This year was a huge one for sports on television. The Super Bowl drew the second-biggest TV audience of all time, the Olympics smashed all sorts of ratings records, and the NBA and NHL playoffs were up after years of decline. But that’s just one medium. Increasingly, sports have become multi-media events, as evidenced by the huge viewership for March Madness online and large number of mobile phone views for the Games web site. With that in mind, Optimedia, the New York-based agency owned by Publicis Groupe, decided to rank the major sporting events in the U.S. for a 12-month period ending in August 2008. The company looked at TV ratings, streaming online video, web site traffic, mobile views, press coverage and word of mouth to come up with its top 20. Heading the list was the Olympics at No. 1, followed by the Super Bowl in second and the World Series third. Baseball, football and NASCAR all had top-10 properties, but there were some surprises further down the list, like Wrestlemania at No. 15 despite ranking 25th in TV ratings. Greg Kahn, senior vice president of strategic insights at Optimedia, talks to Media Life about why the Olympics edged the Super Bowl, baseball’s enduring popularity, and Wrestlemania’s devoted fans.
 
What was the most interesting or surprising thing in these rankings?
 
I think that this was a tremendous year for sports, so this was meant to highlight the power that sports have on traditional TV and beyond.
 
There were a couple of surprises and some things we expected. We expected the Summer Olympics to perform well, it was a groundbreaking event, especially online. The Super Bowl, which always ranks No. 1 on TV, was also up there.
 
I think baseball may have done a bit better than we expected, and that could be because the MLB web site is a pretty powerful site. Also, merchandising around baseball does pretty well. There’s a local base, but there are also affinities for certain teams cross state lines and individuals are interested in particular teams and players (outside of their own market).
 

What's the most important thing media buyers or planners can take from them?
 
I think rather than the numbers themselves, it’s important to consider more than just TV delivery for these events.

They’re truly properties and now they’re interactive events; just because there are spectators doesn’t mean it’s a lean-back environment. Most sports fans are kind of statistics junkies, if you will, so the ability to go online or your phone and check your fantasy league adds a whole new layer.

What pushed the Olympics ahead of the Super Bowl for No. 1 on the list?
 
It was the online presence, as well as the appeal and buzz surrounding it. This was a very successful Olympics for NBC, and the buzz was deafening throughout the events. Michael Phelps helped on that end, and America did well this year, so it was more than just the television delivery.
 

Why did baseball have so many events (four) in the top 10?
 
You know, I think the baseball season is relatively long, and that plays a factor. There’s much less competition during baseball season.

But, again, I think MLB does a terrific job with its web site. It comes second to ESPN.com in unique viewers and videos viewed, so they’re just doing a terrific job with that site.
 

Wrestlemania is available only on pay-per-view, yet it outranked the NBA All-Star Game and the Masters. Why?
 
There’s a passion and a buzz around Wrestlemania and wrestling in general, which supersedes if it’s broadcast by traditional means. Merchandise sales are through the roof, and their web site is also very good. Fans feel Wrestlemania is a true event, the buzz builds very early and the anticipation is perhaps more than for other sporting events.
 
And we shouldn’t discount the pay-per-view factor. There is inherent value in properties that are broadcast only by pay-per-view means. WWE also upped its online presence in ‘07 and ‘08, including branded channels on YouTube, MySpace and Facebook.

How has online and mobile coverage changed audience patterns for sports viewing?
 
Well, online is ahead of mobile in terms of alternative content viewing. I think both are still in their infancy stages, but online within the next three years will explode, while I think mobile is three to five years away.
 
But consumers are becoming aware of possibilities that they offer. There’s a lot of simultaneous usage now. We expect now, with mobile, because of the popularity of the iPhone and the new announcement with T-Mobile and Google [which partnered on a phone], we expect more consumers playing around with it. More people will be texting or looking up stats while watching the game.

Are there any sporting events you think will take a big leap up this chart in the next year? Why?
 
I think you’ve got to look towards college football, it still has a ways to go. They will figure out how to increase engagement across platforms. The traditional properties such as NFL, MLB and NBA are doing pretty well as it is, but I’d look out for college football to make a run.
 
And also you’ll see some of the NASCAR properties jump.

What about any you see declining and why?
 
With some of these sports it’s so contingent on the teams in the finals, so that’s tricky to say. There’s nothing out there where I can say, “Let’s look at this sport.”
 
Tennis, for example, is becoming more popular on different platforms because of internet video streaming. This year the Wimbledon final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer was one of the top-rated matches in a long time, so it depends who the finalists are in whatever sport you’re talking about.
 
And these newer platforms also help consumers become more engaged with the players in general, and it’s difficult to do that on just the TV platform alone.