NBC Heads-Up ratings data (as of April 29)

[olivert]

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Please stick to quoting ratings from other news sources.

Your information in the rest of the post, particularly what comes at the end, is factually inaccurate.

Given your former status as a member of the press and someone with an interest in representing poker players, it would serve you wise not to post on topcis about which you have no knowledge.

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There is no need to be hostile, Dennis O., er. "freekobe".

If NBC has already picked up the 2008 option for Heads-Up, then that would certainly be great news for HSOR and Poker PROductions.

The ratings and the business environment are exactly as I described: ratings on NBC Heads-Up are down 20% year to year and online poker "school" advertising has all but disappeared on U.S. television with the exception of FullTiltPoker.net.

If those are not reasons for concern with the 2008 option pending, then I don't know what other reasons you will need to be cautious.

As for me, I have turned over my client base completely in order to focus on players with European Union passports in the short term (next 12 months).

I am personally more concerned about poker TV ratings on DSF and EuroSport than NBC and ESPN at this point.

[olivert]

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We recently did a full capital raising business plan for a new tour to take on WPT etc, raised a big chunk of seed capital but when we went to the media we could only do a time-buy mainly because of the wide variety of poor/average tv poker nowadays. Note we were planning very high free rolls for pros and a performance free roll for others and had sponsors lined up etc.

NBC HU was so badly done that the response I had yesterday from a potential partner station for poker WAS DO NOT BOTHER us again

[/ QUOTE ]

The U.S. is clearly NOT the TV market to launch a new TV poker venture in 2007.

The hot market for TV poker in 2007 is Germany.

In 2008, Spain, Russia, Poland, and/or Italy might be the next hot spot.

There is an established 5 year cycle for TV poker in each market, with history repeating itself whenever TV poker hits a new market:

Year 1: Introduction of poker to the TV audience
Year 2: TV ratings for poker reach their peak at the height of the poker fad
Year 3: Saturation of TV poker products, with 2nd tier and 3rd tier products airing daily on multiple channels
Year 4: Shakeout, with 2nd tier and 3rd tier products falling by the wayside
Year 5: Maturity, with only the top tier products and the time buys surviving the shakeout

The U.S. has hit Year 5 of the cycle.

Germany is in Year 2 of the cycle.

Let's see which TV producer is able to get "Heads-Up Poker Deutschland" on the air in Germany in 2008.

[Self Made]

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Please stick to quoting ratings from other news sources.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you disagree with something Olivert posts, point it out, but don't try to silence him. He posts a lot of valuable stuff here.

[olivert]

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Please stick to quoting ratings from other news sources.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you disagree with something Olivert posts, point it out, but don't try to silence him. He posts a lot of valuable stuff here.

[/ QUOTE ]

To be fair, "Freekobe" has the right to be upset with me, as he works with Poker PROductions (Mori Eskandani's company) and he is much closer to the NBC situation than I am and he has much more information than I do.

Also, I personally WANT to see NBC pick up the option for Heads-Up in 2008, as that would mean more poker on TV in the U.S. and more work for Mori, "freekobe", and co.

However, looking at both ratings performance (down about 20% year-to-year) and the business environment of TV poker in the U.S. (no more online poker "school" TV ads from anyone else besides FullTiltPoker.net), I notice 2 reasons for concern.

If my analysis and my subsequent concert were completely off base, then I will need to apologize to Mori and "freekobe" directly.

[The Dingo]

What do you think of a best of breed tournament with "bought airtime" and freerolling say the top 300 pros and letting others buy in. Run it like a deep stack main event with a normal final table and split the tourny for tv into 10-16 1 hour spots

[NickMPK]

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Please stick to quoting ratings from other news sources.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you disagree with something Olivert posts, point it out, but don't try to silence him. He posts a lot of valuable stuff here.

[/ QUOTE ]

To be fair, "Freekobe" has the right to be upset with me, as he works with Poker PROductions (Mori Eskandani's company) and he is much closer to the NBC situation than I am and he has much more information than I do.

Also, I personally WANT to see NBC pick up the option for Heads-Up in 2008, as that would mean more poker on TV in the U.S. and more work for Mori, "freekobe", and co.

However, looking at both ratings performance (down about 20% year-to-year) and the business environment of TV poker in the U.S. (no more online poker "school" TV ads from anyone else besides FullTiltPoker.net), I notice 2 reasons for concern.

If my analysis and my subsequent concert were completely off base, then I will need to apologize to Mori and "freekobe" directly.



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I still don't understand why a poker programs should have to rely on advertising from online poker sites, as opposed to the companies that normally advertise on typical sports programming. Are these companies unwilling to advertise on gambling shows for some moral reason? It seems like relying on poker specific-ads would be a crutch to mainstream acceptance that televised poker would be glad to get rid of.

[grdred944]

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Please stick to quoting ratings from other news sources.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you disagree with something Olivert posts, point it out, but don't try to silence him. He posts a lot of valuable stuff here.

[/ QUOTE ]

To be fair, "Freekobe" has the right to be upset with me, as he works with Poker PROductions (Mori Eskandani's company) and he is much closer to the NBC situation than I am and he has much more information than I do.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are being generous. To be fair, freekobe is an idiot. Rather than disclose to us his own vested interest in HU, he would rather attempt to tarnish your image. Pretty spineless.

As usual, your analysis of ratings and demographics is on-target. HU is simply less appealing. We've seen this dog and pony show several times and it has run its course on network television. Maybe GSN will pick it up since it appears to be picking off all the tired poker shows.

[olivert]

Heads-Up poker still has its place on a widely-distributed TV network in the U.S. (i.e. a network that is looking for at least 1 million households and 1.2 million viewers per poker TV episode)

ESPN is scheduled to devote 2 hours to the first ever WSOP Heads-Up bracelet event in 2007: $5000 buy-in, with either 256 players or 512 players participating.

With Harrah's now running its own televised WSOP-branded Heads-Up bracelet event, does Harrah's still need to offer NBC Sports/HSOR/Poker PROductions the use of Caesar's Palace for NBC Heads-Up in 2008?

Also, with most of the online poker "school" ads gone, will NBC Sports be able to sell the rest of the ad inventory to "mainstream" advertisers, and at a reduced rate (because the ratings in 2007 are down 20% from 2006), to make holding the 2008 edition of the NBC Heads-Up event profitable enough to proceed?

These are serious questions.

We will get an answer soon enough from NBC Sports and Poker PROductions.

Until we get an answer, we can only speculate.

[TimTimSalabim]

I'm not surprised the ratings are down. The show's virtually unwatchable without Gabe. All you're left with is a luckfest due to the structure, instead of the really great heads-up poker you're hoping for when you tune in. It might as well be poker celebrities playing Keno or something.

[freekobe]

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Please stick to quoting ratings from other news sources.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you disagree with something Olivert posts, point it out, but don't try to silence him. He posts a lot of valuable stuff here.

[/ QUOTE ]

To be fair, "Freekobe" has the right to be upset with me, as he works with Poker PROductions (Mori Eskandani's company) and he is much closer to the NBC situation than I am and he has much more information than I do.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are being generous. To be fair, freekobe is an idiot. Rather than disclose to us his own vested interest in HU, he would rather attempt to tarnish your image. Pretty spineless.

As usual, your analysis of ratings and demographics is on-target. HU is simply less appealing. We've seen this dog and pony show several times and it has run its course on network television. Maybe GSN will pick it up since it appears to be picking off all the tired poker shows.

[/ QUOTE ]

"Idiot" and "Spineless" seem harsh.

There is information in Oliver's original post that is factually inaccurate, specifically the facts surrounding the future of the show.

I don't know whether he had a bad source or he is out to spread misinformation. In either case, rushing to Oliver's defense seems odd. He posted a lot of facts and then included his own speculation as fact at the end of the post. That is disingenuous and can be damaging.

I noted that I couldn't disagree with his ratings "analysis." The rest of his post is based on misinformation.

And to grdred, it's pretty clear I have a vested interest in HU. That's why I bothered to post about Oliver's misinformation.