NFL Mobile users watched 10.3 million video streams during Super Bowl week

Remember the Football on your phone video from last August? Pretty funny, right? Imagine, people wanting to watch football on their phones, no matter where they go. Well last week a whole bunch of them did just that. According to the NFL, more than 10 million video streams were watched on the Verizon NFL Mobile platform during Super Bowl week, a jump of more than 400 percent from the year before.

Football on your phone? You bet!

For some reason we can’t get the league’s media arm or Verizon Wireless to provide the one stat we really want — how many people watched live Super Bowl action on a smartphone? Verizon at least is consistent — they have never provided any kind of statistic on NFL Mobile usage. Today the NFL Media folks issued a press release with all kinds of “record” numbers (we will post the whole thing below if you want to dig through it), but no discrete number for the game itself. We’ll get to the reason for that in a bit. But for the overall stats, we can sum up the numbers quickly: If there was football programming available last week, a lot of people watched it. And if it was available online or to mobile devices, so much the better.

What really drove traffic across all NFL Media properties this year was the NFL Mobile package. Remember, this year the “NFL Mobile from Verizon” app was actually available for smartphones from any carrier; the catch was, you could only get live game action if you were a Verizon subscriber and paid $5 more a month. Everyone else, including Verizon customers, could see highlights and NFL Network video content, like features and reports from Super Bowl week. The opening up of the app is probably the biggest reason why unique users of NFL Mobile properties during Super Bowl week increased 88 percent this year versus last, 11.2 million users compared to 6.0 million, according to NFL statistics.

Here’s where the stats get interesting: While it’s impressive that video streams across all NFL Media properties during Super Bowl week increased 56 percent this year compared to last, 34.0 million to 21.8 million, what’s really mind-boggling is that 10.3 million of those streams this year were consumed via the NFL Mobile app, a 416 percent increase over last year.

To repeat: Almost ONE-THIRD OF ALL NFL MEDIA VIDEO STREAMS were watched last week… on a phone.

One possible reason why neither the league nor Verizon wants to release actual game-day live action viewing numbers for NFL Mobile is that they may not be that impressive. Remember, only Verizon customers who ponied up the $5 extra “premium” fee could have watched the Fox simulcast on their phones, so it’s a smaller subset to begin with. And really, for the big game itself, most likely you were on a couch watching a big screen. (We here at MSR HQ did find the NFL Mobile live feed effective for when we had to roam into the kitchen for more snacks, or for other “breaks” necessary during the game. But we didn’t watch more than a few minutes of the game on the phone.) Plus, the Fox stream was available to tablets using its app or for PCs or laptops watching online, so that probably took away some potential phone-watchers of live game action.

During non-game times, however, smartphones appear to be leading the mobile video explosion. Even though tablets seem to make more sense for watching sports while mobile, it’s pretty clear that people are watching a lot of NFL video on the thing that never leaves their pocket or purse — their phone. Are other sports taking note? And now do you know why the NFL is pushing toward NFL Now? Stay tuned. And keep your phone and checkbook handy.

(full press release content below)

COVERAGE OF SUPER BOWL XLVIII SETS VIEWERSHIP & TRAFFIC RECORDS ACROSS NFL MEDIA

Wall-to-wall coverage of Super Bowl XLVIII produces double-digit spikes for NFL Network, NFL.com, and NFL Mobile

NFL Media’s 11th year covering the Super Bowl produced record-breaking results across all platforms.

NFL NETWORK

Providing expert analysis, the latest news and reports, special guest appearances, and matchup-related programming leading up to Super Bowl XLVIII, NFL Network served up 140 total hours – including a record 86 live hours – of programming from 12 sets in eight locations across New York City and New Jersey, utilizing a roster of 40 on-air personalities with a combined 17 Super Bowl rings.

For Super Bowl week*, NFL Network averaged 175,000 viewers in Total Day and 226,000 viewers in Primetime – up +20% and +31%, respectively, compared to last year making this the most-watched Super Bowl week ever on NFL Network.

With more than 41 hours of Super Bowl coverage, SUPER BOWL LIVE averaged 141,000 viewers and up +60% over last year’s average audience (88,000 viewers).

On Super Bowl Sunday, NFL GAMEDAY MORNING averaged 657,000 viewers – up +10% over last year’s telecast (596,000 viewers), making this the most-watched NFL GAMEDAY MORNING ever.

NFL Network’s postgame audience peaked from 10:30PM-11:00PM with an average of 1.14 million viewers, up + 25% over last year’s highest postgame peak (906,000 viewers)

NFL Network averaged 313,000 viewers in Primetime on Super Bowl Sunday – up +52% compared to last year’s performance.

For the entire 2013 postseason, NFL Network averaged 148,000 viewers in Total Day – up +13% compared to last year’s performance (131,000 viewers) making this the most-watched postseason ever on NFL Network.

NFL DIGITAL MEDIA

Across all internet-connected devices, including PC’s, tablets, and smartphones, the official digital properties of the National Football League delivered original video programming, the latest news and information, as well as unprecedented access to players, celebrities and musicians. NFL Digital Media’s offerings included NFL Mobile from Verizon which provided fans access to live, streaming video of Super Bowl XLVIII and NFL Network, including exclusive Super Bowl content and commercials.

For Super Bowl week, visits to NFL Digital Media properties increased 24% versus last year, bolstered by a 149% increase in visits to NFL Mobile.

Unique users of NFL Digital Media properties rose 22% during the week versus last year (27.8M vs. 22.8M), driven by 88% growth in NFL Mobile Properties (11.2M vs. 6.0M).

Unique users and visits to NFL Digital Media properties were driven by an array of content around Super Bowl XLVII. The two highest performing long-form NFL Digital Media features were:

Ø Judy Battista’s piece on Super Bowl XLVIII’s impact on Peyton Manning’s legacy

Ø Mike Silver’s story on the Seahawks dominant defense being fueled by the tight bond amongst the ‘Legion of Boom’

Video Streams during Super Bowl week across all NFL Digital Media properties increased 56% versus last year (34.0M vs. 21.8M).

Video consumption to NFL Mobile from Verizon reached 10.3M streams for a 416% increase over last year’s Super Bowl Week.

The highest performing video of the week featured NFL Network analysts making predictions for Super Bowl XLVIII. The video was viewed more than 800k times.

Seen in 195 countries, NFL Game Pass consumption grew 49% year-over-year across all devices and 57% on desktop.

*Super Bowl Week is defined as January 27-February 2, 2014

— end press release —

And yes, we know the Football On Your Phone video was a promo for DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket, which is neither here nor there when it comes to Verizon NFL Mobile numbers. But the video is funny enough to watch again:

Fox: Super Bowl had 528K online viewers per minute

If you needed any more proof that online viewing doesn’t hurt TV audience numbers, the stats from Super Bowl should convince you: According to broadcaster Fox, there was an average of 528,000 online viewers per minute, even as the TV audience generated a record 111.5 million viewers.

We are still waiting on a total breakout of online views of the game — we apologize for misreading a Fox release that stated it had 5.5 million unique viewers all day Sunday, NOT specifically for the game. But even the 528K number is impressive, especially when you throw in the fact that it only represents desktops, laptops and Apple iPad tablets, since smartphones were blocked from Fox’s live streams due to Verizon’s deal with the league for its NFL Mobile app. Just imagine how much bigger those numbers could be if and when the NFL makes its digital access methods less confusing.

Overall it looks like Fox did a pretty solid job with its online efforts for both the playoffs and the Super Bowl. We are still waiting to hear from Fox about viewer numbers for the playoff streams, which unlike the Super Bowl were free only to viewers with pay-TV contracts that included Fox channel service.

We are also still waiting for numbers from Verizon and/or the NFL but don’t hold your breath, since both parties are typically close-mouthed about real numbers for online viewing. But judging from the number of pitches play by play man Joe Buck made during the game for the league’s new NFL Now service, it’s a good guess that online viewing is something you’re going to hear a lot more of from the NFL in the not too distant future.

How to watch the Super Bowl online, or on your phone

Just in case your TV goes on the blink this weekend, don’t worry, you can still watch Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVIII between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks — either via an online stream, or via your smartphone if you are a Verizon customer.

SUPER BOWL XLVIII KICKOFF: 6:30 p.m. ET

TV: FOX

WATCH THE SUPER BOWL LIVE ONLINE HERE

Fox, which is showing the game on regular TV, will also make the broadcast available online via its Fox Sports Go app and website. Usually, you need a pay TV subscription to see the Fox feed, but it will be free to all viewers on Super Bowl Sunday. The same feed will also be available at NFL.com and at SuperBowl.com, just in case you need an alterate website address. If you want to watch on an iPad, you will want the Fox Sports Go app.

Smartphone viewing via Verizon NFL Mobile

Remember, you can’t watch the game on a smartphone via the Fox app. That’s because Verizon Wireless has the rights to live action on smartphones, via its NFL Mobile app. To view the game live, you must A) be a Verizon customer, B) have the NFL Mobile app installed, and C) have paid the $5 per month premium NFL Mobile fee.

HERE IS THE VERIZON NFL MOBILE INFO PAGE

Remember, both the Fox website feed and the NFL Mobile app feed will be significantly behind the live TV broadcast, anywhere from 20 seconds to more than a minute. And, no, you won’t be able to watch the live feed if you are at the game.

NFL Now: How much will you pay for on-demand NFL content?

For some time now, we here at Mobile Sports Report have been predicting that the NFL would eventually bring its digital assets in-house and market them to fans, for an additional fee. The first step in that process appears to have arrived today with the announcement of NFL Now, an Internet-based TV service designed to provide exclusive NFL content that includes just about everything EXCEPT live game action.

We’ll get to the game-action part later. While NFL Now, which will launch this summer, will include a lot of free content accompanied by a lot of ads, for now, what has yet to be announced is how much the NFL will try to charge its fans for access to the “good stuff,” a subscription tier called NFL Now Plus. Part of what “Plus” will provide is all the in-game highlights packages produced by the league’s media arm, as well as access to all the NFL Films archives that are available in digital format.

So how much will NFL fans pay for such archived gems? And how much will this experiment affect the NFL’s relationship with its TV rights partners? Though some fans may express disgust over the feeling of being charged even more, my guess is that many will just pay whatever it costs to have an easier way to view what matters to them — highlights and information about their teams and fantasy players, a level of customization that may be the key to NFL Now’s success. Is that worth $5 a month? $10? What would you pay for a direct pipeline to NFL content? How much TV time could that save you?

When it comes to watching highlights, sports fans everywhere know the frustration of having to sit through numerous SportsCenter segments that aren’t the ones you want to watch. (In fact, most of the modern world outside New York and Boston hates it when the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are both competitive, since when that happens roughly 98 percent of all ESPN highlights are Yankees, Red Sox, or blowhards talking about the Yankees and Red Sox.) If we are reading the reports of NFL Now correctly one of the service’s strengths will be allowing fans to customize their feed by team and by player, which should be nirvana for fanasty followers who often have “team” players scattered across the league. You can sign up to receive more information at this NFL page.

But the real digital asset that fans want — live streaming NFL game action — is still a big mystery and a mess when it comes to figuring out which games you can and can’t watch, and on what type of device. Right now a lot of digital-viewing confusion is tied up in NFL rights contracts, like the $1 billion deal with Verizon for NFL Mobile that gives Verizon exclusive access to live action on smartphones. That deal is why nobody could watch the Fox and CBS playoff streams on phones, and why you can’t watch NFL Mobile on tablets.

There’s also a hot mess of digital rights once fans get inside stadiums, an issue exacerbated by the fact that most NFL stadiums simply don’t yet have a wireless infrastructure that is able to handle numerous fans wanting to watch replays or live game streams. My guess on the NFL’s path to live video is that it will wait for technology to get better, which means another few years of fan frustration and confusion over how to best watch NFL content.

Will there ever be a simple way for a fan to pay a single price and have access to all the NFL content possible, no matter what device or access method? Maybe someday, but best guess is that it’s not someday soon. In the meantime, get your wallet ready for another small surcharge for NFL Now Plus.

Why the NFL is blocking streaming at the Super Bowl: Blame the network, not the fans

In case you are wondering why you won’t be able to watch the Super Bowl live on your phone while you’re at the game, Jon Brodkin at Ars Technica has a good story about why the NFL is blocking streaming video inside MetLife Stadium. To quickly recap, NFL CIO Michelle McKenna-Doyle told Brodkin that streaming video takes up too much bandwidth, and that it could hamper overall wireless communications on game day, so the league is proactively blocking live feeds at the game.

While I agree with her assessment of the situation and the solution (blocking live video), I don’t agree with her claim that the “vast majority of our fans want to watch the game on the field, watch the replays on the jumbo board, and participate in the event more than they want to be checking their phone,” and I’m surprised that Brodkin didn’t put up more of a challenge to this claim. Her follow-on claim that the league is doing the “vast majority” a favor by blocking the few video viewers rings hollow and reminds me of the old “data hogs” arguments the carriers used to use against people who were exercising their rights to their unlimited data contracts. My point: don’t blame fans who want to watch live video as being the people ruining the network for everyone else. Put the blame where it deserves to be, namely on the in-stadium networks that can’t yet handle the demands of a large crowd that wants video at the game.

We’ve talked before about why people want to stay connected while at the game. It’s not for everyone, but the desire to be online in your stadium seat is way more widespread than just a few people. Trolls will comment and say “watch the damn game and shut up” but plenty of real sports fans want the replays and closeups they are now accustomed to on TV. And not every seat has a good view of the big screens inside the stadium, and many times those things are showing ads, not replays. Then there is the time standing in line for a beer or bathroom. Why shouldn’t you be able to watch the game you are paying big bucks to be at, instead of being penalized because the stadium doesn’t have enough beer vendors or urinals? How about watching a replay while the game is in one of its lengthy TV timeouts? Or catching up on a play that you missed during halftime? Isn’t just having to listen to Bruno Mars punishment enough?

It will be interesting to see what the user statistics are like when the San Francisco 49ers’ new Levi’s Stadium opens this year, if its much-touted network delivers as hoped. The cynic in me is also guessing that when the NFL finally gets its digital video strategy figured out — meaning they clear the rights contracts and find a way to start charging fans more to watch more video online — the stadium network problems will suddenly be solved, and you’ll be able to watch all the live video you can afford.

We’ll be the first to acknowledge that putting networks in stadiums isn’t easy. Our recent Stadium Tech Reports series is designed to profile those in the industry who are trying to bring a quality wireless experience to their fans, so that others may follow. Already, we see places like Barclays Center and Gillette Stadium pushing the envelope when it comes to features like streaming video. In many ways, getting there is a long road that we’re just at the start of. If there is one bit of analysis I can provide after covering this field for the past 3 years, it’s that I don’t think anyone has gotten the stadium-network thing completely figured out just yet — and that any network put in over the past couple years is probably already in need of an upgrade, due to user demands already exceeding capacity. And that’s before most places are even thinking of providing live video feeds.

So sure, go ahead and block live video if it’s going to crash the network. But stop saying it’s something that just a few fans want, because there’s no proof behind that idea. Until the league and carriers like Verizon offer up real data on stadium network usage, there’s no way of telling exactly how many people at a game want to watch video, and whether it’s just for a replay or two or if they want a constant stream going at their seat. I’d be willing to bet more than a pint with McKenna-Doyle that if she polled an average NFL crowd and asked them if they’d like replays at their seats, a “vast majority” would vote for replays on their phones, and not in favor of settling for jumbotrons and PA announcers as she claims. So again, if you need to block the video, fine, but put the blame for the action on the network’s lack of capacity, and not on the fans who are just trying to enhance their own experience.

Friday Grab Bag: ESPN pushing its World Cup coverage

ESPN is expecting to see growing interest in the upcoming World Cup in terms of audience numbers, and is working to fan the flames with strong pre-tournament coverage prior to the 2014 games, the last it will be broadcasting for some time, having lost the rights to the 2018 and 2022 tourneys to Fox Sports and Telemundo.

But for now ESPN has been pushing to alert fans that it will have the games and has even spun off its very popular 30 for 30 series to now include Soccer Stories in advance of the games. A benefit for ESPN is that the World Cup time zone in Rio is only one hour ahead of the East Coast and so fans will not be forced to watch tape delayed games or watch matches starting at 3 a.m.. At least in the U.S.

One additional World Cup note from ESPN is that the network hired Gilberto Silva, the Brazilian who helped his team win the World Cup in 2002 and former Dutch star Rudd van Nistelrooy as studio analysts. They will work on pre-match, halftime and post game shows.

Time change for 2022 World Cup?
However the winner of the rights going forward, Fox Sports, may be a bit upset these days by a move coming from the World Cup. The event, which is held in the summer every four years is being moved to the winter for the 2022 games. That is prime NFL time for Fox and while the World Cup is increasingly popular in the U.S. it does not come close to rivaling football, at least not currently.

The reason is obvious — the heat. The games are to be held in Qatar, where temperatures an soar above 120 degrees during June and July when the games are traditionally held. The nation was supposed to build a series of climate controlled arenas to host the event, but there appear to be issues. Still no final decision is expected until next year.

More NFL games on Thursday
It looks like the NFL is shopping additional games to be broadcast on Thursday night, creating a new Thursday night package that would be part existing games and part additional games that the NFL plans to add, despite its recent denials that it was looking to do so.

According to Awful Announcing, the current slate of 13 games, at least the last 2 years, would be expanded to 16 games and then part of that would be offered out to bid. The NFL is looking for approximately $800 million in a 1-year deal. Currently the Thursday Night games are carried by the NFL’s own network.

MLB expands instant replay for 2014

MLB has been slowly expanding its instant replay over the last few years and now it looks like it is going in whole hog with a massive expansion of the program in a move that will also allow stadium scoreboards to show close plays, even when they are not reviewed. I am sure the umpires will love that.

While balls and strikes will continue to be excluded from the replays, which is about all that the new system will exclude as almost everything else will now be reviewable. Hopefully it will not lead to NFL style delays.

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