(02-14-2019 11:17 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(02-14-2019 10:03 AM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(02-14-2019 09:21 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  I don't buy this notion that the grouping of cable channels means much. College football fans aren't dumb, they can easily look up on their cable guide where the games are even if they are just browsing. Heck, with my remote, I just say "college football" and it lists all the current games and channels.

Do you think that habit means much? I tend to believe that college football fans, when they're not watching a particular game, tend to go down a list--ESPN, 2, ABC, Fox, CBS, FS1, ESPN-U, CBS-SN, ESPNews, RSN. List can change based on individuals--old CUSA fans are more likely to think of CBS-SN as an option, some don't have CBS-SN on their package because it's not basic and they weren't big (CUSA school) fans, FS1 could be higher or lower than ESPN-U, etc. HEck, I forgot about Notre Dame and NBC in my list.

If that's the pattern ("what's on ESPN? Meh. Who else is playing--ESPN2, OTA networks, FS1 etc"), then what channel the Tulane game is on means a lot. If that's not the pattern, then the idea of national linear exposure getting your name in front of casual fans is flawed--Bama fan is looking for the Bama game, then the AP top 5 games, then AP top 25 and other SEC games, then maybe if he's still on the couch figure out what Mountain West schools are playing in the late late slot. Put the Tulane game on any channel you want, Bama fan don't care.

I agree with your concept of scrolling habits (i tend to do the same) but not the implications. I think the vast majority of fans scroll through looking for particular games they are interested in. Sure, there are always people who are just "looking for a game" to watch but heck, that's a small part of the audience, and those people aren't going to settle on an AAC or MAC game anyway. They'll stop at the Ohio State or Notre Dame game.

Seriously, what do you think the net incremental benefit to a Tulsa has been from someone in Utah or New York randomly scrolling to ESPN News and seeing them playing Army? I bet it's so small the LIGO telescope isn't sensitive enough to measure that impact.

Bottom line---you cant watch it if you cant find it. If you're on twitter, Facebook, or behind a paywall---the casual fan isnt going to watch. Becasue they were doing well last year, I was curious a couple of times and tried to catching a bit of a N Texas game----but I couldnt find it. Scrolled around a bit--found out they were on STADIUM---tried to find them there---found some sort of pay wall---and then gave up and watched something else. That happened to me more than once with N Texas last year. I think its an inherently bad idea to put more than half of a young conference's inventory behind a paywall where only 2 million people have access to it.