Skip Bayless recently signed a four-year, $ 32 million contract with Fox Sports. (Illustration by Christopher … [+]
The Washington Post through Getty Images
At least one high-profile sports pundit is excited about a big Skip Bayless payday with Fox Sports. On his radio show Friday, Pat McAfee, Indianapolis Colts punter, welcomed the news for one reason: YouTube.
The McAfee program, which is also broadcast on SiriusXM, is the most viewed sports show on YouTube, including 54 million monthly views. Bayless Debating Showcase with Shannon Sharpe, no doubt, luring about 42 million monthly views – good for a second overall.
“With Skip as part of the second biggest sports show of every day, behind one other show, if you look at all the analysis,” McAfee said on his show Friday, according to the New York Post. “This is great news.
At first glance, Fox Sports’ decision to shower Bayless with $ 32 million over four years looks strange, considering no doubt usually attracts directly 130,000 to 150,000 viewers per day on TV. But cable is becoming a smaller part of the equation, even for a TV network. The media industry suffered its worst year ever for cord cutting, with only 60% of residential households now paying for TV. Cable and satellite combined for 1.4 million subscribed in Q4 alone.
The future is flowing, which is why ESPN was following Bayless so strongly. WorldWide CEO for Bayless was reunited with Stephen A. Smith for a daily presentation on his streaming service, ESPN +, reporting on Andrew Marchand of the Post. It seems that ESPN was still interested in putting Bayless even after agreeing to his contract with Fox Sports.
When Bayless signed his first contract with Fox Sports in 2016, it would have been impossible to imagine him, or any other personality, pulling two duties. But today, that is no cause for concern. Disney is entirely invested in streaming.
Per Disney finally employment profession, Disney + now has up to 94.9 million subscribers, with ESPN + pulling in 12.1 million. One year ago, ESPN + had 7.6 million people. That’s more than a 50% increase over one year.
Undoubtedly, Disney’s bundle package of Disney +, ESPN + and Hulu for a single fee has become a staple for membership numbers. But second, ESPN needs to be very happy with its new streaming reach. In 2013, the network was in 100 million homes; now, it is in just 83 million. Last year, ESPN announced that it was laying off 300 more people, and not filling an additional 200 positions.
An ESPN statement on Bayless – Marchand says Bayless was offered four years in the $ 30 million range – reflects its current priorities.
Years ago, people who left ESPN were believed to be sacrificing visibility and capital. Bayless shows that is no longer true, along with Jemele Hill. The latter has partnered with Spotify to develop a podcast network to promote black women. There are many more platforms today.
Enter McAfee, whose show has gone up without the support of traditional network or copyright agreements. While Bayless returned to Fox Sports for $ 8 million a year, it looks like McAfee would hold out for a lot more before selling its program to another entity. Take a look at Bayless: its TV audience is of little value. It’s about how he appeared on YouTube and other social platforms, where his rants go viral – even when they are wildly offensive.
At 69 years old, it is very likely that Bayless felt compelled to start his own media company, and produce his own content. But it is clear that his reach is not tied to Fox Sports. In today’s world of democratic content, people can pursue their own cultivation without the help of traditional media. TV isn’t nearly as important as it used to be.
Over the past two decades, we’ve seen newspaper logos operating as digital-first operations that also publish prints. It’s easy to think that TV networks are soon seeing themselves as streaming networks that also happen to have a cable channel. The chase for Bayless shows that maybe that already is.