“While it might not necessarily be somebody that’s new to the NFL going to Bleacher Report, it’s somebody who cares about the game and wants to follow along,” Lawton said. “If we can reach them and help Bleacher Report tell better stories or enhance their content with official content, then that’s great.”
It’s a deal that comes at an interesting time for both the NFL and sports in general. While the league still accounts for the overwhelming majority of the most-watched broadcasts, ratings for the latest Wild Card games declined more than 9% from a year ago.
It isn’t just an NFL issue, as college football’s playoffs saw a 17% decline in ratings during the first year of their 12-team playoff format. Heading into the end of 2024, ratings were declining in the NBA (19%-25%), men’s college basketball (21%), women’s college games (38%), and the NHL (28%). Bleacher Report and parent company Warner Bros. Discovery—which found itself at the center of NBA broadcast rights talks last year—want to invest where those viewers are.
“WBD has signaled consistently that they want to be in sports and are doing so by investing in these new properties that have come online,” Spector said. “What has changed is not that there is a lack of interest in sports proper. It’s just how people are consuming those very same products. While linear television has shown a clear decline in consumption, digital-first consumption—be it through highlights either on social media or through our properties—is growing rapidly.”
