Sports Media Digest- May 15, 2012

http://sportsmediajournal.com/ Golf Channel Gets High Viewership for Players Championship- The week-long coverage of The Player’s Championship on the Golf Channel was the highest-rated and most-watched week in the history of the network’s coverage of the event. Average ratings (.17) and viewers (171,000) for the week both were 15 percent higher than the previously high marks for each category in 2007 and 2010, respectively, and 38 and 44 percent higher than last year. ESPN/Twitter Announce Collaboration- ESPN announced a strategic collaboration with Twitter that will offer fans and advertisers unique, interactive programs around major sporting events. Beginning with the NBA Finals the partners hope the collaboration will give marketers a clear and powerful way to link on-air and online social conversations around sports. For the NBA Finals ESPN and Twitter will promote GameFace, where fans will be encouraged to tweet photographs of their “game face” throughout the finals. At the conclusion of each game, NBA Tonight analysts will highlight the competition and reveal the best photographs on-air. The best photos will also be featured in a photo gallery on ESPN.com/NBA. Robin Roberts Gets Back into Sports with New Show- ESPN, espnW, and ABC News are working together to produce In the Game with Robin Roberts. The Good Morning America anchor and former ESPN’er will host the program which will feature interviews with accomplished female athletes. The eight episode feature will air every Thursday beginning this week between 9:00am.m and 12:00p.m. ET on SportsCenter. The segments will also be featured prominently online on espnW.com and ABC News.com. ESPN Launches New Radio App for IOS- ESPN has announced the launch of a new app for ESPN Radio for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. The new app provides personalized sports listening experience both live and on demand and includes a new feature that allows fans to build their own sports stations. Additionally, fans now have the option to rewind live audio streams, including ESPN Deportes Radio. Versions for Android and Windows 7 smartphones are slated to launch later this summer. 24/7: Road to Pacquiao/Bradley Debuts This Weekend- HBO Sports continues its 24/7 series this weekend with a preview of the Manny Pacquiao/Timothy Bradley bout. 24/7: Road to Pacquiao/Bradley, the behind-the-scenes look at the fighters preparing for their June fight debuts Saturday at 10:15p.m. ET.