New Episode of JaneWallStreet’s At The Table: Rasenberger Media Founder Cathy Rasenberger

On the latest episode of JaneWallStreet Presents: At The Table, a bi-weekly podcast exploring the intersection of sports, media, and finance through the lens of (mostly) female decision-makers, JaneWallStreet Executive Chair Deirdre Lester sat down with Rasenberger Media Founder & President and Sports Studio Co-Founder Cathy Rasenberger.

In this 50-minute conversation, the two cover a wide range of subjects, including:

Live Sports Altering the Economics of FAST

Back in April, JaneWallStreet published a column examining the role live sports could play in moving the free ad-supported television (or FAST) category beyond its reliance on low-CPM, programmatic advertising. The premise was attracting premium advertisers —and commanding premium rates— requires more compelling content. Early results appear to support that thesis.

“In the last six months, the amount of live content on our 125 [FAST] channels has doubled…That makes a difference because it’s not necessarily the big [rights owners] that bring in the viewers, like the professional leagues. It’s the live content,” Rasenberger said. “We have seen emerging league channels increase 100 times in their viewership when they carry live events. So, it’s been an interesting education about what performs well on FAST. [Live sports are] doing exactly what we expected. [They are] bringing in bigger brands [and more] sponsorship dollars.” 

Young Fans and Multiscreen Consumption

FAST is also helping sports properties adapt to shifting audience-consumption behaviors. 

“60% of watch time for Gen Z and younger is on social, YouTube, and FAST. [Young audiences] prefer free.  And that’s for all viewing. For sports, it’s even higher. The first device that they go to for sports is their smartphone…. They discover new content on social and FAST. So, the role of [those platforms] now in sports is beginning to evolve,” Rasenberger said. 

But discovery platforms are not necessarily replacing linear viewing as much as complementing it. 

“80% of Gen Zs use at least three devices at one time. They’re watching, but they’re just getting the highlights. And 95% go back to TikTok to get the scores of the games or highlights if they miss something….It’s critical that any league or programmer has [a] multi-platform strategy to reach younger viewers on other devices, on social, and on FAST because that’s where they’re consuming sports.”

FAST’s Imminent Consolidation Era

The proliferation of FAST channels has created an attention challenge. Channels must now do more than simply exist to attract viewers and advertising dollars. The market appears headed toward a shakeout.

“There will be a major reckoning in the FAST space this year. Not just in sports, but in general entertainment as well because there just isn’t enough advertising money to go around to support all of these super small, long tail channels…There’s going to [have to] be real consolidation. I’m approached a lot with people interested in doing roll-ups, rolling up a group of channels with other channels,” Rasenberger said. But “I don’t think that’s the answer. You can’t just put together a bunch of broken plates and call them a set. [However], if you aggregate complementary businesses, a successful monetization company, a successful platform, a successful content provider, you can create a two and two equals 10 [scenario].  And that’s what Fox and Roku did.”

📺 Watch the full episode on JohnWallStreet’s YouTube page.
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

We’ll be back with the next episode of JaneWallStreet Presents: At The Table next Thursday July 23. AUSL Commissioner Kim Ng will be our guest. 

Catch previous episodes of At The Table, including our sit-down with LOVB Chief Growth Officer Stephanie Alger, former Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Global Head of Sports Julie Souza, Head of Fubo Sports Network & Fubo Studios Pamela Duckworth, former Barstool Sports CEO & current Mule Media Co-Founder Erika Badan, ATHLOS Acting President Kayla Green, former CEO of CBS News Wendy McMahon, and A-Rod Corp Chief Business Officer & Minnesota Timberwolves Chief Strategy Officer Kelly Laferriere on JohnWallStreet’s YouTube channel.

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The Sports Advisors is a biweekly roundtable discussion for decision-makers, hosted by their peers, on the stories that actually matter and their second-order effects. It is actionable intelligence from senior operators who have actually built, bought, sold, programmed, monetized, and scaled sports businesses.

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