TCL Team Boxing League Packs A Punch On Dr. Phil’s Merit TV

In today’s cluttered content arena, where attracting proverbial eyeballs is an escalating challenge, there is one category exception. Sports. The excitement of competition, the human drama of athletic achievement, and the chance to connect with others all contribute to the universal appeal of sports. But there is more to the victory – or the defeat – than just the above attributes. There are the stories behind the players – the individuals and their families; the triumphs and the challenges – that make the sport, and the event, as much about the personalities as it is about the scores.

For an advertiser, sports of any type offer an effective promotional platform throughout the event. Brands can capture viewers’ attention and create a strong emotional connection, therefore making the advertising experience more memorable. And related – and bonus – content (pre-show analysis, post-show highlights or documentary-style storytelling about the competitive participants) can also draw large, dedicated audiences, which can translate into a high level of engagement.

As an engaging content option, meanwhile, the docuseries format offers a personalized narrative structure that has been further propelled by the streaming services, social media, and the video platforms.

So, for a recently introduced platform looking to define itself (and attract an audience) like Dr. Phil’s Merit TV, the recent arrival of TCL Team Boxing League (“TCL”) satisfies that hunger for sports-related content. There is the opportunity for a more male-centric audience base outside of the traditional older females accustomed to Phil McGraw in daytime syndication. There are content opportunities beyond the sport care of behind-the-scenes storytelling into the lives of TCL’s professional fighters. And, in this veritable sea of content platforms, TCL has affiliated itself with a cable, satellite, and free over-the-air broadcast media brand with a recognized name.

Through the first five weeks, the combined audience for TCL Team Boxing League on Dr. Phil’s Merit TV is reported at 3.5 million viewers, with the recent Houston vs. Phoenix matchup now the second most-watched TCL telecast (according to data from Nielsen).

Dr. Phil’s Merit TV

Launched in April 2024, Dr. Phil’s Merit TV is a digital multicast television network and streaming service owned by Merit Street Media, a Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas-based media branded found by veteran talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw. A combination of entertainment and news coverage, the initial programming genres were talk, lifestyle and true crime. Nancy Grace joined the network to host a true crime program. Steve Harvey acquired an equity stake in the network, with plans to develop talent and programming for Merit Street. Chris Harrison, the former host of The Bachelor, along with his wife, TV personality Lauren Zima, have teamed up for a daily lifestyle themed series. And McGraw hosts Merit TV’s flagship primetime show, an expansion of his long-running daytime talker.

“We are building a sport that is with a partner who is patient and who has a vision, and who trusts us to guide the media fortunes while they guide the sports side of it. They are the league,” said Ken Solomon, president and CEO of Dr. Phil’s Merritt TV.

Prior to Dr. Phil’s Merritt TV, Solomon was the head of The Tennis Channel.

“Boxing is underleveraged, underutilized, underexposed and I just spent many years of my life building a sport into a full-time destination. This is a real sport. We are not selling violence. And are telling stories and building fandom,” said Solomon. “We are also doing segments on the Team Boxing League on the news, with ongoing updates on the standings that be tagged by the sponsors of the events so that they get the credit throughout the schedule, not just even in the 15 to 18 hours of weekly coverage.”

“The beauty of this is the storytelling and we can’t do enough on these personal journeys that these boxers are taking,” he said. “They’re boxing not only for their families and themselves, which is what the story has always been, but for their teammates. And we get as deep as we can with who these boxers are.”

TCL Team Boxing League

Designed for intense, fast-paced action in today’s world of shorter attention spans and based on an unprecedented ownership model, TCL Team Boxing League features a roster of 12 teams, men and women from different weight categories, competing in various markets, with 24 three-minute rounds of action broken up into three periods. It debuted on Dr. Phil’s Merit TV on April 4.

“I was looking for different investments in sports and came across something that had to do with boxing and I started to look at the iconic nature of the sport, noted Kevin Cassidy, CEO of Team Combat Entertainment. Cassidy has spent his career consulting for mergers and acquisitions, including in the behavioral, health and technology fields.

“Growing up there was all this excitement surrounding Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali and I started to think about how popular team sports is right now,” said Cassidy. “We wanted to develop something for the younger generation but still stay in the tradition of the sport. And we wanted it to be current, so we developed the Team Sports League as a sort of TikTok for boxing. We made it into a team sport and realized it had to be individual matches.”

“When we did a test run at the Mohegan Sun Casino, we had six teams from six cities. And we started to see people wandering in from the casino and staying for the event,” he added. “The next year we went to 12 events in 12 cities and we started doing events all around the country. We developed an app. We did live events. We got on the Zone and they started streaming it. Then we started getting international inquiries. And we recognized there are stories about these fighters, which for Dr. Phil’s Merit TV fits what are trying to do.”

One such story involves boxer Gustavo “Cuban Assassin” Trujillo, who fled his homeland, career and everything he had worked and was homeless while being pursued by Cuban authorities seeking to punish him for his defection. After joining a group of fellow escapees on a raft to cross the treacherous waters of the Mona Passage, which separates the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, tragedy struck along the way with 12 of his companions losing their lives at sea, drowning before they could reach safety.

With backgrounds including Olympic athletes, veterans of the armed forces, community activists, medical field practitioners and construction workers, the initiative aligns with Merit TV’s mission to tell stories that reflect the diversity and resilience of everyday Americans.

“We have first responders and teachers, and students and fathers, and mothers, sisters and daughters. That is what it’s all about,” said Ken Solomon. “Boxing has always been that; the ‘Rocky’ vibe; these human-interest stories about these people, and athletes, that have beat the odds.”

“We provide a true sporting event experience, but we also recognize there are unbelievable stories about these fighters,” noted TCL’s Kevin Cassidy. “Combining the two, we figured that goes along with what Merit is trying to do, which is to tell stories about people’s lives.”

In the fragmented world of content today, sports is the one category that continues to resonate across all platforms.