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BFD Expert Voices - Media Deals

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The battle among media measurement firms has intensified with the upstarts nipping at Nielsen's heels to curry favor with TV market buyers and sellers, Kerry writes.

Driving the news: Two deals announced this morning help strengthen two Nielsen competitors.

Media measurement firm VideoAmp raised $150 million in Series G funding, CFO Paul Ross exclusively tells Axios. 

iSpot acquired measurement firm 605, its fourth acquisition since 2021 that adds more capabilities and datasets to its offerings, CEO Sean Muller tells Axios. 

Of note: These deals coincidentally come amid drama between Nielsen and TV networks. Nielsen had planned to incorporate Amazon's first-party data in its viewership methodology for "Thursday Night Football," but the move received criticism from a TV network trade group and individuals who alleged favoritism and a lack of transparency.

Nielsen backtracked after not receiving approval from the Media Rating Council, the industry's de facto measurement watchdog.

What they're saying: "There is a 100-year-old monopoly in place that has not kept up with technology, that is not data-driven, that isn't innovative. VideoAmp is gonna come eat their lunch," Ross says of Nielsen. 

"At a time while others are laying off and making cuts, we're continuing to make investments for the benefit of the industry," Muller says. "We believe measurement and currency will look different in the future than they do now, and we're investing in the future."

"We'd like to showcase iSpot as a bright spot in that," Muller adds. "And being perhaps the most financially stable out of the whole bunch and showing us as ones that believe and are investing." (Goldman Sachs invested $325 million in iSpot last year.)

The big picture: Nielsen has long served as the standard for measuring TV viewership and providing a currency for the market. But Nielsen has lost some trust for outdated practices and mistakenly undercounting viewership during the pandemic. It was taken private last year.

Over the past two years, TV networks began testing alternative providers like Comscore, iSpot and VideoAmp. Whereas Comscore was founded in 1999 and is publicly traded, the latter two are independent and have raised hundreds of millions of dollars each to compete.

Still, Nielsen remains the most used currency. The shift to multiple media measurement currencies has been slow-moving, TV industry executives told Axios in a recent panel, and has undoubtedly required significant capital.

1 big thing: Currency competition heats up

an illustration of boxing gloves hanging up by measuring tapes instead of strings

The newly formed TKO Group, which encompasses UFC and WWE, plans to eventually acquire more sports properties, COO Mark Shapiro tells Tim.

Why it's the BFD: Endeavor Group, which bought the WWE to pair it with UFC, aims to build a pure-play sports giant that can capture more global media rights dollars.

The big picture: The first 18 months or so of TKO will be focused on integrating WWE and UFC, Shapiro says.

"We are purpose-built to add more sports properties to the platform," Shapiro says. "We're not going to pursue that out of the gate because we need to stay hyper-focused on the synergy strategy."

The WWE's U.S. media rights deals with NBCUniversal and Fox are up in October 2024, while UFC's TV deal with ESPN expires in 2025. WWE's streaming deal with Peacock is up a year after that. 

Internationally, TKO wants to take the UFC and WWE to market together, where "the WWE is significantly under-monetized," Shapiro says. 

"Long term, there will be properties, minority investments — we might even be lucky enough to find another WWE that we will be ready, willing and able to add the platform," he adds.

Catch up quick: Endeavor closed its acquisition of WWE yesterday morning, combining it with UFC to form a new holding company, TKO Group.

The stock opened at $100 a share and is currently trading at $102.

2. The BFD: TKO wants more tag-team partners

WrestleMania 39 from Inglewood, California, in April. Photo: Unique Nicole/Getty Images

Peacock plans to add clips of "key plays" to live NFL games next month to help viewers catch up on what they missed, Peacock's SVP of product and UX John Jelley tells Kerry onstage at yesterday's Next TV Summit.

Why it matters: As streaming services strike more media rights deals with sports leagues, the NBCUniversal-owned service looks to make the viewing experience more engaging than linear TV and its competitors.

How it works: After clicking into a live game, Peacock viewers can see a horizontal rail of clips at the bottom of the screen called "Catch Up With Key Plays" that could show the kickoff, touchdowns and other important moments.

In partnership with Comcast, Peacock uses machine learning to understand what those key plays are and automatically create clips, Jelley says. It started testing the feature with the Premier League two seasons ago.

Viewers who have used this service "watch about seven or so clips on average, and they're consuming more content," Jelley says. "It's a great way for users to get up to speed, feel like it doesn't matter when they join, they can still get all the benefits of a live event."

What's next: Jelley says after launching with the NFL, his team is looking at other sports and live events, such as the 2024 Summer Olympics.

3. Peacock's replays

Kerry Flynn and John Jelley seated in front of a wall that says NYC TV Week

Kerry Flynn and Peacock's John Jelley yesterday at Next TV Summit. Photo: Nicole Bamber

Looking for more deal insights? Search the Axios Pro Deals Tracker beta. 

• Elsa, a New York-based English language learning platform, raised $23m in Series C Funding led by UOB Venture Management. https://axios.link/45O9NPx

• The Sporting News, a digital sports news site, raised $15m in a growth round led by Playtech, Sara Fischer reports. https://axios.link/3Zj3z7W 

• Major League Pickleball and PPA Tour are merging, and the combined entity has closed a $50m funding round led by SC Holdings and MLP team owner Al Tylis. https://axios.link/3PBwUah

4. Deal flow

• Andrew Low Ah Kee, formerly president of Opendoor, will join Fanatics as CEO of its commerce business. https://axios.link/45OJ7Om

• Sofia Chang, formerly president of distribution at WarnerMedia, was named EVP, chief distribution officer at Starz. https://axios.link/3PBADog

• Ben Bitonti and Eric Hoberman joined Asylum Entertainment Group as chief creative officer and EVP of programming and development, respectively. https://axios.link/489WRVz

• Casey Robison will join Range Media Partners as head of its new music publishing division. He was most recently EVP of A&R at Hipgnosis Songs. https://axios.link/3rhzB7p

• Tarell Alvin McCraney joined the Geffen Playhouse as an artistic director. https://axios.link/3PdkG6l

• Bret Baier signed a contract extension with Fox News. https://axios.link/3RkoaGN

• Keith Weaver, EVP of global public policy and external affairs at Sony Entertainment Pictures, is leaving to focus on real estate and hospitality endeavors. https://axios.link/48eNgNu

• Lee Trink, CEO of FaZe Clan, was fired earlier this week and replaced on an interim basis by COO and CFO Christoph Pachler. https://axios.link/3RdVLlM

5. Movin' on up (or out)

😵 From $1 billion to almost worthless: FaZe Clan runs out of hype (Bloomberg)

"Interviews with seven former employees describe a mismanaged organization marked by poor spending decisions, excessive pay and expansion into unprofitable categories like esports," Cecilia D'Anastasio writes.

🎙️ Exclusive: The Economist adds podcast subscription tier (Axios)

"Audio has become the Economist's fastest-growing platform for audience growth. Executives believe that momentum can be harnessed to bolster subscriptions, which serve as the company's main source of revenue," Sara reports.

🧑‍⚖️ NFL sued for racial discrimination by journalist (Axios)

"The complaint alleges a culture of racial discrimination and retaliation within America's most popular pro sports league. It also includes allegations that two club owners, Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys and Terry Pegula of the Buffalo Bills, made racist statements," Dan Primack writes.

6. Channel surfing

Illustration of a pair of sunglasses with lenses that look like tv screens.

@tim_bays: "The Morning Show" on Apple TV+. Belatedly catching up on Season 2 ahead of the "slightly less stupid" third season next week. 

@kerrymflynn: "MTV Video Music Awards" clips on YouTube. Catching up on the amazing performances from Olivia Rodrigo, Shakira and others that I missed last night.

✏️ Thanks to Michael Flaherty for editing and Katie Lewis for copy editing this newsletter.

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September 13, 2023

1 big thing: Currency competition heats up