Commentary NFL will always be asked by fans such a question: why didn’t there be a match on Sunday? Is there a live signal from the United States? How can the US TV station broadcast NFL?

I haven’t surveyed how many people in the country have actually seen live television in the United States, but these questions prompted me to write an article about how people watch and broadcast NFL live in the most developed U.S. television and sports industries. Because in addition to explaining the competition, I also spent a lot of energy on their live broadcast process and packaging promotion. Let’s give you an introduction on the eleven holiday.

 

Question 1: when do Americans watch NFL?

The hardest thing about NFL’s live broadcast in China is that there are fewer games in prime time. Every year, only London matches and individual regular and playoff matches catch up with last weekend and holidays. The main games are Monday, Tuesday and Friday morning. This is because NFL is the most golden time in the United States.

In terms of us time, NFL can be divided into two categories: afternoon and evening. Among them, the afternoon field occupies half of the day on Sunday, according to the United States Eastern Time 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. kick-off time distribution. Night stadiums are arranged on Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights, which are the “Thursday Night”, “Sunday Night” and “Monday Night” games that have been watched more frequently in recent years. This also means that NFL occupies at least half of the most expensive advertising hours in American television.

Due to the existence of the NFL super giant, the schedule of the live broadcast of other alliances should be staggering as far as possible. The MLB live broadcast of FOX is focused on Saturday, and its trump card is Fox Saturday Baseball. ESPN broadcast the NBA live, the core period is Wednesday and Friday evening, especially on Friday East West two consecutive games live. As for NBC’s exclusive live NHL, Wednesday night’s Wednesday Night Hockey (formerly Wednesday Night Rivalry).

But the golden time on Saturday night belongs to college football. The major TV stations and their live broadcast networks cover almost all the matches in the competition area. To give way to college football, the NFL has no U.S. time on Saturday, except for individual games in the last few weeks of the regular season, which is why Chinese viewers can’t watch the NFL on Sunday Beijing time. It can only be said that this is the inevitable result of the development of sports culture in the United States.

Question two: what channels do Americans see through NFL?

The five big NFL live broadcasting companies in the United States divide their interests according to different sessions and periods. NBC has a Sunday night game, which is the best match of the time. NBC also has the option of giving priority to each round of events and the right to temporarily change the number of live shows in the subsequent rounds of the regular season. In the meantime, NBC will broadcast live the regular season opener and Thanksgiving on Thursday night in the United States, with two more playoffs.

As a representative of cable TV, ESPN has poured a lot of energy into the NFL, with live rights to Monday night, a playoff card game and an All-Star game. However, due to the backward selection sequence, the attraction of Monday night match is relatively limited, which has become a major pain point for ESPN.

As for NFL’s own network, it produced and broadcast Thursday night games on its own in the early years, in collaboration with other stations over the years. In the last few rounds of the regular season, the NFL schedules a small number of matches to be held on Saturday evening in the United States, and NFL Network will broadcast live.

NFL is good at balancing and subdividing copyrights, breaking every interest. The super bowl is broadcast live by NBC/FOX/CBS every year, and the playoffs and even the preseason games are evenly distributed.

Question three: how to broadcast live NFL jerseys in the US media

Live broadcasting is the top priority of all NFL content products, and the most expensive place for major broadcasters. Although the division of rights and interests is different, there are similarities in the direct broadcast mode of each family. Live broadcasting technology does not start here, only from the audience can see the program and live broadcasting a brief summary of several points: such as the three-dimensional program and live broadcasting collocation, maximize the use of prime time, refine the division of labor and combination of fixed collocation and so on.

A trump card program with a large live broadcast is a must for every family. NBC has Football Night in America, FOX has NFL Sunday, CBS has The NFL NFL, and there are two. These programs are arranged before the game kick-off, and continue to appear in the form of programs after and after the match. The program ends and the game begins, creating a strong continuity, maximizing the use of prime time.

NBC’s Football Night in America, for example, kicks off at 8:20 p.m. on Sunday nights, starting at 7 p.m. for 80 minutes. The game usually ends at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time, with nearly five hours of post-match reviews, fully explaining the meaning of football night.

Although the media will produce a lot of content around NFL, the trump card shows will certainly be broadcast live with the game. Its core is to make the program live, as close as possible to the game; let live program, showing a three-dimensional and complete effect. Only in this way can we fully tap the advertising value of the golden period and maximize the return of copyright purchased at a high price.