Colin Cowherd is doing okay after an incident on set this morning; Nielsen boosts its out-of-home coverage ahead of the Super Bowl; and more.
Colin Cowherd okay after illness
Fox Sports anchor Colin Cowherd abruptly exited his eponymous FS1 show Monday due to illness. In the middle of his first segment, Cowherd said, “folks, I am going to take a break. I am getting very, very sick very, very quickly on this set, and we will return.” With no explanation, the network went to commercial break for more than 7 minutes, then returned with Jason Mcintyre hosting the remainder of the show. The network released a statement on social media that Cowherd was “doing OK”.
Cowherd is scheduled to travel to New Orleans this week to host his show as part of the network’s lead-up to Super Bowl LIX.
Nielsen boosts out-of-home viewership, reaches Paramount deal
The Nielsen audience measurement company announced they have expanded the out-of-home data to include 100% of US markets. This represents an increase from 66% of coverage this time last year, with the change mostly coming from rural areas. The timing is no coincidence — the move will surely boost the viewership figures for Fox’s presentation of the Super Bowl on Sunday.
The news comes as Nielsen’s “Big Data” viewership measurement, which incorporates third-party data, received accreditation from the Media Ratings Council. Nielsen is set to designate the “Panel+Big Data” viewership as their standard product and cease releases of the panel-only viewership that had been the standard for decades later this year.
In other Nielsen news, the company announced Monday it has renewed its partnership with Paramount Global, ending a four-month standoff over pricing. CBS Sports just concluded its second-most watched season of NFL coverage (trailing only last year) and led all windows with its 4:25 PM games, but the network did not publish ratings due to the lapsed contract with Nielsen.
Plus: F1, track league, McDonough
— The 2025 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix will begin at 11 PM ET (8 PM local time), two hours earlier than the 1 AM start time of the first two editions, it was announced Monday. The move-up will allow ESPN and the race to take better advantage of the Saturday night college football lead-in.
— Four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson has announced the creation of the Grand Slam Track league. Jamaica, Miami, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles will each host a three-day made-for-TV racing event. Peacock will stream all sessions, with CW simulcasting coverage of 8 three-hour windows on Saturdays and Sundays.
— ESPN lead NHL play-by-play voice Sean McDonough is scheduled to call his first NHL game of the season this Saturday as the Bruins host the Golden Knights at 3:30 PM on ABC. McDonough was scheduled to call a game last week but was “under the weather”, according to his replacement Mike Monaco.
