 2010-17, serving as a SportsCenter anchor. She was included in the network’s massive talent layoffs while on maternity leave in 2017. Walsh debuted as a FOX NFL sideline reporter last year. [Fox Sports PR 2.5]
New players for Fox RSNs
Liberty Media, the private equity firm Platinum Equity, and Minnesota Twins owner Jim Pohlad are partnering on a bid for the Fox-owned regional sports networks being sold to and divested by Disney, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. In addition to Pohlad’s ties to the Twins, Liberty Media owns the Atlanta Braves and Platinum Equity chairman Tom Gores owns the Detroit Pistons.
CNBC reported Tuesday that Sinclair Broadcasting and private equity firm Apollo Global, which had been partnering on a bid, are out of the running. Per that report, Sinclair could join another bid. [Bloomberg 2.5, CNBC 2.5]
