NFL and Bleacher Report Team Up on Highlights and Super Bowl

“While it may not necessarily be someone who is new to the NFL going to Bleacher Report, it is someone who cares about the game and wants to follow it,” Lawton said. “If we can reach out to them and help Bleacher Report tell better stories or enhance their content with official content, then that’s great.”

It’s a deal that comes at an interesting time for the NFL and sports in general. While the league still counts for most of the further issuesratings for the latest Wild Card games are down more than 9% from a year ago.

It’s not just an NFL problem, as the college football playoffs have seen a 17% drop in ratings during the first year of its 12-team playoff format. Towards the end of 2024, ratings were down in the NBA (19%-25%), men’s college basketball (21%), women’s college games (38%), and the NHL (28%). Bleacher Report and parent company Warner Bros. Discovery — which was at the center of NBA broadcast rights talks last year — wants to invest where those viewers are.

“WBD has consistently signaled that they want to be in the sport and are doing so by investing in these new properties that have come online,” Spector said. “What has changed is not that there is a lack of interest in the actual sport. It is just how people consume these same products. While linear television has shown a clear decline in consumption, the first digital consumption – both through highlights whether on social media or through our properties – it’s growing rapidly.”