Versus advertising cage fighting on Howard Stern... But not the NHL!

LGP8771

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Apr 2, 2007
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They're promoting their super event, "World Extreme Cagefighting", on the Howard Stern show this week.

"From the network that brings you the National Hockey League..." (and then the stupid fight promos come on).

The problem is they never promoted the NHL on Stern, and Artie only talks about the Yankees so I'm sure a lot of the viewers must have been like, "*** is Versus?!"
 

doublejack

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I'm perfectly fine with this. Consider the target audience - Howard Stern fans. That demographic is full of folks who live in their parents' basement, surf for porn all day, and don't have a diploma or any form of higher education. Cage fighting is something they can relate to. These people are not hockey fans, they probably don't even know what NHL stands for.
 

frivolousz21

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I'm perfectly fine with this. Consider the target audience - Howard Stern fans. That demographic is full of folks who live in their parents' basement, surf for porn all day, and don't have a diploma or any form of higher education. Cage fighting is something they can relate to. These people are not hockey fans, they probably don't even know what NHL stands for.

right..if Versus were to advertise..Id use golf tourneys on the golf channel or during golf events on CBS
 

doublejack

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right..if Versus were to advertise..Id use golf tourneys on the golf channel or during golf events on CBS

No, golf would work for cross selling something like tennis or the America's Cup regatta or the Tour du France.

If one isn't pitching boxing, fighting or wrestling, it's useless advertising on Stern's show.
 

LGP8771

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Apr 2, 2007
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I'm perfectly fine with this. Consider the target audience - Howard Stern fans. That demographic is full of folks who live in their parents' basement, surf for porn all day, and don't have a diploma or any form of higher education. Cage fighting is something they can relate to. These people are not hockey fans, they probably don't even know what NHL stands for.

You have absolutely no idea what the hell you're talking about. Not only that, but I'm taking this ridiculous, ignorant opinion of yours personally, as I am a Howard Stern fan (as I have been for years).

Believe it or not, people have desk jobs where they are allowed to listen to talk radio. I listen to the show at work (as a lot of people do). Howard Stern has had up to 12 million listeners in terrestrial radio (easily the most successful radio show of all time). Close to 7 million now are paying subscribers (and a large percentage of that should be credited to Stern). So these people probably have jobs at least, because I doubt parents of kids who live in their basements are paying for their kids to listen to the radio all day.

If you heard the show you'd know that many successful people are hardcore fans of the show. And everything you said is completely wrong on so many levels. Having an education doesn't mean it's wrong to listen to the show (where all kinds of topics are discussed on a daily basis, including politics, for your information). Now if you're uptight or religious, that's another thing, and obviously not everything on the show is gonna be to everyone's liking, but the show's prolonged success would indicate to anyone with half a brain that it's more about strippers and midgets (more than 20 years as the #1 radio show in the U.S., also #1 in Toronto morning drive time throughout the 90's until the Canadian government took the show off the air in Canada because they misinterpreted a comment Howard made about French people). But you obviously know too little about the show to understand any of that.

Howard himself has talked about going to the Rangers' games at MSG recently, even dropped Jagr's name a few months ago, and also said that in the early 80's he was into watching the Islanders on TV. Gary (Bababooey), was also a big Islanders fan in the early 80's. Also, Scott Ferrall has a 4-hour sports talk show on Howard 101 and the sport he talks about the most is hockey, because he's a huge fan (he used to call Thrashers games on the radio in 1999 and his show is really fun to listen to). But hey, what the hell, the Stern audience probably doesn't even know what NHL stands for. :rolleyes:

Sorry about going off topic, but it's this guy who simply should not have replied, period.

Oh and as for the whole cage fighting, UFC, martial arts audience - it's a lot bigger than hockey's, and even though I don't like that sort of stuff myself, I wouldn't put it down the way you did. Just another reason you're totally ignorant.

If one isn't pitching boxing, fighting or wrestling, it's useless advertising on Stern's show.

Right. Advertising in the USA on a pay service to a diverse audience where probably 70% of the listeners are men in the 18-49 demographic is completely useless. LOL... And the 6 million people who watched the All-Star game on FOX in 1996 are NEVER going to come back to the game, especially with Sidney Crosby in the league, who totally sucks! Bravo! :rolleyes:
 
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Silver

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I'm going to second ivand87's post.

Sure, there are a lot of losers living in the basement who listen to Stern. Having said that, I bet if you took a cross section of Stern listeners and a cross section of right wing talk listeners, you'd be surprised at who the more successful group was.

Ferrall is great to listen to...but he's not a love at first listen kind of show.
 

multiball

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Doublejack does speak of a stereotype, but that stereotype is based in truth and is a well earned one. Sure there are exceptions. From a marketing overview, Howard Stern advertising rates and demographics are not what the NHL is looking for - hence the skip in favor of something up the audience's alley - cage fighting.

If you're gonna throw ham at stripper's *****, you're going to get the mental equivalent of that action in your advertisers - Mountain Dew's World Cage Extreme Pride Fighting Octagon Championship. Hey, I ain't knocking it. Those folks fill up arenas at several hundred $ per ticket.
 
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Killer Carlson

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Let me throw my two cents in here. I'm a huge Stern fan and have been for years. I'm in my mid 30's, married with two kids, college educated and hold a job at a company that is routinely in the Top 20 of the Fortune 500 and is usually very close to being in the Top 10. Know what the main reason is that I listen? It is an escape from my otherwise normal life. I deal with stress all day at work and deal with the regular stresses of life (marriage, fatherhood, finances, family matters, etc) so for me to listen for 20 min or so in the morning, the same around lunchtime and the same on my way home (the show is repeated all day on satellite now), it lets me escape my world and just laugh for a bit. Kind of the same reason why I enjoy sports...it lets me focus on something that in the grand scheme of my life is very unimportant but still gives me tremendous satisfaction.
 

Stevedude530

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O & A (Isles), The Radio Chick (Rangers) and Nick DiPaolo (Bruins) on what used to be FREE FM in NY are big hockey fans. They gotta find the right people to just shove in little plugs.
 

Dr.Huxtable*

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I've been a Stern fan for years but an NHL commercial on Sirius is a waste of time because nobody is listening. The time to get an NHL commercial on Howard's show was when he was on K-Rock. His audience is greatly diminished, as it should, because Howard has been mailing it in for years.

Artie and Howard got in a big fight today and Artie announced he's leaving in January, at which time I will be cancelling my Sirius subscription.
 

doublejack

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You have absolutely no idea what the hell you're talking about. Not only that, but I'm taking this ridiculous, ignorant opinion of yours personally, as I am a Howard Stern fan (as I have been for years).

Little too close to home with my stereotype?

Believe it or not, people have desk jobs where they are allowed to listen to talk radio. I listen to the show at work (as a lot of people do). Howard Stern has had up to 12 million listeners in terrestrial radio (easily the most successful radio show of all time). Close to 7 million now are paying subscribers (and a large percentage of that should be credited to Stern). So these people probably have jobs at least, because I doubt parents of kids who live in their basements are paying for their kids to listen to the radio all day.

Your facts are so wrong it's quite sad. First of all, the radio show with the largest audience, per Arbitron ratings, is the Rush Limbaugh Show with a minimum of 13.5 million listeners weekly since 2005. Secondly, I wouldn't call either Stern's or Limbaugh's shows "the most successful radio show of all time". Both have a narrow audience, albeit one that measures in the millions. But both are highly polarizing and incapable of reaching out to listeners outside the targeted demographic.

And there are more than 10 million people with Sirius satellite radio now, although there's no way to tell how many are Stern listeners or how many subscribed because of him. Sirius was growing before Stern migrated there, and they would continue to grow without him. And XM was kicking their butt before Stern, and they're still kicking their butt - so he didn't help that much.

Further, I'm not referring to kids living in their parents basements, but working individuals that have the means to subscribe themselves, but not the motivation to get out and start a life on their own.

If you heard the show you'd know that many successful people are hardcore fans of the show. And everything you said is completely wrong on so many levels. Having an education doesn't mean it's wrong to listen to the show (where all kinds of topics are discussed on a daily basis, including politics, for your information). Now if you're uptight or religious, that's another thing, and obviously not everything on the show is gonna be to everyone's liking, but the show's prolonged success would indicate to anyone with half a brain that it's more about strippers and midgets (more than 20 years as the #1 radio show in the U.S., also #1 in Toronto morning drive time throughout the 90's until the Canadian government took the show off the air in Canada because they misinterpreted a comment Howard made about French people). But you obviously know too little about the show to understand any of that.

The Howard Stern Show is about Howard Stern. Period. All subjects brought up therein are simply talking points for comedic value, or to provide a backdrop for the show. Anyone listening to that show for news or political information is in the wrong place. The vast majority of the content on the show is lowbrow smut and pertains to strippers, porn, Pejorative Slurs, the homeless, etc. Anything and everything can and is targeted for ridicule. Howard Stern is to radio what "Airplane" is to movies, nothing more (apologies to "Airplane", but it's the best example I can come up with right now).

Howard himself has talked about going to the Rangers' games at MSG recently, even dropped Jagr's name a few months ago, and also said that in the early 80's he was into watching the Islanders on TV. Gary (Bababooey), was also a big Islanders fan in the early 80's. Also, Scott Ferrall has a 4-hour sports talk show on Howard 101 and the sport he talks about the most is hockey, because he's a huge fan (he used to call Thrashers games on the radio in 1999 and his show is really fun to listen to). But hey, what the hell, the Stern audience probably doesn't even know what NHL stands for. :rolleyes:

Woopty do. So Stern and others on his channel have talked hockey. What don't they talk about? I'm sure they mention eating. Quick, get someone from the Food Channel to contact them. I'm sure that would tie in nicely too :shakehead

Sorry about going off topic, but it's this guy who simply should not have replied, period.

I'll let Howard Stern speak for himself (he said this in 1997):

"Television has changed… Standards have gone down to an all-time low, and I'm here to represent it. It's a miracle. I prayed to God for this." -- Howard Stern

Gosh, seems like I was so way off with my stereotype :biglaugh:

Oh and as for the whole cage fighting, UFC, martial arts audience - it's a lot bigger than hockey's, and even though I don't like that sort of stuff myself, I wouldn't put it down the way you did. Just another reason you're totally ignorant.

First, I'm not so quick to say that cage fighting has a larger audience than hockey. It may, it may not. Hockey is certainly bigger where I live. But I frankly don't care either way. The fact is cage fighting appeals to a more primitive, caveman like mentality. Right up Stern's alley.



Right. Advertising in the USA on a pay service to a diverse audience where probably 70% of the listeners are men in the 18-49 demographic is completely useless. LOL... And the 6 million people who watched the All-Star game on FOX in 1996 are NEVER going to come back to the game, especially with Sidney Crosby in the league, who totally sucks! Bravo! :rolleyes:

Stern's demographic has NEVER translated well to TV, not even for Howard himself. Maybe it works for something very primitive like cage fighting, but it would be a complete waste of advertising dollars for hockey. Why? Because Mr. Shock Jock's success is solely due to his shtick. There's no market there, it's a one trick pony.
 

multiball

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. Quick, get someone from the Food Channel to contact them. I'm sure that would tie in nicely too
NHL-And-Food-Network.article.jpg
 

Stevedude530

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Dec 21, 2005
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doublejack, SPIKE TV draws about 3 Million viewers a week for Ultimate Fighter. VERSUS draws 400,000 viewers per NHL game.
 

Dr Love

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I'm perfectly fine with this. Consider the target audience - Howard Stern fans. That demographic is full of folks who live in their parents' basement, surf for porn all day, and don't have a diploma or any form of higher education. Cage fighting is something they can relate to. These people are not hockey fans, they probably don't even know what NHL stands for.

While this is taking it to an absurd extreme, the basic point is right--Howard Stern's demographic is a good one to advertise cage fighting.

Also, the NHL is on XM, Stern is on Sirius, that could be a factor into why they don't promote the NHL on Vs. on Stern.
 

RangersMoogle

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"Cage fighting" is a horrible term for mixed martial arts. It's not doing anything for the image of the sport, it's just hurting it, as seen by people like 'doublejack' citing it as a sport for the "caveman" mentality.

Mixed martial arts is very intricate. Stereotyping it like that is just proves you're ignorant of the sport.
 

doublejack

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doublejack, SPIKE TV draws about 3 Million viewers a week for Ultimate Fighter. VERSUS draws 400,000 viewers per NHL game.

During the lockout when ESPN had to air other content in lieu of hockey, women's college softball and professional bowling drew higher ratings than the NHL games had. This is why ESPN wasn't hot to renew a deal with the league. So, are women's college softball and professional bowling more popular than hockey? I find it highly unlikely, although that's what the raw numbers say if taken at face value.

Ratings aren't the be-all-end-all of a sports popularity. In fact, the networks are desperately trying to find a way to accurately measure viewership. The old Nielson ratings system is broken to the point where the numbers are useless. DVRs allow people to time shift what they watch, shows can be viewed on an ipod or cell phone, or downloaded on demand. How do you really measure who watches what when the system is that complex? (note: if someone finds a method that works, you could stand to make a fortune)

Real hockey fans, the ones that keep the league afloat, aren't watching on TV. That much is clear. The NHL gets virtually nothing in the way of television revenue, and never has. Instead, the NHL relies on fan support via merchandise and ticket sales. What do you think sells more merchandise & tickets, Ultimate Fighter or the NHL? Which has the larger total revenue?

If you want to gauge which sport is really more popular, check no further than people's spending habits.

"Cage fighting" is a horrible term for mixed martial arts. It's not doing anything for the image of the sport, it's just hurting it, as seen by people like 'doublejack' citing it as a sport for the "caveman" mentality.

Mixed martial arts is very intricate. Stereotyping it like that is just proves you're ignorant of the sport.

Fighting of any kind is much more primitive in nature than other sports. As intricate as you see it, it's still possess a fraction of the depth of sports such as hockey, baseball, football, etc. The level of strategy and tactics is nowhere close. You see the other guy, you attempt to kick his but. It couldn't get any more straightforward.

And for the record, boxing is more intricate than mixed martial arts fighting. Bernard Hopkins was on Jim Rome's show this week talking about this very subject. Hopkins was asked if he would do well in UFC, etc., and he bluntly said no. He said he would get his but kicked because that brand of fighting is undisciplined - he likened it to street fighting - and he hasn't fought like that in 30 years. He then finished with the obligatory "those guys are crazy".
 
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berney fkaj

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If Versus asked the Stern show to advertise hockey, they would. It has nothing to due with demographics, and all to do with money.
 

Stevedude530

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During the lockout when ESPN had to air other content in lieu of hockey, women's college softball and professional bowling drew higher ratings than the NHL games had. This is why ESPN wasn't hot to renew a deal with the league. So, are women's college softball and professional bowling more popular than hockey? I find it highly unlikely, although that's what the raw numbers say if taken at face value.

Nothing to do with ESPN. I'd say more people are interested in UFC 71 right now than the SCF.
 

doublejack

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Nothing to do with ESPN. I'd say more people are interested in UFC 71 right now than the SCF.

That may be so, but it's because of the matchup. If the Rangers vs. Red Wings was the SCF matchup for example, I guarantee more people would be interested in that.

What does the 71 stand for?
 

multiball

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If Versus asked the Stern show to advertise hockey, they would. It has nothing to due with demographics, and all to do with money.
Advertising has everything to do with demographics. The NHL won't throw money at an episode of American Idol because it is the wrong demo and would be a horrible return. For a smaller example, the NHL would never throw $ at an episode of The Young & The Restless because it is the wrong demo.

If by Versus "asking" the Stern show to advertise you mean "throw a gargantuan sum of money to be one small piece of a huge commercial break", sure Stern's show take the money, but it would be a terrible waste of marketing budget and there'd be a whole thread bashing the NHL marketing department's stupidity.

I'm a pretty well documented critic of the NHL marketing in general, but it's more for content (My NHL ads, dopey slogans, lack of better online content, etc) than placement.
 

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