"MegaCast" Returns & Matt Miller's New Substack
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Friends,
Happy Friday!
Rather than the typical deep-dive on one individual topic, we’ll cover two today.
Without wasting your time, let’s get right into it.
Enjoy.
ESPN Brings Back The “MegaCast”
For the seventh consecutive year, ESPN will nationally “MegaCast” its coverage of the College Football Playoff National Championship between Alabama and Ohio State on Monday night.
What’s a MegaCast?
In the simplest of terms, ESPN clears all of their networks to cover a single sporting event — the national championship in this case — providing fans with 14 different broadcast options.
With more than 100 cameras covering every angle of the biggest game in college football, ESPN viewers will have a buffet of viewing options — including the traditional main telecast on ESPN, an overhead-style SKYCAST on ESPNU, and the ALL22 version on the ESPN App.
The other benefit?
A wide array of commentators.
By expanding broadcast options, ESPN has also opened up the ability to pick which style of commentary viewers prefer.
Perhaps a casual fan wants to watch the main telecast on ESPN, but a more serious fan prefers to watch college coaches like Gene Chizik and Hugh Freeze break down the game in the Film Room — ESPN offers both.
The result?
John Kosner, former ESPN executive and founder of Kosner Media, calls MegaCasting “the future of lives sports event coverage.”
In the end, “MegaCasting” allows ESPN to add additional viewers through increased distribution and additional variety.
As for viewership numbers, I’ll report back on the results next week.
P.S. Sunday’s wild-card matchup between the Tennessee Titans and the Baltimore Ravens’ will also be “MegaCast” through ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and more.
Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller Goes Independent
With NFL Draft Analyst Matt Miller — Bleacher Report’s first and longest-tenured paid writer — leaving the company at the end of the 2020 NFL season, he has officially announced his next project.
What is it?
A Substack newsletter, “The Draft Scout,” which will start as free but eventually become paid — covering everything NFL draft related for $7 per month.
Why is Matt Miller leaving Bleacher Report to start a paid newsletter from scratch?
Here’s what he told Awful Announcing earlier this week (Source):
After a decade of covering the NFL and NFL Draft for Bleacher Report, it was time to change things up. This is that change.
No more ads. No more click-bait. No more videos popping up while you’re trying to read. And no more slideshows (RIP).
For those who want real, unbiased coverage of the NFL and NFL draft, this is where you want to be. There’s no boss to appease. There are no league partnerships to be mindful of. There will be real, informative, fun, entertaining coverage of the sport we all love and care about.
I don’t personally know Matt at all, so I’m not here to recommend his work — although I think it’s good — but the move further signifies the value that individual audience and distribution provide the media today.
Matt has spent the last decade building a core audience of fans through the exploitation of Bleacher Report’s massive audience— more than 250,000 on Twitter — who trust his analysis and value his opinion.
The result?
Distribution.
While it’s impossible to estimate the subscriber success Matt might eventually have accurately, one thing is clear:
The largest media professionals of tomorrow are spending their time building out audience and distribution today.
Don’t believe me?
Check this out…
My friend Ian Borthwick breaks down what makes former NFL player turned media personality Pat McAfee so valuable.
In case it wasn’t clear, none of that would be possible without his existing social audience and distribution.
I hope everyone has a great weekend and we’ll talk Monday!
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Extra Credit
There is a great story about Giannis Anteokounmpo dating back to his rookie year for that haven't already heard it.
Here’s the summary:
Given he didn’t know how to drive, Giannis took a cab to a Western Union to send money back to his family in Greece, his home country.
Without realizing it, Giannis sent all his money and couldn’t afford a return taxi.
With the Bucks game tipping off in a few hours, he started running to the arena — eventually recognized, picked up, and driven by a fan.
Now, his signature shoes — the Nike Zoom Freak 2 “Taxi” — tell the story.
Pretty cool.
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