We have written a few times about the continued evolution of the Megacast and what media properties, especially Turner and ESPN, but Nickelodeon as well have done with let’s call it “alternative engagement” of consumers who are not really a core audience sometimes, as we pivot in and away from the traditional, now archaic, systems of measurement.
The latest was launched as part of Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli Manning providing banter, insight, a little comic relief, guests and a much broader perspective to give those looking for MNF a little different feel. Like any first out of the box effort it wasn’t perfect, but it again served, and will keep serving, a high end alternative for fans looking to not see the same screen and hear the same voices with the same angles every Monday night.
Now is it for everyone and every demo? No. We saw comments from veteran NFL Insider Mike Florio talking about the fact that the screen was too small and the talk got distracting. There were some criticism of the conversation being too much Peyton or that it wasn’t reflective of a wide diverse audience. Great! Tell us what you like, what you hate but please keep telling us and keep talking about MNF+ESPN for days on end when in the past few years, MNF had become much less of a destination for fans. Now we have something different, engaging and something we can grow with that again sits where sports consumption is going…giving consumers storylines, angles and a POV how they want it, not how the teams, the leagues and the broadcast outlet want to keep serving it up (BTW great piece by Andrew Marchand in the New York Post who offered up yet another perspective, that the broadcast with Peyton and Eli gave the traditional MNF broadcast crew a chance to grow together into a professional unit for fans WITHOUT the harsh spotlight, that at least for week one fell on the Mannings).
Some key snippets that Sports Business Daily assembled included:
ESPN2’s “Manning MegaCast” for last night’s Ravens-Raiders “MNF” game was “a mesh between the experience of drinking beer on the couch with your buddies while watching the game, and a Hall of Fame quarterback unlocking insight as the action unfolds in front of you,” according to Kyle Newman of the DENVER POST. It felt as if viewers were “sitting on the couch” with Peyton and Eli Manning, which gave the broadcast “an intimacy most lack.” The brothers sometimes “veered off-track with their commentary [and] lacked an overall knowledge of each roster,” while the game itself “often felt like a sideshow” (DENVER POST, 9/14).
THE ATHLETIC’s Stephen Holder writes the broadcast was not “standard-fare NFL viewing,” but instead was “Peyton and Eli unplugged.” Peyton was “particularly true to form in this format,” as in everything he does, “he goes all out.” That meant “getting into character as Raiders coach Jon Gruden, donning a Raiders visor and a mock headset and calling in plays to his pretend quarterback, Eli.” Some of the “best stuff of the night” was also “the most relatable.” Holder: “Who among us hasn’t ripped on our siblings?” The brothers did this “with regularity,” and it made for “great content” (THEATHLETIC.com, 9/14).
In Philadelphia, Rob Tornoe writes the brothers “had a lot of chemistry, doled out a ton of football knowledge, and kept things light” with guests like Charles Barkley, Travis Kelce, Ray Lewis and Russell Wilson, who was “terrific analyzing the action at the end of the game” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 9/14). The AP’s Arnie Stapleton writes Peyton and Eli “not only gave audiences a Master’s course in both offense and defense straight from the masterminds of professional football,” but the Manning brothers also provided “riveting running commentary and plenty of their patented dry humor throughout the rip-roaring Week 1 finale” (AP, 9/14).
Most importantly, USA TODAY’s Nate Davis writes this is the “future of ‘Monday Night Football,'” as the the brothers are “breathing new life into a staid medium.” Sarcasm and self-deprecation were “on display in roughly equal measure,” and both Mannings shared “the challenges of playing and succeeding in a new, unfamiliar football facility.” Eli was “armed with the telestrator and Peyton with a white board” as they “dove in-depth on certain plays.” If viewers were “worried about injury news, or missed tales from pregame production meetings and constant down-and-distance updates,” this “probably wasn’t the broadcast for you.” But for “fresh, funny, educational and unscripted,” this is “going to be awfully hard to beat after a traditional weekend of football” (USA TODAY, 9/14). YAHOO SPORTS’ Dan Wetzel writes it was “fun, interesting and addictive.“
Fun…addictive…room to grow…a great experiment…all great news for the fan, for the NFL and other owners of rights and for those in the streaming and second and third screen business.
And yes for brands. The Mannings know how to work in plugs in a fun and organic way, so the ability to ring live reads into the show that you could not in a traiditonal broadcast will also be a boon for new business.
Now is this going to be copied and tried in various ways by other carriers? Yes of course. Will it work every time? Nope. It needs chemistry, it needs committed partners willing to work together, it needs a media company willing to take some risk, and it needs an audience. Starting with a property that is new or not engaged and trying to force feed a second experience when the first one is a yawn is not easy.
It is also a piece to a greater media offering for a network like ESPN, not the one and only alternative. That means it can morph, it can pause, it can evolve because all the hopes and the dollars aren’t placed on the platform. That is the beauty going forward of streaming…multiple POV’s at a lower cost designed for the niche audience, and the niche leads to the whole.
Most importantly as a business did we walk away and learn from Payton and Eli? Yes. Amidst some of the yucks were substantive conversations by people like the KC Chiefs Travis Kelce, who talked about weeklong preparation and the cadence of schedules…there were moments when Eli got inside the head of coaches and players to tell us what it looks and feels like in the huddle without being overly dramatic…it had fun flow by two people who knew where they were in the moment today, and in the huddle past.
Not easy, but correct on so many levels. By the way its also Ok to flip back and forth with a little bit of everything as part of your consumption of the game. Sitting leaning back watching a screen is past us now…we want to lean forward, get a little of this a little of that and not miss the action while picking up some great water cooler talk.
So traditionalists can mock, but you saw another glimpse of the future, get ready for more. You know what we lost? NOTHING. What we gained? More chances to engage, enjoy and stay watching an event we crave, from a different POV. Another winner for “The Worldwide Leader.”
