Three years ago, this site characterized Versus as an “unmitigated disaster”. Needless to say, that was premature. But even if Versus is far from being a disaster, it has not exactly been a success either.
| State of Versus (2010) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Good: | Most-viewed Stanley Cup Final on cable since ’02; most-viewed first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on cable since at least 1993-94; Comcast takeover of NBC Universal would put Versus and NBC Sports under same umbrella; potential of Olympic coverage, future rights deals w/ NBC | |||
| The Bad: | July 2010 distribution down from last year; in fewer homes than Speed Channel, Golf Channel; events attract few viewers compared to those on ESPN/ESPN2 | |||
The league most intertwined with Versus — and the one with the most riding on its success — is the NHL. Five years ago, the NHL took a chance on what was then the Outdoor Life Network, enduring mockery from detractors and criticism from supporters for doing so. The move did not appear to be successful in those early years, with the Stanley Cup Finals at one point getting outdrawn by re-runs of Mama’s Family on netlet ION.
However, the past three years have resulted in some vindication for both the network and the league. Over the past three years, viewership has improved for the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Versus, with the Stanley Cup Final setting an all-time network viewership record each year.
The numbers have not just been good ‘for Versus’. In 2010, the Stanley Cup Final averaged 3.369 million viewers on Versus, the highest average for the event on cable since 2002 — topping ESPN’s coverage of the ’03 Devils/Mighty Ducks series and the ’04 Lightning/Flames series (Games 1 and 2 each year).
Versus also had the highest average viewership for the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on cable since at least 1993-94 — meaning the network attracted larger audiences than even ESPN and ESPN2 during their last decade covering the league.
Even with the larger numbers, the numbers for the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Versus are still small compared to other sports on other networks. Versus averaged less than one million viewers for its coverage of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs (excluding the 2010 Stanley Cup Final), well below the average viewership for regular season NBA and Major League Baseball games on ESPN. Keep in mind that Versus is in approximately 26 million fewer homes than ESPN.
The NHL is one of the few properties on Versus capable of drawing at least one million viewers. The network has surpassed that number on few occasions — for example, World Extreme Cagefighting telecasts, the ’05 Tour de France and at least one college football game (USC/Stanford in ’08, 1.032 mil) — but by and large, most programs on the network attract totals in the hundreds of thousands. In 2009, not a single Tour de France or IndyCar telecast on Versus hit the one million mark.
Ratings aside, the biggest difficulty for Versus may be its distribution. The network is currently in 73.888 million homes, down from this time last year (75.271 mil) and behind Speed Channel (76.447 mil), the Golf Channel (83.055 mil), ESPN (99.539 mil) and ESPN2 (99.480 mil). The network is only months removed from a lengthy carriage dispute with DirecTV, which resulted in it being dropped by the satellite provider.
Despite its problems, Versus has arguably the biggest upside of any sports network. Parent company Comcast is on the verge of taking a majority stake in NBC Universal, which would put Versus under the same corporate umbrella as NBC Sports. Versus and NBC have an existing relationship as NHL rights partners, sharing lead broadcasters Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk.
Versus can only stand to benefit from the power of the NBC Sports brand — which, though diminished from its mid-1990s heyday, is still one of the most powerful in sports television. Not only could NBC promote sporting events on Versus, but the network could also share some of its sports properties.
It should be pointed out that Comcast has promised NBC affiliates that it will not move big time sporting events from NBC to Versus. However, one would expect that does not necessarily apply across the board — meaning that even if biggest fish (primetime Olympic telecasts and Sunday Night Football) stay on NBC, some smaller events might migrate to cable.
For example, Versus would be virtually guaranteed to air some Olympic coverage, especially considering it has far greater ties to sports than USA Network, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo and Oxygen — each of which has aired Olympic coverage in the past. Late in 2009, Sports Business Journal reported that NBC’s Notre Dame football contract “has a clause that allows a certain number of games to migrate to cable,” calling Versus “a natural place to house those games.”
Additionally, Versus is certain to play a role in any future rights agreements NBC may make — whether that includes renewing NHL rights in 2011 or acquiring the rights to another Big Four sport or a college conference later this decade.
To sum up Versus simply: the past was bleak, the present is decent and the future is bright.
See also: “Comcast must make the right calls on sports in any NBC deal (Sports Business Journal)”, “Coming To Your Living Room: ESPN in 99.5 Million U.S. Homes In July (Sports Business Daily)”, “Versus Ratings Record (insidesocal.com)”
