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DAZN’s “RedZone-Like” MLB Show a “Complete Dud”, Makes Similar NBA/NHL Programming Unlikely
Sports by Brooks and Front Office Sports reported that DAZN is interested in producing live NBA and NHL whiparound shows (think: NFL RedZone) as they’ve done with MLB, but sources tell JohnWallStreet that “ChangeUp has been a complete dud. While the show is well produced, it simply hasn’t driven new subs as hoped.” The decision to invest in ChangeUp – “a particularly costly way of getting into business with the league” – was said to be “mainly [executive chairman John] Skipper’s”, so we’ve heard that “there’s now a sense of vindication within the building among those who had opposed it.” The perception exists that with NBA and NHL whiparound shows bound to experience a similar fate, “unless John is making decisions unilaterally, DAZN won’t be making the same mistake again.”
Boxing Bubble Will Eventually Burst
Rumblings that the sport of boxing is sitting on a bubble are getting louder. Sources close to ESPN+ tell JohnWallStreet that while the OTT service “has been able to attribute subscriber growth to the company’s investment in the UFC, boxing has not delivered.” DAZN and Showtime have also posted underwhelming viewership figures for recent high-profile fights leading one boxing insider to say, “I don’t see boxing as this thriving sport. I don’t see a lot of sponsorship. There’s not millions of people watching. I see media companies spending crazy amounts of money hoping to use the sport as a building block for their SVOD products. That’s a bubble that will eventually burst.”
Sports by Brooks and Front Office Sports reported that DAZN is interested in producing live NBA and NHL whiparound shows (think: NFL RedZone) as they’ve done with MLB, but sources tell JohnWallStreet that “ChangeUp has been a complete dud. While the show is well produced, it simply hasn’t driven new subs as hoped.” The decision to invest in ChangeUp – “a particularly costly way of getting into business with the league” – was said to be “mainly [executive chairman John] Skipper’s”, so we’ve heard that “there’s now a sense of vindication within the building among those who had opposed it.” The perception exists that with NBA and NHL whiparound shows bound to experience a similar fate, “unless John is making decisions unilaterally, DAZN won’t be making the same mistake again.”
Boxing Bubble Will Eventually Burst
Rumblings that the sport of boxing is sitting on a bubble are getting louder. Sources close to ESPN+ tell JohnWallStreet that while the OTT service “has been able to attribute subscriber growth to the company’s investment in the UFC, boxing has not delivered.” DAZN and Showtime have also posted underwhelming viewership figures for recent high-profile fights leading one boxing insider to say, “I don’t see boxing as this thriving sport. I don’t see a lot of sponsorship. There’s not millions of people watching. I see media companies spending crazy amounts of money hoping to use the sport as a building block for their SVOD products. That’s a bubble that will eventually burst.”
https://johnwallstreet.com/dazn-nba-nhl-redzone/amp/?
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