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The E.W. Scripps Company wants to flip the script on how advertisers see it this upfront season, and it’s doing so with a little help from Caitlin Clark.
With upcoming opportunities around Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever and an ION rebrand, Brian Norris, the company’s chief revenue officer, told ADWEEK that he wants marketers to be clear on “what Scripps stands for,” as the company is “all in” on investing in content and tech across its divisions of Scripps Sports, Scripps Networks and Scripps News.
“I want marketers to know that we’re here to support their brands, and they can develop these authentic connections via the sports landscape,” Norris said. “They shouldn’t be afraid to support news and know what we bring to the table, which is going to be longer-form storytelling opportunities.”
Norris walked ADWEEK through the company’s pitch deck to marketers ahead of its presentation on April 9 at New World Stages, showcasing the opportunities through women’s sports, the importance of an ION rebrand to content offerings and how the company is offering progam-level transparency.
Heavy investment in women’s sports
Among the highlights, the pitch deck showcases how the first year of Friday night WNBA games on ION raised viewership for the league by 24%, with a return set for the season kickoff in May. Those numbers are in a position to increase even more in 2024, with the company featuring eight matchups with the Indiana Fever, the team set to add Caitlin Clark at the upcoming WNBA draft.
With the offering, the company boasts more Caitlin Clark games than any other WNBA broadcaster, according to Norris.
In addition to Friday night WNBA games, the company is showcasing its upcoming Saturday night NWSL doubleheaders, which are already underway in the first year of Scripps’ contract with the league. With the deal, ION is featuring 50 NWSL games—which Norris also noted is more than any other broadcaster—with live studio programming surrounding both sports nights.
“We have some incredible sponsorship partners like State Farm who have made commitments to Scripps in women’s sports, but we have plenty of other opportunities for brands to get in at the ground floor,” Norris said. “When we look at the sports landscape, these opportunities don’t come around all too often.”
Along with the sports investment comes an ION rebrand
The pitch deck notes that the majority of Scripps viewers watch live, with 95% of viewers watching live on linear TV and FAST viewing growing 93% in 2023.
Considering its live viewership, as well as its sports offerings, the company is rebranding ION as a sports, general entertainment and live events network.
In addition to its sports nights on Friday and Saturday, ION’s roster includes the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which airs across Scripps’ portfolio and has its 100th anniversary in 2025, as well as a bolstered lineup of drama offerings, with the newest seasons of Blue Bloods, NCIS, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, FBI and others joining the fray later in the year.
“It was important for us to connect audiences with those powerful procedurals and sports,” Norris said. “We took a look at what ION stood for, and that’s when we came up with this community and connection theme for this year.”
The rebrand includes a new on-air look, with the branding reflected on ION Mystery, the company’s home for thrillers and docuseries, and its ION Plus FAST channel. Scripps will roll out an upcoming yearlong marketing campaign to drive awareness.
Successful multicultural audience track-record
Scripps’ upfront pitch deck also showcases the company’s multicultural reach, including its 46% multicultural audience. The company explains it has three of the top six networks for delivering African American audiences—ION at No.2, Grit at No.6 and Bounce, which Norris said was the fastest growth network in the category, at No. 3.
Looking to increase that audience, Bounce is launching a new show called Mind Your Business on June 1 and bringing its hit series Johnson back for Season 4 on Aug. 3.
An emphasis on brand safety, even in an election year
While several news networks showcase polarizing election coverage, the pitch deck notes that Scripps News received a perfect 10 rating from NewsGuard, scoring it as one of the lowest risks for advertisers and brands to be exposed to misinformation.
“When you think about the news and the way that we cover news, it is very much context-driven and fact-based news reporting,” Norris said. “I want marketers to be able to accurately distinguish between the polarizing opinion-based talking heads of the news ecosystem and what we bring to the table.”
With that in mind, Scripps’ upfront pitch also devotes slides to brand safety and reaching targeted audiences.
According to Norris, the company can onboard any first-party data source and build third-party data sets to optimize against critical audiences, launching its data-driven linear product in 2023 and allowing clients to buy beyond traditional Nielsen age and gender demos across Scripps’ networks.
“We provide full transparency to our media buyers and brands, providing program-level data and targeting,” Norris said. “This ensures that your brand’s creative is running exactly where you’re comfortable.”
