It Doesn’t Feel Like Football Season, But the Big Negotiation Game Is on TV
You may have missed last season’s NFL playoff game on Nickelodeon. It was between the New Orleans Saints and the Chicago Bears. It featured slime-filled graphics on the field when there was a score, and the announcers were not your typical NFL sports broadcasters. SpongeBob SquarePants was on the net catching field-goal kicks.
The Nickelodeon game was the network’s most-watched program in nearly four years with 2.06 million viewers. For the NFL, this is what it will want to see in negotiated rights to broadcast the game. It is a simple way to bring new fans to the game — especially young fans. The NFL is searching for new audiences and ways to extend its content. Amazon is bidding. So are Disney/ESPN, FOX, CBS and maybe even some social media outlets. ESPN has experimented with multiple channels from ABC, ESPN, Freeform, ESPN2 (coaches’ room), ESPN+ (analytics-focused) and ESPN Deportes.
It is all intended to build more audiences, bring in a new generation of football fans, extend content offerings and appeal to a broader audience set for each game.
The alternative broadcasting helps extend the brand and make it more accessible to fans and new fans. The negotiations will be the best game to watch this summer. But there is a lesson for us all in this: Take your most popular content and leverage it for broader reach and spinoffs.
Mark Mathis III is chief creative & strategy officer, partner and cofounder of AMPERAGE Marketing & Fundraising.