MLB Network Makes Play For Younger Fans With ‘Top of The Morning’

variety.com:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorMLB Network, swinging for attention from younger fans, is producing a baseball-news vignette just for them.Each morning, MLB Network producers will unveil a short video segment filled with emojis, virtual filters and bright graphics, that will recap the best moments from the league over the past 24 hours. “Top of The Morning” will be distributed across MLB’s digital platforms and also shown on MLB Network’s “Quick Pitch,” which delivers updates on what happened in the sport the night before.Many top sports outlets are trying to find new ways to appeal to kids and young viewers, who have come up in an era when the traditional formats of broadcast and cable TV are being usurped by expectations fomented by digital media.

Modern viewers often expect to see multiple “screens” of action, or a steady stream of commentary or statistics. Paramount Global has for the past two years aired an NFL Wild Card telecast on its kids-focused outlet Nickelodeon, complete with cartoon graphics and funny overlays.

Walt Disney’s ESPN has experimented with a Little League World Series broadcast with kids offering reporting and analysis as well as an NBA game telecast that has been turned into a contest with Marvel characters.This isn’t MLB Network’s first effort to appeal to a rising generation of fans.

Since 2016, the cable network has produced “Play Ball,” which airs every Saturday during the regular season at 10:00 a.m. The series stars Dansby Swanson and  Ozzie Albies from the World Series champion Atlanta Braves, while A.J.