Fox Sports has been forced to scrap its “One Betting Show” after just one episode due to low viewing figures.
The sports betting show, which features various sports analysts giving their opinion on the games each week, was announced with great fanfare in June last year following the sports network’s expensive £55m ($76m) purchase of rival sports channel ESPN.
“One Betting Show” was touted as a joint venture between Fox Sports and British betting company Paddy Power, with the latter investing £6m in the former. Paddy Power also launched a betting company to coincide with the show’s premiere, with the two companies working together to provide more opportunities for people to bet on football.
But the show barely made an impact, attracting an average of just 16.5m viewers per week according to overnight ratings firm BARB – less than a third of the channel’s average audience of 45.5m.
“One Betting Show” only managed to pull in an average of 16.5m viewers per week.
The British betting company Paddy Power invested £6m in the show to coincide with its premiere back in June last year. But its popularity never really took off, averaging only 16.5m viewers per week in the show’s first season, less than a third of the channel’s regular audience.
Low Viewing Figures
Those are pretty poor figures for a debut show, especially since many sports-related shows experience an initial honeymoon period before audiences flag and advertisers stop paying attention. But it gets even worse. The one-off game on Sunday 29 September between Melbourne Storm and Sydney Roosters attracted an average of just 4.9m viewers, a massive 79% drop from the games’ average of 16.5m in Season One.
This was a particular low point for the show given that Storm and Roosters were two of the most popular teams in Australia, and the game was undoubtedly the most anticipated of the entire season. But the figures speak for themselves.
The final nail in the “One Betting Show” coffin was delivered this week, as the show was quietly axed by Fox Sports after one episode. In that episode, Which Game Will You Back? Australian Rules Football was the subject of the show’s inaugural bet, with the handicappers offering their opinions on the game’s most intriguing points.
Fox Sports hasn’t officially commented on the show’s demise, with the sports network simply stating “We will have more to share regarding our schedule soon.” The show’s final episode will air this Sunday at 1am EDT on Fox Sports NFL.
Rival Channels?
While Fox Sports hasn’t officially commented on “One Betting Show”, the sports channel’s silence is deafeningly loud. The network spent £55m ($76m) on ESPN two years ago and is yet to make an announcement regarding whether or not it will continue to invest in the channel.
This is despite ESPN generating more than £100m in revenue each year, in part thanks to the large proportion of people who pay to access the service via a paid-for TV package. To put that into perspective, that’s more than three times the amount Fox Sports spent on “One Betting Show” in its entire first season.
If you’re a sports fan who finds yourself wondering what happened to “One Betting Show”, it’s probably best to assume that it didn’t work out as planned. But it’s also wise to keep a close eye on developments at Fox Sports as, at the time of writing, the network is a lucrative prospect for anyone willing to plough significant investment.