ESPN on Wednesday dedicated a full hour of SportsCenter to talk about Denver Broncos Quarterback Tim Tebow, and the programming caused #SCTebow to achieve the No. 1 trend ranking on Twitter.
TebowTime was the most successful effort to date by SportsCenter to tailor content to sports social media interaction, and could prove a template ESPN uses in the future to boost ratings during off-peak viewing times.
Here’s how ESPN promoted #SCTebow:
Billed as TebowTime, the SportsCenter programming aired between 2 pm and 3 pm EST.
TebowTime marked one of the first times SportsCenter dedicated the majority of its hour-long news format to a subject that wasn’t breaking news. On July 13, SportsCenter dedicated a large block of its format to the impact of Twitter on sports.
ESPN SportCenter enjoyed cross promotion for its TebowTime sports social media blitz, including this BroncoTalk.com report
TebowTime included highlights of Tebow’s Denver Bronco and Florida Gators comebacks, live reports from the Broncos facility, Skip Bayless debating about Tebow’s merits and reports on Tebow’s impact on Fantasy Football.
Broncotalk.net played SportsCenter’s Tebow Time on its home page, and ESPN’s Front Row blog included extensive coverage of ESPN’s decision.
TebowTime was the brainchild of SportsCenter segment producer Etan Harmelech and championed by coordinating producer Gus Ramsey, producer Tom DeCorte and senior coordinating producer Michael Shiffman.
They mentioned his name 88 times in the hour- here they all are edited together. http://deadspin.com/5866144/every-tebow-uttered-on-espns-tebowcenter-today
Wow. That is ridiculous. Sportcenter is unwatchable for me right now due to the constant Tebow coverage and name dropping. I am actually a fan of the guy, and think what he is doing is great, but I cannot stand them talking about him in every segment of every show.