I got a chance to speak with Rob Correa, senior vice president of programming for CBS Sports, this afternoon about the broadcast debut of competitive video-gaming last weekend. CBS Sports filled an hour of its Sunday broadcast with the World Series of Video Games' Louisville, Ky,, tour stop.
Correa didn't give out any audience data, but noted that summer afternoons are not exactly prime time.
"Sunday at 12 noon in late July is not the easiest time period to get people to watch, but all in all we're satisfied," he said.
He acknowledged that the video game broadcast was a departure from the network's usual sports programming -- highlighted by March Madness and the Masters -- but he still expected some audience overlap.
"Every audience overlaps some ... particularly in sports," Correa said. "We don't have [demographics] yet, but clearly we figured it would be potentially a younger audience than a lot of our core sports programming."
Correa said it's too early to tell whether video games will become a regular part of CBS Sports line up. Two more WSVG broadcasts are planned this fall; a third episode scheduled for August was postponed, he said.