We brought back our Penn State sports media survey and brought the answers.
A lot of them.
Thank you to everyone who completed this year’s survey.
As we said last year, this survey was done in a very unscientific fashion. There was no third-party polling agency – just us sharing the link across social media. It’s a small sample size but the data here is enlightening on where people read their Penn State news and maybe which reporters they enjoy reading more often than not.
Without further ado, here are this year’s results
Favorite Television Network To Watch A Game
A new question this year as we wanted to see which network is your favorite. We asked a similar question in our end of season survey, with fans also giving NBC the highest rating then as well.
- NBC – 42%
- CBS – 30%
- Fox- 20%
- BTN – 8%
Podcasts
79 percent of people said they listen to Penn State podcasts. This is up from the 63 percent of respondents last year.
Top 5 Podcasts
2. Stuff Somers Says With Steve
3. StateMediaPSU (Hackenberg, Bell, Brenneman, etc.)
4. Lions247
5. Behind the Wall with Landon Tengwall
(Again, this was not a highly scientific poll and it helps that we were the ones putting the survey out. But we do appreciate everyone that listens.)
Publications
This is where we saw a lot of change year over year. Once again, more people who responded to the survey said they pay subscriptions for Penn State media outlets like On3, Lions247, The Athletic and even PennLive. 71 percent said they spend money on subscriptions, up from 62 percent last year.
And now the real moment you’ve all been waiting for. Blue-White Illustrated took over the top spot as the most read publication, with The Athletic sliding up to No. 2. StateCollege.com also appears in the top five this year as well.
Top 5 Most Read
2. The Athletic
3. Onward State
5. PennLive
(Two people said us. Again, you’re weirdos but we appreciate your support.)
And there’s been a change at favorite beat writer among fans. Sean Fitz of Blue-White Illustrated knocked Audrey Snyder off for top spot. Others from the Blue-White Illustrated gang, including Ryan Snyder and Greg Pickel made the top five – as well as PennLive’s Johnny McGonigal.
Favorite Beat Writer
1. Sean Fitz
2. Ryan Snyder
4. Greg Pickel
Grade for the Beat
Lastly, we asked for your feedback about the beat. And most of the responses were generally positive. Overall you gave the beat a “B” for the job they do.
- B – 58%
- A – 28%
- C – 13%
And here’s some of the feedback you left for the beat.
- BWI is excellent. No one comes close. It’s the only site you need.
- Fitz and team is the best in the business. Not just the PSU beat, but any beat. Can’t touch them.
- It would be an A- or B+, because I don’t think anyone could really be perfect, but this beat is large and has all of the niches covered, from recruiting to long-form to the random zany details. And they (some of them) aren’t afraid to ask James Franklin tough questions. Having said that, as someone who usually listens to pressers either live or the next day to kill time at work, some of them ask the dumbest questions, or have a good question and phrase it stupidly, though nobody’s perfect.
- Offer good coverage but don’t give enough in depth coverage. Needs to be a little more meat on the bone to get some of the ideas across to the “casual” fan. A good example would be the NIL situation.
- Need to ask tougher questions on a consistent basis and push back more on the head coach and PSU Athletics– everything from what they say to access to digging up more stories.
Once again, thank you to everyone who spent some time filling out the survey. Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast here and newsletter there.
