by Kevin Roose July 11, 2014 4:37 PM ET Listen to the Story All Things Considered 3 min 2 sec Playlist Download Transcript
View the Original article
View the Original article
Showing posts with label World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World. Show all posts
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Friday, July 11, 2014
World Cup Broadcasting Rights Pay Off For ESPN, Univision
July 11, 2014 5:00 AM ET Listen to the Story Morning Edition 4 min 30 sec Playlist Download
View the Original article
Renee Montagne talks to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal about the business of watching the World Cup. It's been a boon for ESPN and Univision even with limited advertising during the games.
Copyright © 2014 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And this Sunday, Germany and Argentina play the final game of the World Cup. If the last few weeks are any guide, a record number of Americans will be tuning in both on television and online. To hear more about the business of broadcasting soccer, we reached John Ourand, the media reporter at the Sports Business Journal. Good morning.
JOHN OURAND: Good morning Renee.
MONTAGNE: Now, ESPN and Univision have the exclusive rights in the U.S. to broadcast the World Cup. Univision has the Spanish-language rights - ESPN, the English language rights. And they must be very happy on this World Cup, given how popular it is.
OURAND: You know, I'm running out of superlatives to describe the television interest and the digital interest in these games. ESPN paid about $100 million for these games and the ones four years ago in South Africa. And Univision paid 325 million for them. And judging by the amount of people that are watching - 4 million, 5 million viewers for soccer in America - these games are really hitting the casual fan and bringing the casual fan in to watch more than ever before.
MONTAGNE: And people would be watching, not just on television, but also on what? - phones and tablets.
OURAND: For me, that's a big story of these games - is the amount of people that are streaming the games live via the Watch ESPN app or via Univision Sports app. ESPN says that if you aggregate the number of people that are watching online, you can add 10 percent to their TV viewership figures, which is a number that's really almost unheard of in the digital space.
MONTAGNE: Is that partly because a lot of the games are during the time when people can actually watch them - like here in California, the games at one o'clock - you can almost get away with a lunch-hour viewing.
OURAND: That's what you would think, and that's the way, historically, people have been streaming games during work hours. But now ESPN and Univision both say that on weekends, when presumably, people are in front of their TVs, they're not seeing much drop-off in terms of the number of streams coming in, which suggests to them that more people are streaming and becoming comfortable with streaming games.
MONTAGNE: One way broadcasters make money off events like this is selling advertising, and this is something interesting about the World Cup. The World Cup, unlike other big sporting events like the Olympics or the Super Bowl - there is not a constant stream of advertising breaks. So how have ESPN and Univision been making money?
OURAND: Well, they still sell advertising. They sell advertising in the pregame show and halftime show and the postgame show, but a lot of where ESPN and Univision are making money is because more people now are downloading the app. So they're able to bring in that bigger audience. More people are stuck on ESPN and watching the shows that precede it or follow it. Univision said in the first twenty days of the 2014 World Cup, they recorded the 20 most trafficked days in Univision Digital's history. So that - there's just a lot of activity and they're able to make a lot of money off that.
MONTAGNE: So the World Cup has done great for ESPN and Univision, but they're not going to have the next couple of World Cups.
OURAND: No. And that speaks to the popularity of the World Cup. Fox and Telemundo are going to carry the next two World Cups, one in Russia and one in Qatar. Fox and Telemundo ended up paying double in terms of a rights fee from what ESPN and Univision paid. So they see a real growth potential within the World Cup, which is almost amazing when you take a look at some of these numbers that are coming out.
MONTAGNE: What does this World Cup mean for the sport of soccer?
OURAND: I believe that the sport of soccer's doing very well in America. I believe that the success of the World Cup this year shows that the World Cup is a big event along the lines of the Olympics or along the lines of the NFL playoffs. In 2010, when the World Cup was in South Africa, ESPN set ratings records, but as soon as the event ended, the major league soccer in America - their TV ratings gained only slightly. I think it was less than five percent. Every four years, swimming on NBC at the Olympics brings more than 30 million people coming to watch it. But nobody ever suggests that swimming is going to be a big prime time show for a network. It's just an event that Americans like to rally round and cheer for their countrymen. And I do believe that soccer is on the Ascendancy in the U.S. But I think that has almost nothing to do with the interest in the World Cup.
MONTAGNE: John Ourand is a media reporter at Sports Business Journal. Thanks very much.
OURAND: Thanks Renee.
Copyright © 2014 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio. Share Facebook Twitter GoogleView the Original article
With Brazil Out Of The World Cup, Was The Price Tag Worth It?
July 11, 201412:18 PM ET Listen to the Story Tell Me More 10 min 55 sec Playlist Download
View the Original article
Host Michel Martin learns more about what's happening at the World Cup, both on and off the field, in the days leading up to the final match on Sunday.
Copyright © 2014 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. Soccer fans this is it, your weekend. Brazil and the Netherlands face off for third place at the World Cup on Saturday and Germany will play Argentina in the final on Sunday. Millions of fans around the world are expected to tune in for the final matches. We wanted to help you get ready but we also wanted to touch on some of the important stories that have been going on off the field or rather the pitch as they say in soccer as well. Joining us once again from Rio de Janeiro is Ricardo Zuniga. He's Latin America's sports editor for the Associated Press. Ricardo welcome back, thanks for joining us again.
RICARDO ZUNIGA: Hi, Michel. Thanks for having me.
MARTIN: Also joining us Greg Howard. He's editor of Deadspin's soccer website Screamer and a writer for Deadspin. Greg, welcome to you as well.
ZUNIGA: Hey Michel, how you doing?
MARTIN: I'm good. So, Ricardo let me start with you 'cause Brazil was really in mourning after that 7-1 defeat by Germany earlier this week. What's the mood like in Brazil now? Are people still interested?
ZUNIGA: I think they've lost a lot of interest in the tournament. Obviously their main goal was to reach the final and not only reach the final but win it all. And after such a demoralizing loss against Germany, it really dampened the mood over here. No one is really interested either in playing or watching this third-place game and the fact that Argentina, Brazil's main football or soccer rival, is in the final is even worse for them. It's like rubbing salt on the wound. So, they will be watching Sunday's final but the interest will be for them to - for Germany to win, even though Germany - beat them so badly, they would rather see Germany win than Argentina.
MARTIN: Well you know, the team faced two enormous hurdles at the later rounds. I mean Neymar badly hurt in the quarterfinals against Columbia, took him out of the tournament. And then the captain, Thiago Silva's suspension. Will Silva be back for the final? Does Brazil have a chance to take third, even though as you said, the kind of, the wind is out of the sails at this point.
ZUNIGA: Yes, Silva is back. He had just a one game suspension because of accumulation of yellow cards. And right now it's up for grabs. That third place match - Netherlands coach, Louis van Gaal, already said after losing to Argentina in the semifinals, that they did not want to play that match. I think Brazil has at least some motivation to win it. So they don't leave the tournament with such a sour taste in their mouths, and they at least leave a good last impression with their fans. So, I think Brazil obviously has some advantage there, they also have an extra day of rest. And you got to remember that the Netherlands played their semifinals on Wednesday. Brazil played theirs on Tuesday. And the Netherlands also played 30 extra minutes. So Brazil has several advantages over the Netherlands for that match.
MARTIN: Greg what's been the big story of the tournament for you?
GREG HOWARD: You know, besides Luis Suarez, I think the Brazil match against Germany and them getting thrubbed(Ph) the way that they did, is probably going to be something people talk about for years actually. I mean, it was the most shocking thing I think anyone has ever seen in the sport.
MARTIN: You know, you mentioned that the Luis Suarez, we're talking about- this the Uruguayan player who was thrown out of the games for biting another player, this is not the first time that he's done this. But you know the uglier side of the game has been on display in this tournament. I mean, the fact that Neymar was hurt so badly because he would kneed in the back and he reportedly couldn't feel his legs after the injury. And then of course there are the concussions, which you also wrote about. Do you think that this might be an inflection moment, where this side of the sport gets more attention?
HOWARD: It's hard to tell, especially with concussions. I mean, I think it's a big story here because of American football but I don't know. I mean, Ricardo probably knows better than I do. If they're talking about concussions in Brazil, in Uruguay where Alvaro Pereira, you know, he's hit on the head and back to that game, really hard. One time he was knocked out and had to - he actually yelled downed the team doctor to put him back in the game. I don't know how it is in the rest of the world but in America I think that's one thing people are talking about. A lot of this is probably due to the fact that we are more aware of the danger of concussions due to American football.
MARTIN: Ricardo what do you think? What do you think? I mean, as we mentioned these kinds of incidents have happened- happen all along. But they - as we mentioned in this country, in the U.S., this has been the most-watched tournament, you know, ever. It's been in huge numbers. Do you think that this kind of worldwide focus on this kind of injury will perhaps be a game changer in some way?
ZUNIGA: Well first of all I agree with Greg, in the fact that with the concussion story, it has been more talked about the states and then over here in Latin America. The football culture in Latin America is very much a macho culture. So for a player to go out of a game because he got, you know, got knocked down and he lost consciousness for a second, they would never do that. So, in a way it's, I guess it's fairly similar to the, what we call American football, quote, unquote, "NFL Culture" in the states. Where, you know, players usually wouldn't come out of a game because they got knocked down. But now they have a concussion protocol over there, which FIFA is supposed to have but they sometimes just don't abide it. Over here like you mentioned the, Alvaro Pereira case with Uruguay. For the Uruguay people and the Uruguay media, they couldn't believe that they were such a big issue, that people were talking about why did they allowed Pereira to go back when for us looking at that from the outside, it was probably obvious that he needed to come out of the game. I'm not really sure this is going to change. It would have a - there would have to be a culture change, not only - because not only the rules, the doctor, the team doctors they have a vested interest in the player going back. They didn't respond to an independent body that oversees the well-being of the players. They respond to the coach and the coach needs that player to go back to the field and the player wants to go back to the field. So like what you said with Pereira in the Uruguay match or like you say with Mascherano in the Netherlands match. Mascherano was also taken after taking a head-to-head hit and he went back on the pitch and actually he played probably his best match of the tournament after that. He saved Argentina from losing at the very last second, when he deflected a (Unintelligible) shot on goal. So, you know, I don't think it's going to change much even though it has gotten a lot of attention.
MARTIN: So let's - Ricardo a couple minutes left. I wanted to get your take on how Brazil has done as host country. As we mentioned the total bill will reportedly be around $11 billion and as one analyst said, that's $1 billion for every goal Brazil scored so far. Before the tournament began, you know, people were very - there was a lot of discussion around whether this was an appropriate use of state dollars, whether this was really worth all the money. What do you think is the sense of it now? What do you think the conversations are going to be after all the visitors leave?
ZUNIGA: Yeah, I think the conversation will be that some of the stadiums that were built were unnecessary and the money spent on them could have been spent on better things for the common people. Especially the four stadiums that are going probably become white elephants and they cost, the total cost for those was $1.6 billion. Those are the ones in Brasilia, Natal, Manaus and Cuiaba. Those four cities, they don't have major professional teams, so they are already looking at what uses they can give to the stadiums. But these are facilities that cost upwards of 300 or $400 million and they're probably going to become white elephants. So in the coming years, as we see these - all these facilities not being used, I think there's going to be some outrage over here on the money spent on the World Cup.
MARTIN: So, Greg let's turn to the final game, Argentina versus Brazil. Germany of course coming off just its pummeling of Brazil - I'm sorry Argentina versus Germany. So what's your take on the final match? Who has the advantage?
HOWARD: I think Germany does. I think they were - they've been the best team in the world for probably the last year and even though, you know, the tournament's been, you know, the tournaments been, you know, a drag for a lot of people especially, you know, you hear people saying that, no great (Unintelligible) in a great performance. But you know, Germany has a better team and they are, they're coming in off a destroying Brazil. I can't look past them over Argentina. Argentina (Unintelligible) this tournament. I think it will be tight for that reason but I really can't imagine any other scenario than Germany dominating the game and, you know, they might win 1-0 or 2-1. I think it'll be close but I think Germany will - they'll dominate the, you know, most of the play and I think they're going to, you know, hoist the trophy up in the end.
MARTIN: Ricardo what about you?
ZUNIGA: Well if I had to pick with my brain, I would pick Germany like Greg does. I'm going to go with my heart and I think the fact that Argentina has the best player in the world, and who is looking to become probably the best player ever and he just needs to win a World Cup, that's Messi . So I'm going to - I say Messi sinks the balance towards Argentina, 1-0.
MARTIN: He does, Messi - you say him alone. So, I guess that he better get wrapped in bubble wrap, right, before - for the weekend and make sure that he's taken care of. Nobody touch him. Nobody with a cold go anywhere near him, right? Ricardo Zuniga is AP's Latin America sports editor. He joined us on the line from Rio de Janeiro. To Greg Howard is the editor of Screamer, that's Deadspin's soccer site. He was with us from New York. Thank you both so much for speaking with us.
ZUNIGA: Thanks for having me, Michel.
HOWARD: Thanks for having me.
Copyright © 2014 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio. Share Facebook Twitter GoogleView the Original article
Monday, June 16, 2014
Costa Rica upsets Uruguay at World Cup
MOGI DAS CRUZES, Brazil (AP) — For a second day running, this spectacular World Cup left everyone in awe. This time, it was Costa Rica which produced a huge upset.
View the Original article
View the Original article
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Obama popular in tech world, policies less so
LOS ANGELES (AP) — They come from different worlds — the buttoned-down political culture of Washington and the entrepreneurial, socks-optional, let's-do-this-faster ethos of Silicon Valley.
View the Original article
View the Original article
Monday, April 28, 2014
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Friday, April 18, 2014
Natural Gas Rolls Into World of Freight Rail
Diesel locomotives may be replaced by those that run on liquefied natural gas, the EIA says.
View the Original article
View the Original article
Monday, April 14, 2014
In Jordan Spieth, Golf World Looks For Its Next Tiger — Again
i i
View the Original article
hide captionJordan Spieth lines up a putt during the third round of the 2014 Masters on Saturday.
Andrew Redington/Getty ImagesView the Original article
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
