Austin Karp

The NHL’s opening weekend of the Stanley Cup Playoffs averaged 2.62 million viewers, up 11% from last year as ESPN and TNT delivered the three most-watched first round Game 1s on record for cable TV in the U.S.

NBA regional sports networks saw a 6% increase during the regular season.

This year marks the 10th NFL Draft to be on the road since leaving Manhattan, and ESPN VP/Programming and Acquisitions Tim Reed joined me on this

SBJ Football: Motor City moment

The third season of the NHL’s media rights deal with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery produced the league’s best regular-season audience on U.S. national airwaves since 2015-16. Games averaged 504,000 viewers per game, up 8% from 465,000 last season (which was down only slightly from Year 1 of the deal).

The first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday night had its best audience in three years, as ESPN, ABC and the NFL Network (plus other NFL digital streaming) averaged around 12 million viewers.

SBJ Media: Berson shakes up 'The NFL Today' at CBS

While ESPN+ saw a dip in subscribers in the most recent quarter (Q2 for Disney), but average revenue per user was actually up.

Fanatics is continuing its deeper push into content, and today is rolling out a multiyear partnership with “The Pivot” podcast that will see Fanatics' platform of business integrated throughout the show.

The NBA moved the Draft Lottery to ABC on a Sunday afternoon this year, and the switch off of primetime did not pay off, with the event seeing its lowest audience since 2006.