Nielsen Media Research announces results for co-viewing pilot; the Los Angeles Angels organization rebrands its broadcast network; and Skip Bayless will appear on Friday’s edition of “First Take” on ESPN. Plus news on the WNBA, Dave Pasch, Draymond Green and Mina Kimes.
Nielsen co-viewing pilot finds 4.19% increase in total viewers for “marquee live events”
A Nielsen co-viewing pilot program boosted average viewership for “marquee live events” — including the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Game and Daytona 500 — by 4.19% in the month of February, the measurement company announced Tuesday. February was the first month of the pilot program, which uses wearable devices that can capture television audio and enables users’ viewing habits to be measured more passively than before. Nielsen plans to implement the co-viewing estimates as official “currency” in the 2026-2027 television season.
In an interview with Joe Flint of The Wall Street Journal published last fall, NFL chief data and analytics officer Paul Ballew said that Nielsen was undercounting co-viewing for its games.
Nielsen has implemented several changes to its measurement system in recent years that have largely resulted in a viewership lift for sports programming. The company most recently combined its traditional panel numbers with “Big Data” from set-top boxes and smart TVs. Nielsen also began including out-of-home viewing in its estimates in 2020 and last year expanded coverage to include the entire contiguous United States TV population. It is official Nielsen policy to compare Big Data + Panel measurements to panel-only figures from the previous year, often skewing year-over-year evaluations.
Nielsen delayed the release of its February “Gauge” report, which compiles monthly total television viewing across broadcast, cable and streaming sources, after backlash surrounding new methodology, according to a report by Brian Steinberg of Variety. The company had been planning to implement DASH data from the Advertising Research Foundation that could have caused a one-time alteration to the television universe and result in diminished streaming viewership, per Steinberg. Nielsen is working on changes to its “Gauge” and “Media Distributor Gauge” reports for the upcoming fall television season.
Angels rebrand broadcast network
The Los Angeles Angels rebranded their regional sports network as “Angels Broadcast Television” last week, ending a brief period in which it continued to operate under the “FanDuel Sports Network West” banner. The pre-planned rebrand comes weeks after the Angels assumed full control of the RSN, which they co-owned with Main Street Sports Group prior to this season. It also marks the official end of the FanDuel Sports Network era in MLB, with the Wednesday, April 29 contest between the Angels and White Sox marking the final MLB game to air on a FanDuel-branded network.
Despite the name change, the broadcast team for Angels games remains the same with play-by-play announcer Wayne Randazzo, analyst Mark Gubicza and reporter/host Erica Weston. Regional broadcasts of Los Angeles Kings hockey will also air on Angels Broadcast Television beginning in the fall. It remains unknown how the network will handle the possibility of Angels and Kings games overlapping during the latter stages of the seasons for both teams.
Main Street Sports Group recently aired its final regional professional sports broadcast when the Minnesota Wild defeated the Dallas Stars. The RSN company, previously a subsidiary of Sinclair when it was known as Diamond Sports Group, had emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy last January with a restructured balance sheet. It faced financial challenges shortly thereafter and announced this past April that it was going to “wind down operations” unless it was bailed out by a last-minute buyer.
The nine remaining MLB franchises who worked with Main Street Sports Group departed the company this past March and joined the MLB Local Media streaming portfolio. Several of the franchises have also been working with the league on linear broadcast distribution, while others have opted to launch their own regional sports networks.
Bayless to appear on Friday edition of “First Take”
Former ESPN personality Skip Bayless will make his return to the network this Friday to appear on an episode of “First Take” alongside former colleague Stephen A. Smith. The appearance is being billed as a “one-time show,” and it will bring Bayless and Smith back together on the program for the first time since 2016. It will come just over a year after Smith and Bayless interviewed one another for their respective podcasts.
The guest appearance is the highest-profile media appearance for Bayless since a former FS1 hairstylist accused him of sexual battery and creating a hostile work environment in a lawsuit obtained by Deadline last February. Former FS1 executive Charlie Dixon and host Joy Taylor were also named as part of the lawsuit alongside Bayless, all of whom denied the respective allegations brought forth against them. The lawsuit against Bayless has since settled, according to a report by Winston Cho of The Hollywood Reporter.
Bayless spent eight years on FS1 hosting “Undisputed” alongside Shannon Sharpe, which was a direct competitor for “First Take.” Sharpe eventually left the show and joined “First Take” as a contributor, but he never appeared on the network again after taking a temporary leave last April upon being accused of sexual assault and battery.
FS1 relaunched “Undisputed” after Sharpe’s departure with Bayless debating a roster of rotating contributors, some of whom included Michael Irvin, Keyshawn Johnson and Richard Sherman. The show ended in August of last year when FS1 introduced a new weekday programming lineup. Bayless departed FS1 during that same month and has since re-emerged in limited capacities throughout the sports media business.
Plus: WNBA, Dave Pasch, Draymond Green, Mina Kimes
- Bell Media will broadcast and stream the WNBA Finals, playoff games, regular-season matchups and the WNBA Draft in Canada as part of a multiyear media rights deal with the league, it was announced Tuesday. In addition, the media company will air the Toronto Tempo on TSN, while a select number of Tempo games will also be available through CTV and streaming on Crave. Amazon’s Prime Video will broadcast a June game between the Tempo and Sparks and holds rights to stream some WNBA games in Canada as well.
- Dave Pasch is “the favorite” to become ESPN’s secondary NFL play-by-play voice, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic said on Monday’s edition of the “Marchand & Meterparel” podcast. Kurt Warner and Jason Kelce are both contenders for the analyst role. “They want to see what the schedule looks like first,” Marchand said of ESPN. “Once the schedule comes out in a couple weeks, then they’ll see. I think the feeling is that probably a lot of international games, but they have to see what the NFL comes up with.” Pasch, the radio voice of the Arizona Cardinals and a regular on ESPN college football, has weekly commitments stateside.
- Golden State Warriors F Draymond Green will return to “Inside the NBA” this week filling in for analyst Kenny “The Jet” Smith starting Wednesday, Sports Media Watch has confirmed. Green has been part of the program on numerous occasions over the years when it aired on TNT, but it will mark the first time he serves as an analyst for the show on ESPN/ABC. The studio show is slated to air on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday this week. Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal was first to report the news of Green appearing on the studio show.
- ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes will host the semifinals and final round of the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee televised on ION, it was announced Tuesday. Kimes won three school spelling bees and will be on the air for the finals live on Thursday, May 28 at 8 PM ET. The broadcasts will be produced by Embassy Row founder and “Jeopardy!” EP Michael Davies.
