A Staple of the NFL - RedZone
NFL RedZone hoped to change the way we watch football forever... it did that and much more. Here I break down the history and significance of football fans' favorite show
"You’re watching the first moments of the channel that we hope will change the way you watch football forever."
This was the promise made by NFL RedZone in its first episode, a promise it has delivered on going into season 16 this past Sunday.
The history of RedZone, the growth of the markets it caters to, its impact on fan engagement are all things I've been curious about...
Launch Date: September 13, 2009 - some of the opening highlights...
➡ Brett Favre's Vikings Debut.
➡ Peyton Manning's attempt to continue AFC South dominance
➡ Kyle Orton and Maurice Jones-Drew's injury concerns
Format:
➡ 7 hours of uninterrupted, commercial-free football.
➡ Showcases every touchdown from every game, live as it happens.
The host, Scott Hanson, who has become one of football's most popular personalities takes zero breaks throughout the broadcast.
One water, one diet Pepsi, and a 7 AM breakfast is all that is consumed throughout his Sundays. He famously continued the broadcast through a building emergency evacuation (dedication to his craft)
The Business of Fantasy Football:
➡ Valued at over $30 billion in 2023, projected to hit $87 billion by 2031.
➡ Took 20 years to reach 1 million players - now over 29.2 million players in the USA alone.
➡ The businesses of fantasy sports and gambling growing rapidly (RedZone caters to both)
RedZone's Role/NFL Overall Viewership:
➡ Caters directly to fantasy football fans with real-time updates.
➡ Consistent increase in overall NFL viewership and engagement - first five TV windows of the 2024 season averaged 19.86 million viewers, a 14% increase from the previous year.
Media Evolution and Attention Span:
➡ Recent studies shown a decrease from 12 seconds in 2000 to about 8.25 seconds in terms of human attention span
➡ Average screen-based activity attention span now at about 47 seconds, down from 2.5 minutes in the early 2000s.
➡ Platforms like TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts thrive on short, engaging content - people avoid commercials and breaks whenever possible
➡ NFL RedZone was one of the firsts to this trend by offering quick football highlights without commercial interruption keeping viewer attention
Influence on all sports:
➡ Basketball: NBA developing a possible ESPN RedZone style show highlighting all games shown on a given night
➡ Baseball: MLB has experimented with "MLB Strike Zone" and new TruTV show "Race to the Pennant"
➡ NHL: The creation of "Frozen Frenzy"
➡ ESPN+ offers multicast broadcasting where you can combine multiple games on one screen
The NFL has also expanded its content to allow people to link their Yahoo Fantasy teams to their NFL Sunday Ticket package so they can see updates to their team in real time on the same screen as the games.
I think it is fair to say that the NFL RedZone channel achieved its goal of impacting the way fans watch not only football, but all sports... football is back, hope everyone enjoyed week 1 🏈
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