Welcome to the blog of Dr. Lisa Burns' Media Studies senior capstone class (3:30 pm section) at Quinnipiac University. If you're looking for the latest on media industry trends and insightful media analysis, you've come to the right place!
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Sports Media & Marketing Blog 8, Question 2 (April 5)
Has sports media
reached a tipping point in its reliance on traditional/legacy media? What
changes, if any, do you expect to see over the next 3 – 5 years?Limit:
15 responses
I think we have seen a drastic difference in the way we view sports media. Technology has had a significant impact on how we consume sports media. Prior to streaming, we watched sports through our cable television providers. Streaming has taken over society and has shifted how we watch television and sports media. I think we will consume sports media through streaming platforms in the future. Many consumers have shifted to streaming and sport organizations are aware of this change in consumer behavior.
Recently, the MLS has seen a change in the way they decide to stream their games. The MLS has decided to sell all of its broadcast rights at once, “This means one media or tech giant could end up being the home of MLS matches for local, national and international audiences, instead of the usual practice of dividing rights among different broadcasters” (Shaw). Soccer has seen a recent uptick in the number of consumers watching their games. This means that the MLS is also seeing a rise in their revenue. Last year, the UEFA Champions League was played on Paramount+. This caused, “…Paramount+ sign-ups to more than triple” (Shaw). This shows that people are willing to subscribe to a platform to watch soccer. The MLS is also taking a gamble to sell all of their rights to a media giant. MLS sees a future in streaming and thinks it will be beneficial to their performance. It will be interesting to see who buys the rights to MLS in the future.
The MLB has also struck a deal with Apple TV+. Apple TV+ has an agreement with the MLB to stream weekly doubleheader games on Fridays during the 2022 season. This is the first sports deal for Apple TV+. In addition to streaming the doubleheaders, “Apple will also produce MLB Big Inning, a live show featuring highlights and look-ins to games on every weeknight of the regular season” (Porter). Many people watch baseball, so it will be interesting to see how many fans subscribe to Apple TV+ for this exclusive baseball content. This exclusive content will drive many people to the platform and connect international audiences to watch MLB baseball.
The NFL has also transitioned to streaming. Thursday Night Football games will be streamed through Amazon. Thursday night football games cannot be seen through cable television. If consumers want to watch these games, they will need to get an Amazon subscription. Alex Perry from Mashable stated, “It’s an 11-year agreement between Amazon and the NFL which sees the Bezos empire shelling out $1 billion annually for the privilege of streaming just 15 regular games a season” (Perry). This is a particularly long agreement, which makes me think that the NFL is invested in streaming platforms. In the future, the NFL may exclusively play their games through streaming services.
Over the next 3-5 years, I think we will see many streaming platforms slowly obtaining control over sport organizations. Sport organizations are seeing the future of streaming and slowly moving content over to them. I think streaming platforms and sports organizations are starting off with baby steps to see the response of consumers. If there are positive responses, I think we will see a full transition of sports media streaming. Consumers will have to get subscriptions to the platforms that their favorite sports teams play on.
Perry, Alex. “Apple and Amazon Are Changing the Way We Watch Live Sports.” Mashable, Mashable, 22 Mar. 2022, https://mashable.com/article/amazon-apple-live-sports-streaming-nfl-mlb. Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/. Shaw, Lucas. “How Soccer Became Every Streaming Service’s Favorite Sport.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 12 Dec. 2021, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-12-12/mls-playoffs-set-up-the-league-for-a-big-payday-from-streaming-services?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=211219&utm_campaign=screentime.
Personally, I do think sports media has reached a tipping point in its reliance on traditional media. Although there are still major networks that have deals with different sports leagues to broadcast their games on traditional media, streaming is the way of the future. Since the Super Bowl this year was on NBC, NBCUniversal used that opportunity to really promote their streaming service, Peacock, and they had the game streaming on Peacock. Other platforms such as Hulu also stream live games at times. ESPN+ is the only streaming service dedicated to just sports and athletes so far. The platform offers live games from the MLB, NHL, and MLS, but no NBA or NFL (Hastings). Even then, the platform has local blackouts which can be frustrating to viewers who pay for the service. It will be interesting to see how this shifts as Apple TV + has recently struck up a deal with the MLB.
When I first heard about the deal between the MLB and Apple TV +, I was pretty surprised. I did not picture Apple TV + making a deal like this, since they have not done live streams before. This deal includes a weekly doubleheader of Friday night games without any local blackouts (Porter). However, I do think this was a smart move on Apple’s part. People around the globe enjoy baseball, so their audience is not limited. The fact that they have promised that there will not be any local blackouts of the broadcast of the game is also appealing. Not to mention, Apple TV+ has not had a lot of success yet as it is still a newer streaming platform and this deal can potentially bring in a large quantity of new subscribers.
As someone who does not really follow sports, I have a hard time predicting what will come in the next few years. Personally, I am surprised that major sports leagues have not launched their own streaming services yet. I would not be surprised to see NFL+ come to fruition. They would be smart to have a low subscription cost and include games, podcasts, radio broadcasts, and team content (Kaplan). The NFL has a huge impact on viewers, however they are at a disadvantage due to the fact that not many people outside of the United States care about American football. Although there is a huge fanbase in the U.S., they would have to find a way to expand globally. However, I am a little surprised to hear that this idea is being floated around, considering that last year there was a $100 billion deal made between the NFL and Disney, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, and Fox (Weprin). Since these companies signed onto this deal for both the possibility of cable and streaming access to their games, it would interesting to see whether NFL+ would be the only place games are viewable. It would also be interesting to see how it impacts the Super Bowl, as there is a rotation on what channel broadcasts the game each year.
Works Cited Hastings, Nick. “ESPN : All Your Questions Answered about ESPN's Streaming Service.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 10 Dec. 2021, www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/what-is-espn-plus. Kaplan, Daniel. “NFL Considers Creating a Streaming Service of Its Own.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 28 Mar. 2022, theathletic.com/3213873/2022/03/28/nfl-considers-creating-a-streaming-service-of-its-own/. Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena With Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/. Weprin, Alex. “With $100B NFL Deal, TV Networks Keep One Foot In the Bundle and Another in Streaming.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/nfl-tv-streaming-analysis-4153564/.
Consumption of sports media has changed over the last decade. Technology and streaming have not only opened the door for TV shows and movies to move to this alternative format, but it has now carried over into sports media as well. In today’s society, the primary reason that cable television is still thriving is because of major sports broadcasting contracts. They are signed with network television stations including CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX, which will attract the most household viewers. The landscape is now changing and instead of resorting to traditional media, people are beginning to adapt to a streaming era that appears to be on the horizon.
One of the most recent announcements came during the MLB lockout when the league partnered with Apple TV+ to stream games exclusively on Friday nights beginning in the 2022 season. It was surprising because the tech giant that Apple never had dipped into sports media rights until this announcement. Rick Porter of The Hollywood Reporter notes that, “Apple will also produce MLB Big Inning, a live show featuring highlights and look-ins to games on every weeknight of the regular season” (Porter). This is a great feature that MLB.TV has introduced in the past. Big Inning is meant to keep fans up to speed with all the action and really helps to show you everything that you need to see from each game night. This deal is a big win for Apple since it will attract more sports fans to their platform for the first time.
Sports media is in somewhat of a transitional phase right now as leagues are making new or additional deals to their current media packages. This happened with the NHL as they moved on from NBC and announced that ESPN/ABC and TNT would acquire all media coverage beginning in the 2021-22 season. Specifically, for ESPN, this also helps them with their streaming mindset. They acquired the NHL.TV package, so now you can stream every single out-of-market game on ESPN+, which is a huge bonus for NHL fans around the country. Sean Shapiro of The Athletic reports that, “ESPN treats the ESPN+ exclusives with the same care that they treat a traditional television game. ESPN doesn’t share streaming numbers — it’s a Disney policy — but stated that these ESPN+ exclusives have driven subscriptions and hockey viewership within the platform throughout the season” (Shapiro). It was a huge move to have hockey go back to ESPN and join TNT, as these are two distinguished sports media networks that have become a successful “power play” for the league’s coverage.
The NFL is also beginning another long-term media rights deal that is finally branching into the streaming landscape, something that I believe was a risky but also logical decision for the league. Amazon has been announced as the new home of Thursday Night Football beginning in the 2022 season, meaning this is a streaming option only. Alex Sherman of CNBC confirmed that in the deal, Amazon “became the first all-streaming provider to agree to carry a weekly package of National Football League games. The technology giant is paying $1 billion per season for the exclusive rights” (Sherman). With this deal being spread out over an 11-year stretch, it shows that the NFL is committed to their media partners with an interest in streaming going forward.
Over the next 3-5 years, I believe streaming will continue to grow more. This is a “free trial” in media terms to test out how consumers will react to this new alternative format. In that window of time, I still believe that sports on cable television will remain intact primarily with RSNs and national TV games still bringing in viewership, but it’s inevitable that streaming is going to occur more frequently going forward across major sports.
Works Cited
Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/
Shapiro, Sean. “ESPN's NHL TV Rights Deal Previews the Future of American Sports Broadcasting Landscape.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2022, https://theathletic.com/3130968/2022/02/26/espns-nhl-tv-rights-deal-previews-the-future-of-american-sports-broadcasting-landscape/
Sherman, Alex. “Amazon's Exclusive 'Thursday Night Football' Package Will Begin in 2022 Instead of 2023.” CNBC, CNBC, 3 May 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/03/amazons-thursday-night-football-package-will-begin-in-2022-instead-of-2023.html
The sports world could be by far the largest consumer of the social media platforms out there. I asked my parents, who are avid sports fans, if they feel that sports media has changed. They told me how they would have to wait to see scores in the local newspaper growing up. The sports section of the printed newspaper was very special. Not only did it give national scores, but also local scores. As kids growing up, they said it would be cool to see your name or your friends name in the paper the next day, especially if you scored the winning goal. Fast forward to today, where the winning goal happens, and its instantly tweeted across social media in real time. Real time action, real time fan response, and real time reactions. We can ask the question; Is printed media still needed for things like sports? I would argue that the daily reporting of sports news in traditional papers is no longer needed, but that printed magazines and feature stories is still an in-demand a market. If you are a sports fan, this is a great time for you, there is online betting, sports are available 24/7 at your fingertips even if you are on a plane. What is important to note here is that platforms matter today to the sports fan, and the options are endless. Apple TV is one of the most recent streaming platforms to enter the Major League Baseball market. The streamer has struck a rights deal with the MLB to carry a weekly doubleheader of games on Fridays, starting with the 2022 season. (Porter) This is an example of how sports will rely more heavily on the platforms they deliver content from, moving away from traditional media. Sports content extends beyond just the games but includes pre- and postgame shows, and social media outlets for sports statistics and fan commentary. In the next three to five years, I think you will see platform use become very competitive among the major brands like the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA. I know many of us follow sports on different platforms, whether it be our favorite team on Twitter or scores on ESPN app, this simultaneous consumption is what is killing traditional media, they just cannot keep up. Sports is driven by professional athletes, high performing teams, fans and most importantly profit. Fans will generally buy into any platform just to see their favorite sports team; this is the future. I see networks spending millions in the near future to promote products that sports fans crave. Products that are driven by fans and statistics. If a fantasy football magazine isn’t selling, you may not see it in the shelf. If there is a fantasy football app or even YouTube channel, you may see that skyrocket in popularity. Stay tuned, the sports section of the newspaper is basically getting a facelift into the mobile social media world.
Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-12-12/mls-playoffs-set-up-the-league-for-a-big-payday-from-streaming-services?utm_medium=email&%3Butm_source=newsletter&%3Butm_term=211219&%3Butm_campaign=screentime. DiMengo, Nick. 10 Ways Social Media Ruined Sports. 22 Mar. 2016, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2626562-10-times-social-media-ruined-sports. Pompliano, Joseph. “Traditional Sports Media Is Dying a Slow Death.” Traditional Sports Media Is Dying A Slow Death, Huddle Up, 7 Aug. 2020, https://huddleup.substack.com/p/traditional-sports-media-is-dying?s=r. Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/#!
Robert Fritz Sports media has changed a lot over the years, and it is showing no signs of slowing down as announcers are getting contracts that of NFL and MLB free agents. This is just one of the ways the sports media landscape is changing, and another is how we are watching our favorites sports and teams. Major League Baseball reached a deal with Apple TV to carry a weakly double header of games on Fridays starting this upcoming season (Porter) and they aren’t the only non-traditional service to carry live sporting events as Amazon Prime will have exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football. The way we consume are sports are changing as the channels on the TV are carrying less and less and the streaming services are carrying more and more. Just look at the NHL and their deal with ESPN “The ESPN-NHL deal is also providing a glimpse into the future for other American sports fans, who may have missed this preview, or warning, by not paying attention to what’s happened with European soccer viewership. Future TV deals for other sports leagues will — or already do in the case of the NFL and Amazon — have streaming exclusives built-in and will continue to be a pressing point for networks.” (Shapiro). Sports media hasn’t reached its tipping point yet in its reliance on traditional and legacy media. But I do think over the next five years it will and it is large part to social media. Now games will still be telecasted on traditional and legacy media but outside of live sports that is where the issue lies. The issue really stems back to the talking heads on these channels who talk the same three to four topics everyday and the only goal is to see who can talk the loudest. We live in an age where you can find someone talking about something that you want to hear about within seconds. Having these capabilities why sit around and wait and hope to see if one of these talking heads brings on these legacy and traditional media bring up something you want to hear. The changes in sports media that I expect is what I’ve been seeing recently which is every streaming platform will do whatever it takes to get live sports, and that people will turn to YouTube and podcasts to hear a nuanced conversation about their favorite topics and not an over the top highly produced segment where nothing of value is being discussed.
Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/
Shapiro, Sean. “ESPN's NHL TV Rights Deal Previews the Future of American Sports Broadcasting Landscape.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2022, https://theathletic.com/3130968/2022/02/26/espns-nhl-tv-rights-deal-previews-the-future-of-american-sports-broadcasting-landscape/
Sports media has seen a drastic shift in the past few years in its connection to traditional media. And this can be directly traced to the rise of streaming platforms. Sports media is no longer seeing the same numbers and viewers it once did on live television. Shows that broadcast directly after live games that dive into a play-by-play of what went well during the game and what didn’t have seen a steady decrease. This is because a large population of sports fans no longer tune in live. They have switched over to streaming because it allows them to watch the game on their own time. And many have lost interest in sports in general because they have grown accustomed to being able to watch things on demand. So, when they miss the game and hear about it the next day, there is less interest in watching it. As mentioned in the article titled “The Sports Industry’s Gen Z Problem” from morningconsult.com “While 42 percent of all adults, and 50 percent of millennials, said they watch live sports at least once a week, only 1 in 4 individuals ages 13-23 said the same. In addition, Gen Zers were twice as likely as millennials to say they “never” watch live sports (Silverman, 2020).” The article talks about the shift from live sports to esports and the disinterest that Gen Z has in sports as of recently. While this can be attributed to the time commitment, there are other factors. Personally, I have seen a decrease in interest as a result of the pandemic. Sports were shut down temporarily, and people began to realize they didn’t miss it as much as they expected to. When they started up again, people didn’t have the same excitement or interest in watching because they got so used to not watching.
Although streaming is not always ideal because usually the results of the games are publicly displayed the day after, there are many platforms that have added sports games to their library and have seen success. Soccer is an example of a sport that gained success as a result of streaming. As mentioned in the article “How Soccer Became Every Streaming Service’s Favorite Sport” from Bloomberg.com “Soccer has become the go-to sports property of the streaming era. ViacomCBS's Paramount+ has a wide array of matches, including the UEFA Champions League and Italy's Serie A. Peacock has the English Premier League, which NBC just renewed for more than $2.5 billion. ESPN+ has MLS, Spain’s La Liga and others (Shaw, 2021).” The reason soccer is so successful is because the competing sports have not yet switched to streaming platforms. By making the sport available, it drives more attention. It drives general sports fans that want to watch a game on demand and creates a new fan as a result. Because it is so readily available, people become more open to watching it. An article from theringer.com titled “Live Sports Are the Next Great Battle of the Streaming Wars” argues that as more and more sprots see the success that soccer received on streaming wars, they are slowly warming up to the new platform. The article states “Streaming is no different: a crowded and lucrative marketplace where new players, even ones backed by massive corporations, have to jostle their way in, and established presences have to actively maintain their edge. Given that Netflix and its peers have largely focused on building up an alternative to live viewing rather than breaking into the market themselves, that leaves an obvious vacuum for younger services to fill (Herman, 2021).” This article talks about the different deals that have been made recently that is creating the new direction of sports and sports media. It talks about the recent success with deals such as NFL TV and Amazon. This ties into what I think the next three years will look like for sports media. I believe that more networks and leagues will become more open to streaming, and sports will rely significantly more on streaming views than live TV. Although not everyone will watch it at the same time, there will still be the same hype and comradery around the games, just in a way that allows eve4ryone to watch it on THEIR time. The future of sports tv is streaming.
Works Cited
Herman, Alison. “Live Sports Are the next Great Battle of the Streaming Wars.” The Ringer, The Ringer, 15 Apr. 2021, https://www.theringer.com/sports/2021/4/15/22385705/live-sports-streaming-wars-future-industry. “The Sports Industry's Gen z Problem.” Morning Consult, 29 Sept. 2020, https://morningconsult.com/2020/09/28/gen-z-poll-sports-fandom/. “How Soccer Became Every Streaming Service’s Favorite Sport.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-12-12/mls-playoffs-set-up-the-league-for-a-big-payday-from-streaming-services?utm_medium=email&%3Butm_source=newsletter&%3Butm_term=211219&%3Butm_campaign=screentime.
It is time to face the facts that streaming is taking over the world. The era of cable networks is coming to an end. The same is said about sports media coverage across online platforms. Sports media has made a significant transition from being on traditional media networks. Granted, there are still some major cable and broadcast networks that broadcast many popular games. However, streaming has taken over sports viewership. Many streaming services have been created or services buying rights to different leagues. According to The Athletic, ”The NFL is developing a subscription streaming service that would include games, radio, podcasts, and team content” (Kaplan). That would be huge for the NFL to have exclusive games on their network, and that would be all money gained for them. When it comes to baseball, one company jumped into the sports field. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “The streamer has struck a rights deal with Major League Baseball to carry a weekly doubleheader of games on Fridays” (Porter). That company would, of course, be Apple getting the rights for Apple TV. Finally, with the NHL striking a massive deal with ESPN, ESPN has become the home for hockey. According to the New York Post, “During the regular season, there will be 75 exclusive games on ESPN+ and Hulu” (Marchand). This shows that all the professional sports leagues are striking deals with streaming services that will generate a lot of revenue.
This new philosophy brings up a good point about what will happen in the coming years for sports media? With changes like converting games from live TV to streaming, we should expect many changes. There have been several ideas that have been getting tested for a bit now. ESPN had the Manning show for ten games this past season for Monday Night Football. According to Variety, “Media companies see the format as one of the creative steps that networks and streamers must take to squeeze profits out of increasingly sky-high sports rights” (Steinberg). They are testing ideas for one sport to try to expand to multiple sports on streaming services. Also, we could see the change in almost every sport is available on a streaming service. We could see that change very soon with the dip in viewership for broadcast and cable networks. Sports may have been one of the few things to increase with cable. However, people will be getting rid of cable soon. Sports seem to be targeting the young adult audience, which is why we see a transformation in streaming. According to Morning Consult, “Between 2010 and 2018, the North American sports market grew more than 40 percent from $49.9 billion to $71.1 billion” (Silverman). I think it is fair to say that we will see a drastic amount of changes; however, at least they will be good changes.
Kaplan, Daniel. “NFL Considers Creating a Streaming Service of Its Own.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 28 Mar. 2022
Marchand, Andrew. “NHL Embraces Future with $2.8 Billion ESPN Deal.” New York Post, New York Post, 11 Mar. 2021
Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022
“The Sports Industry's Gen z Problem.” Morning Consult, 29 Sept. 2020
Steinberg, Brian. “Inside the Manningcast: How ESPN and Two Football Brothers Are Transforming Sports TV.” Variety, Variety, 10 Feb. 2022
Sports media has changed quite drastically over the past few years, and it will continue to do so. Much of this change has been a result of streaming services. Many sports are actually now shifting towards/being bought by streaming services, which has led to a decrease in subscriber accounts for legacy multichannel bundles. It’s estimated that subscriber count is down to 20 million, which was at a previously predicted 40-50 million subscriber count. (Szalai). Due to streaming services now containing sports, they are “stealing” subscribers from legacy bundles. However, stealing isn’t quite accurate since the sports industry itself is highly investing in streaming services. They may be losing subscribers in cable and legacy bundles, but they are gaining them in the streaming services. (Szalai). The sports industry does have a good reason for doing this, that reason being Gen Zers. Gen Zers are not as into sports as the other generations that came before them. In fact, Gen Zers are less likely to consider themselves as sports fans. “Gen Zers are half as likely as millennials to watch live sports regularly and twice as likely to never watch.” (Silverman). This is in part because many Gen Zers don’t use cable, so they don’t have access to sports. What they do have instead is streaming services, hence the need for sports to start shifting towards streaming services in order to gain younger fans. (Silverman). There’s also been a shift in which sports that Gen Zers do watch, with esports growing in popularity among this generation. One of the reasons for this is because many esports athletes are very active on social media and engage a lot with their fans, which makes them even more popular among them. Because of this, the sports industry (especially the NHL) are now encouraging their athletes to do the same. (Silverman). It’s no longer enough to just play on the screen, athletes are going to need to start engaging with their fans in order to gain more among generation Z.
I do expect sports media to change quite a bit over the next few years. I do expect different sport leagues to shift more towards streaming, to a point where it even becomes too expanded. The sports industry might spread themselves too thin depending on how many streaming services they own, which might force them at some point to try to consolidate all their sports somehow. On streaming services, I also expect to see sports being offered but on a higher, “premium” tier. (Szalai). With the shift towards streaming, I do expect subscriber count to decrease even more with legacy bundles. I also think athletes will start to be more engaging on social media since that’s of high importance for Gen Zers, and that’s the generation the sports industry is struggling to gain popularity in. It will also be important to be active on social media for Gen Alpha as well. That said, it’s not just athletes that should be active on social media. Gen Zers, in this new fast paced society, have a shorter attention span and are not interested in watching a full game. Instead, they are much more likely to watch highlights on social media. (Mons). So with this in mind, I do expect in the next few years a lot of emphasis will be put on social media and on shorter, highlighted videos. I don’t think sports will completely shift towards social media and highlight reels, there’s still a big enough audience that watches full games, but I do think they’ll be more of it.
Szalai, Georg. “Wall Street Reacts to NFL Deals: ‘the End of the Bundle as We Know It’?” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/wall-street-reacts-to-nfl-deals-the-end-of-the-bundle-as-we-know-it-4153327/. Silverman, Alex. “The Sports Industry’s Gen Z Problem” Morning Consult, Morning Consult, 28 Sept. 2020 Mons, Jan Kees. “6 Powerful Trends in Sports Media and Broadcasting.” Sport Tomorrow, 10 Mar. 2021, https://sporttomorrow.com/6-main-trends-in-sports-media-and-broadcasting/#4_New_platforms_will_come_to_the_fore.
Sarah Lefkowitz It is time to face it. Streaming is king. It has already basically taken over the music and entertainment industries, and it is really overtaking the sports world. Certain games and even sports themselves, are now exclusive to specific streamers. Sports is one of the most profitable but expensive markets. Mass amounts of audiences want to watch these games, which is huge to advertisers and the networks and services themselves. Live sports are starting to be pulled off traditional media and placed on streaming services. This become such a popular shift that the NFL is considering even starting their own streamer. “The NFL has distributed live games for free through mobile devices and on Yahoo for tablets and laptops, but these deals have expired. In the future, it appears if fans on the go want to stream games on their phone and they don’t have a cable subscription, they will need to pay for what is tentatively called NFL Plus” (Kaplan). If the NFL can make a profit off their highly in-demand games, why wouldn’t they? It makes complete sense that the NFL would want their games on their own service. It means no competition and huge profits for the NFL. Why should Yahoo and cable networks stream games if the NFL can do it internally? I know if this does become a running service, my dad will have no choice but to purchase, as he is a huge football fan. He is of course, not alone in this. Millions of people would flock to the NFL, like they do for TV’s biggest night- Super Bowl, and it would be an absolutely huge money maker. I expect that more leagues / sports / maybe even teams, will create their own exclusive streamers too. Niche audiences want their niche programming and will move to a new service to get it.
Before any new streaming services come about, pre-exisiting services are continuing to poach the exclusive rights to sports. I think this will definitely continue. The NHL, for example, was looking to get away from NBC, so it moved to ESPN. “The league was looking to get away from NBC with hopes of getting both a better payday, which it did, and getting the sport back onto platforms that help drive sports conversation beyond the traditional hockey fan” (Shapiro). I expect that other sports will take this lead. Games that are on networks are oversaturated by the other programming on those networks. If games are on more niche services, fans can be more engaged in the content, plus what league is going to turn down a higher payout?
I think one last shift we will see in the next 3-5 years is more sports content going international. Soccer is one sport that really has international reach and another sport that is starting to go international is baseball. Apple just landed a deal with the MLB to put on Friday night games for the 2022 season. Games will be available to Apple TV+ users in the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Kingdom. Baseball has a special place in the heart of so many Apple customers — not just in the United States, but in many countries around the world” (Porter). Of course the MLB is based here in the US and Canada, but baseball is played all over the world. Now baseball fans all over the world will get to watch the MLB with Apple TV+. I think this will definitely be a trend with other sports. More reach means more audiences and more money. More games will definitely start to get international coverage over the next few years. Kaplan, Daniel. “NFL Considers Creating a Streaming Service of Its Own.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 28 Mar. 2022, https://theathletic.com/3213873/2022/03/28/nfl-considers-creating-a-streaming-service-of-its-own/. Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/. Shapiro, Sean. “ESPN's NHL TV Rights Deal Previews the Future of American Sports Broadcasting Landscape.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2022, https://theathletic.com/3130968/2022/02/26/espns-nhl-tv-rights-deal-previews-the-future-of-american-sports-broadcasting-landscape/.
Sports media has reached a tipping point in its reliance on traditional legacy media. Since a lot of people at home no longer rely on cable to get their sports, a lot of people are turning to streaming. When you buy a streaming package you have access to all of your sports channels all in one hub. The NFL is considering making their own streaming service. Their streaming service would really be detrimental to cable networks like NBC. NBC relies on the football season because that is where they get most of their viewership along with other original programming. “The NFL is developing a subscription streaming service that would include games, radio, podcasts and team content. Teams were briefed on the development at the annual NFL owners’ meetings occurring in Palm Beach, Fla(Szalai).” Having the NFL making its own streaming service would be good, but then comes the game of which streaming service will it be an add on too? Right now the winning streaming service is Disney plus. So making the NFL plus a Disney plus exclusive would be a move that would be understandable. On its own the NFL streaming service will of course survive, but standing with something as big as disney that is a lucrative deal for both parties. “What we thought was a 40-50 million subscribers floor due to the NFL is probably now closer to 20 million, as more and more marquee sports content (especially NFL content) becomes available outside the legacy multichannel bundle(Kaplan).” Streaming is taking over the world as we know it. In reality the NFL at least trying to develop their own streaming service should have been seen for a long time now. In the next 3-5 years I see that all sports will be on streaming and have their own services. But I do believe that having all the sports under one shared platform will be ideal. What might end up happening is that when the NFL season is over people will cancel their subscriptions and turn over to basketball hockey etc. The NBA has announced that they will be doing a streaming deal with sinclair. “After all, Sinclair was looking for additional financing to fund its Diamond Sports subsidiary. The NBA realized that Diamond, which operates the Bally Sports RSNs, would not get that financing until it secured a multiyear deal that would allow it to stream the games of 16 NBA teams(Ourand).” With this deal the NBA might have to help them out financially but will also be a risk. Maybe going a safer route with adding a streaming service to disney may be a safer option.
Kaplan, Daniel. “NFL Considers Creating a Streaming Service of Its Own.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 28 Mar. 2022, https://theathletic.com/3213873/2022/03/28/nfl-considers-creating-a-streaming-service-of-its-own/. Ourand, John. “Sports Media: An inside Look at the NBA's Streaming Deal with Sinclair.” Sports Business Journal, https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2022/03/07/Insiders/Sports-media.aspx. Szalai, Georg. “Wall Street Reacts to NFL Deals: ‘the End of the Bundle as We Know It’?” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/wall-street-reacts-to-nfl-deals-the-end-of-the-bundle-as-we-know-it-4153327/.
In a world where television is drastically changing, for now, sports are continually putting up numbers for cable and broadcast TV. With top networks like NBC having the rights to the NFL, could we see a possible switch from broadcast to their streaming service Peacock all together? With the older generation still watching Sunday Night Football on NBC, sports will continue to carry the views for television. Saying that, sports are now being seen on streaming services, like the NFL and The English Premier League being on Peacock, only having one or two games on television. It all comes down to whichever strategy makes the most money, soccer is becoming every streamers top sport, and Apple is making a streaming deal with the MLB. The Major League Soccer concluded its most watched year since it’s deal with Walt Disney Co. and Univision Communications Inc back in 2015. The deal ends in 2022, with dozens of companies already expressing interest in the league. (Shaw) Soccer is growing rapidly in the US, with Peacock renewing their EPL deal for more than $2.5 billion. (Shaw) Subscribers for Paramount+ grew substantially since they announced they will be streaming the UEFA Champions League, the biggest club soccer tournament in Europe. With access to European games being difficult, having the top European leagues on streaming services in the US, means soccer fans have access to more games. World Soccer Talk stated on a typical Saturday, fan have access to over 75 professional games from all over the world. (Shaw) This is because of streaming services, it allows fans to watch any game they want from the top leagues, and it allows brings in subscribers for the services, so it’s a win, win for everyone.
Apple TV+ has made the decision to join the live sports business. This is a great decision from the tech giant as sports are still the benchmark for views in the US. The MLB is also one of the most viewed sports in the US, so making a deal to stream weekly doubleheader of games on Fridays will bring in subscribers. (Porter) This deal is great not only for them, but for the MLB as the games will be available all around the world, from the US, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, etc. Baseball is becoming a worldwide sport, so promoting the biggest league is great business from both Apple and the MLB. The MLB’s licensed to many networks which could make it difficult or fans to afford and keep attention to. Running into these troubles could lead to potential viewership dropping, as well as contract separations. For now, sports are still thriving on television, but with streaming services taking a firm grip on entertainment content, we could soon see sports only restricted to streaming services. Sport is a major business that generates billions of dollars. The reason we don’t see major sporting leagues using their own network is because of the profits they make on broadcasts deals. One thing we could see in the future is putting fans closer to the games. We are already seeing new camera’s which are aimed at bringing the fan closer to the game and atmosphere from home. Innovations like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are something we could see in sports, bringing the fans to the sidelines of the games. (Comcast) The future is endless for sports and networks. It all comes down to which will make the most money. Streaming services are buying more rights to sports, which could mean we are seeing the end of television. Shaw, Lucas. “How Soccer Became Every Streaming Service’s Favorite Sport.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 12 Dec. 2021, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-12-12/mls-playoffs-set-up-the-league-for-a-big-payday-from-streaming-services?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=211219&utm_campaign=screentime. Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/. “How Streaming Is Changing the Future of Sports.” Comcast SportsTech, 10 Mar. 2021, https://www.comcastsportstech.com/inside-track/how-streaming-is-changing-the-future-of-sports/.
We have seen drastic changes over the years when it comes to the way we consumer sports through the media. Years ago, sports were watched entirely through cable television and were broadcast on certain days. Now different sports are displayed on streaming services and consumers are more aware of this transition, making them more inclined to view through streaming platforms. For example, ESPN just recently secured national rights to the NHL through the A Package, creating a symbolic relationship between both companies. This relationship also allows ESPN to create a schedule of traditional television coverage directing their priorities towards consumers (Shapiro). This increases ratings for both companies and prioritizes the consumers' needs as the world continues to evolve. The transition to streaming has allowed for more creativity within content and companies are branching out of traditional broadcasts. ESPN is switching up their traditional “Monday Night Football” broadcast, to include chats with former athletes and segments of live banter and crosstalk (Steinberg). Fans are hooked on these new segments and The Mannings have captured on average 13% of the total audience of “Monday Night Football” (Steinberg). These new additions in streaming are keeping fans entertained and helping media evolve into a more interactive and creative environment. As we have seen how streaming is impacting certain genres of sports, I would say it is safe to say that streaming is the future for live sports. There are many opportunities for sports to branch out of its traditional content when intertwined with streaming. Though this transition will not happen overnight due to many factors involving right costs, consumers prices, tv network long standings, etc., it is something to be aware of and look for in the future (Weissbrot). These large tech and streaming companies are getting more attention and power, and will start to take over in the next couple of years.
Alison Weissbrot March 24, 2021. (n.d.). The future of sports is streaming. Campaign US. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.campaignlive.com/article/future-sports-streaming/1710912 Shapiro, S. (2022, February 26). ESPN's NHL TV rights deal previews the future of American Sports Broadcasting Landscape. The Athletic. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://theathletic.com/3130968/2022/02/26/espns-nhl-tv-rights-deal-previews-the-future-of-american-sports-broadcasting-landscape/ Steinberg, B. (2022, February 10). Inside the manningcast: How ESPN and two Football Brothers Are Transforming Sports TV. Variety. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://variety.com/2022/sports/features/espn-manningcast-superbowl-sports-tv-ratings-1235175580/#recipient_hashed=62dfc0b27ad1de67d64a0c44fb55f17fe8a7cd610e9d3f50edf2cced899812f7
Part 1 As time moves on, it’s clear the viewing of sports has been a major part of cable since the first televised sporting event a little over 80 years ago. Now, we are in the 2020s, and towards the end of a two-year pandemic where streaming services engulfed the world entirely. Cable has always kept a grip on sports events, but that grip may be loosening. One of the biggest examples is, America’s pastime, baseball. Apple TV+, amid the MLB lockout struck a major deal that can change the way we view baseball. According to the Hollywood Reporter, “The MLB deal is the first foray into live sports for Apple TV+. Its Friday Night Baseball package will feature two weekly matchups along with pre- and postgame shows, with no local blackouts. Apple will also produce MLB Big Inning, a live show featuring highlights and look-ins to games on every weeknight of the regular season” (Porter). This was the push forward Apple needed to get their streaming service to compete with the larger platforms, such as Hulu, Disney+ and Netflix. One of the issues that has carried over to streaming services is the fact that sports like football are aired on different channels, depending on the day. Now, depending on the day, certain NFL games are aired on different streaming services. This in fact could change in the near future. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “The overall takeaway is that the NFL is following the path we have seen first in scripted TV, then original films, followed by kids and unscripted content, and increasingly news and now sports. In essence, the industry is devaluing the linear bundle and investing aggressively in individual streaming services. This has led to increased levels of cord-cutting but rapid uptake in streaming” (Szalai).
Part 2 These major changes in big American sports are changing the game for viewers and are just the beginning. The question that comes to hand is; What’s going become of sports viewership within the next 5 years? Well, I think it’s going basically be exactly the way it was on cable, but rather TV channels, it's going to be streaming services. One big change was amazon buying the rights to Thursday night football. According to The Ringer, Last month, the relatively dry business of NFL TV rights made headlines for one specific reason: Amazon had secured exclusive rights to 15 Thursday Night Football games as part of its Prime Video service for the next decade, starting with the 2023 season” (Herman). I think overtime certain services will pertain to certain sports. For example, Apple could obtain more rights to MLB than just Fridays. Amazon could obtain more rights to NFL games, than just Thursdays. If they have the money to buy it, why not. For now, we stuck in this conflicting state of sports where you pick and choose to watch on cable, a streaming service or if you can’t get either, an illegal streaming site with super weird and obscure advertisements.
Herman, Alison. “Live Sports Are the next Great Battle of the Streaming Wars.” The Ringer, The Ringer, 15 Apr. 2021, https://www.theringer.com/sports/2021/4/15/22385705/live-sports-streaming-wars-future-industry. Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/. Szalai, Georg. “Wall Street Reacts to NFL Deals: ‘the End of the Bundle as We Know It’?” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/wall-street-reacts-to-nfl-deals-the-end-of-the-bundle-as-we-know-it-4153327/.
I think we have seen a drastic difference in the way we view sports media. Technology has had a significant impact on how we consume sports media. Prior to streaming, we watched sports through our cable television providers. Streaming has taken over society and has shifted how we watch television and sports media. I think we will consume sports media through streaming platforms in the future. Many consumers have shifted to streaming and sport organizations are aware of this change in consumer behavior.
ReplyDeleteRecently, the MLS has seen a change in the way they decide to stream their games. The MLS has decided to sell all of its broadcast rights at once, “This means one media or tech giant could end up being the home of MLS matches for local, national and international audiences, instead of the usual practice of dividing rights among different broadcasters” (Shaw). Soccer has seen a recent uptick in the number of consumers watching their games. This means that the MLS is also seeing a rise in their revenue. Last year, the UEFA Champions League was played on Paramount+. This caused, “…Paramount+ sign-ups to more than triple” (Shaw). This shows that people are willing to subscribe to a platform to watch soccer. The MLS is also taking a gamble to sell all of their rights to a media giant. MLS sees a future in streaming and thinks it will be beneficial to their performance. It will be interesting to see who buys the rights to MLS in the future.
The MLB has also struck a deal with Apple TV+. Apple TV+ has an agreement with the MLB to stream weekly doubleheader games on Fridays during the 2022 season. This is the first sports deal for Apple TV+. In addition to streaming the doubleheaders, “Apple will also produce MLB Big Inning, a live show featuring highlights and look-ins to games on every weeknight of the regular season” (Porter). Many people watch baseball, so it will be interesting to see how many fans subscribe to Apple TV+ for this exclusive baseball content. This exclusive content will drive many people to the platform and connect international audiences to watch MLB baseball.
The NFL has also transitioned to streaming. Thursday Night Football games will be streamed through Amazon. Thursday night football games cannot be seen through cable television. If consumers want to watch these games, they will need to get an Amazon subscription. Alex Perry from Mashable stated, “It’s an 11-year agreement between Amazon and the NFL which sees the Bezos empire shelling out $1 billion annually for the privilege of streaming just 15 regular games a season” (Perry). This is a particularly long agreement, which makes me think that the NFL is invested in streaming platforms. In the future, the NFL may exclusively play their games through streaming services.
Over the next 3-5 years, I think we will see many streaming platforms slowly obtaining control over sport organizations. Sport organizations are seeing the future of streaming and slowly moving content over to them. I think streaming platforms and sports organizations are starting off with baby steps to see the response of consumers. If there are positive responses, I think we will see a full transition of sports media streaming. Consumers will have to get subscriptions to the platforms that their favorite sports teams play on.
Works Cited
DeletePerry, Alex. “Apple and Amazon Are Changing the Way We Watch Live Sports.” Mashable, Mashable, 22 Mar. 2022, https://mashable.com/article/amazon-apple-live-sports-streaming-nfl-mlb.
Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/.
Shaw, Lucas. “How Soccer Became Every Streaming Service’s Favorite Sport.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 12 Dec. 2021, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-12-12/mls-playoffs-set-up-the-league-for-a-big-payday-from-streaming-services?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=211219&utm_campaign=screentime.
Hannah Berkel
ReplyDeletePersonally, I do think sports media has reached a tipping point in its reliance on traditional media. Although there are still major networks that have deals with different sports leagues to broadcast their games on traditional media, streaming is the way of the future. Since the Super Bowl this year was on NBC, NBCUniversal used that opportunity to really promote their streaming service, Peacock, and they had the game streaming on Peacock. Other platforms such as Hulu also stream live games at times. ESPN+ is the only streaming service dedicated to just sports and athletes so far. The platform offers live games from the MLB, NHL, and MLS, but no NBA or NFL (Hastings). Even then, the platform has local blackouts which can be frustrating to viewers who pay for the service. It will be interesting to see how this shifts as Apple TV + has recently struck up a deal with the MLB.
When I first heard about the deal between the MLB and Apple TV +, I was pretty surprised. I did not picture Apple TV + making a deal like this, since they have not done live streams before. This deal includes a weekly doubleheader of Friday night games without any local blackouts (Porter). However, I do think this was a smart move on Apple’s part. People around the globe enjoy baseball, so their audience is not limited. The fact that they have promised that there will not be any local blackouts of the broadcast of the game is also appealing. Not to mention, Apple TV+ has not had a lot of success yet as it is still a newer streaming platform and this deal can potentially bring in a large quantity of new subscribers.
As someone who does not really follow sports, I have a hard time predicting what will come in the next few years. Personally, I am surprised that major sports leagues have not launched their own streaming services yet. I would not be surprised to see NFL+ come to fruition. They would be smart to have a low subscription cost and include games, podcasts, radio broadcasts, and team content (Kaplan). The NFL has a huge impact on viewers, however they are at a disadvantage due to the fact that not many people outside of the United States care about American football. Although there is a huge fanbase in the U.S., they would have to find a way to expand globally. However, I am a little surprised to hear that this idea is being floated around, considering that last year there was a $100 billion deal made between the NFL and Disney, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, and Fox (Weprin). Since these companies signed onto this deal for both the possibility of cable and streaming access to their games, it would interesting to see whether NFL+ would be the only place games are viewable. It would also be interesting to see how it impacts the Super Bowl, as there is a rotation on what channel broadcasts the game each year.
Works Cited
Hastings, Nick. “ESPN : All Your Questions Answered about ESPN's Streaming Service.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 10 Dec. 2021, www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/what-is-espn-plus.
Kaplan, Daniel. “NFL Considers Creating a Streaming Service of Its Own.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 28 Mar. 2022, theathletic.com/3213873/2022/03/28/nfl-considers-creating-a-streaming-service-of-its-own/.
Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena With Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/.
Weprin, Alex. “With $100B NFL Deal, TV Networks Keep One Foot In the Bundle and Another in Streaming.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/nfl-tv-streaming-analysis-4153564/.
Benjamin Upson
ReplyDeleteConsumption of sports media has changed over the last decade. Technology and streaming have not only opened the door for TV shows and movies to move to this alternative format, but it has now carried over into sports media as well. In today’s society, the primary reason that cable television is still thriving is because of major sports broadcasting contracts. They are signed with network television stations including CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX, which will attract the most household viewers. The landscape is now changing and instead of resorting to traditional media, people are beginning to adapt to a streaming era that appears to be on the horizon.
One of the most recent announcements came during the MLB lockout when the league partnered with Apple TV+ to stream games exclusively on Friday nights beginning in the 2022 season. It was surprising because the tech giant that Apple never had dipped into sports media rights until this announcement. Rick Porter of The Hollywood Reporter notes that, “Apple will also produce MLB Big Inning, a live show featuring highlights and look-ins to games on every weeknight of the regular season” (Porter). This is a great feature that MLB.TV has introduced in the past. Big Inning is meant to keep fans up to speed with all the action and really helps to show you everything that you need to see from each game night. This deal is a big win for Apple since it will attract more sports fans to their platform for the first time.
Sports media is in somewhat of a transitional phase right now as leagues are making new or additional deals to their current media packages. This happened with the NHL as they moved on from NBC and announced that ESPN/ABC and TNT would acquire all media coverage beginning in the 2021-22 season. Specifically, for ESPN, this also helps them with their streaming mindset. They acquired the NHL.TV package, so now you can stream every single out-of-market game on ESPN+, which is a huge bonus for NHL fans around the country. Sean Shapiro of The Athletic reports that, “ESPN treats the ESPN+ exclusives with the same care that they treat a traditional television game. ESPN doesn’t share streaming numbers — it’s a Disney policy — but stated that these ESPN+ exclusives have driven subscriptions and hockey viewership within the platform throughout the season” (Shapiro). It was a huge move to have hockey go back to ESPN and join TNT, as these are two distinguished sports media networks that have become a successful “power play” for the league’s coverage.
Benjamin Upson Part 2
DeleteThe NFL is also beginning another long-term media rights deal that is finally branching into the streaming landscape, something that I believe was a risky but also logical decision for the league. Amazon has been announced as the new home of Thursday Night Football beginning in the 2022 season, meaning this is a streaming option only. Alex Sherman of CNBC confirmed that in the deal, Amazon “became the first all-streaming provider to agree to carry a weekly package of National Football League games. The technology giant is paying $1 billion per season for the exclusive rights” (Sherman). With this deal being spread out over an 11-year stretch, it shows that the NFL is committed to their media partners with an interest in streaming going forward.
Over the next 3-5 years, I believe streaming will continue to grow more. This is a “free trial” in media terms to test out how consumers will react to this new alternative format. In that window of time, I still believe that sports on cable television will remain intact primarily with RSNs and national TV games still bringing in viewership, but it’s inevitable that streaming is going to occur more frequently going forward across major sports.
Works Cited
Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/
Shapiro, Sean. “ESPN's NHL TV Rights Deal Previews the Future of American Sports Broadcasting Landscape.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2022, https://theathletic.com/3130968/2022/02/26/espns-nhl-tv-rights-deal-previews-the-future-of-american-sports-broadcasting-landscape/
Sherman, Alex. “Amazon's Exclusive 'Thursday Night Football' Package Will Begin in 2022 Instead of 2023.” CNBC, CNBC, 3 May 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/03/amazons-thursday-night-football-package-will-begin-in-2022-instead-of-2023.html
Robert Lyon 1/2
ReplyDeleteThe sports world could be by far the largest consumer of the social media platforms out there. I asked my parents, who are avid sports fans, if they feel that sports media has changed. They told me how they would have to wait to see scores in the local newspaper growing up. The sports section of the printed newspaper was very special. Not only did it give national scores, but also local scores. As kids growing up, they said it would be cool to see your name or your friends name in the paper the next day, especially if you scored the winning goal. Fast forward to today, where the winning goal happens, and its instantly tweeted across social media in real time. Real time action, real time fan response, and real time reactions. We can ask the question; Is printed media still needed for things like sports? I would argue that the daily reporting of sports news in traditional papers is no longer needed, but that printed magazines and feature stories is still an in-demand a market. If you are a sports fan, this is a great time for you, there is online betting, sports are available 24/7 at your fingertips even if you are on a plane. What is important to note here is that platforms matter today to the sports fan, and the options are endless.
Apple TV is one of the most recent streaming platforms to enter the Major League Baseball market. The streamer has struck a rights deal with the MLB to carry a weekly doubleheader of games on Fridays, starting with the 2022 season. (Porter) This is an example of how sports will rely more heavily on the platforms they deliver content from, moving away from traditional media. Sports content extends beyond just the games but includes pre- and postgame shows, and social media outlets for sports statistics and fan commentary. In the next three to five years, I think you will see platform use become very competitive among the major brands like the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA. I know many of us follow sports on different platforms, whether it be our favorite team on Twitter or scores on ESPN app, this simultaneous consumption is what is killing traditional media, they just cannot keep up.
Sports is driven by professional athletes, high performing teams, fans and most importantly profit. Fans will generally buy into any platform just to see their favorite sports team; this is the future. I see networks spending millions in the near future to promote products that sports fans crave. Products that are driven by fans and statistics. If a fantasy football magazine isn’t selling, you may not see it in the shelf. If there is a fantasy football app or even YouTube channel, you may see that skyrocket in popularity. Stay tuned, the sports section of the newspaper is basically getting a facelift into the mobile social media world.
Robert Lyon 2/2
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-12-12/mls-playoffs-set-up-the-league-for-a-big-payday-from-streaming-services?utm_medium=email&%3Butm_source=newsletter&%3Butm_term=211219&%3Butm_campaign=screentime.
DiMengo, Nick. 10 Ways Social Media Ruined Sports. 22 Mar. 2016, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2626562-10-times-social-media-ruined-sports.
Pompliano, Joseph. “Traditional Sports Media Is Dying a Slow Death.” Traditional Sports Media Is Dying A Slow Death, Huddle Up, 7 Aug. 2020, https://huddleup.substack.com/p/traditional-sports-media-is-dying?s=r.
Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/#!
Robert Fritz
ReplyDeleteSports media has changed a lot over the years, and it is showing no signs of slowing down as announcers are getting contracts that of NFL and MLB free agents. This is just one of the ways the sports media landscape is changing, and another is how we are watching our favorites sports and teams. Major League Baseball reached a deal with Apple TV to carry a weakly double header of games on Fridays starting this upcoming season (Porter) and they aren’t the only non-traditional service to carry live sporting events as Amazon Prime will have exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football. The way we consume are sports are changing as the channels on the TV are carrying less and less and the streaming services are carrying more and more. Just look at the NHL and their deal with ESPN “The ESPN-NHL deal is also providing a glimpse into the future for other American sports fans, who may have missed this preview, or warning, by not paying attention to what’s happened with European soccer viewership. Future TV deals for other sports leagues will — or already do in the case of the NFL and Amazon — have streaming exclusives built-in and will continue to be a pressing point for networks.” (Shapiro). Sports media hasn’t reached its tipping point yet in its reliance on traditional and legacy media. But I do think over the next five years it will and it is large part to social media. Now games will still be telecasted on traditional and legacy media but outside of live sports that is where the issue lies. The issue really stems back to the talking heads on these channels who talk the same three to four topics everyday and the only goal is to see who can talk the loudest. We live in an age where you can find someone talking about something that you want to hear about within seconds. Having these capabilities why sit around and wait and hope to see if one of these talking heads brings on these legacy and traditional media bring up something you want to hear. The changes in sports media that I expect is what I’ve been seeing recently which is every streaming platform will do whatever it takes to get live sports, and that people will turn to YouTube and podcasts to hear a nuanced conversation about their favorite topics and not an over the top highly produced segment where nothing of value is being discussed.
Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/
Shapiro, Sean. “ESPN's NHL TV Rights Deal Previews the Future of American Sports Broadcasting Landscape.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2022, https://theathletic.com/3130968/2022/02/26/espns-nhl-tv-rights-deal-previews-the-future-of-american-sports-broadcasting-landscape/
Sydney Lunder 1
ReplyDeleteSports media has seen a drastic shift in the past few years in its connection to traditional media. And this can be directly traced to the rise of streaming platforms. Sports media is no longer seeing the same numbers and viewers it once did on live television. Shows that broadcast directly after live games that dive into a play-by-play of what went well during the game and what didn’t have seen a steady decrease. This is because a large population of sports fans no longer tune in live. They have switched over to streaming because it allows them to watch the game on their own time. And many have lost interest in sports in general because they have grown accustomed to being able to watch things on demand. So, when they miss the game and hear about it the next day, there is less interest in watching it. As mentioned in the article titled “The Sports Industry’s Gen Z Problem” from morningconsult.com “While 42 percent of all adults, and 50 percent of millennials, said they watch live sports at least once a week, only 1 in 4 individuals ages 13-23 said the same. In addition, Gen Zers were twice as likely as millennials to say they “never” watch live sports (Silverman, 2020).” The article talks about the shift from live sports to esports and the disinterest that Gen Z has in sports as of recently. While this can be attributed to the time commitment, there are other factors. Personally, I have seen a decrease in interest as a result of the pandemic. Sports were shut down temporarily, and people began to realize they didn’t miss it as much as they expected to. When they started up again, people didn’t have the same excitement or interest in watching because they got so used to not watching.
Sydney Lunder 2
ReplyDeleteAlthough streaming is not always ideal because usually the results of the games are publicly displayed the day after, there are many platforms that have added sports games to their library and have seen success. Soccer is an example of a sport that gained success as a result of streaming. As mentioned in the article “How Soccer Became Every Streaming Service’s Favorite Sport” from Bloomberg.com “Soccer has become the go-to sports property of the streaming era. ViacomCBS's Paramount+ has a wide array of matches, including the UEFA Champions League and Italy's Serie A. Peacock has the English Premier League, which NBC just renewed for more than $2.5 billion. ESPN+ has MLS, Spain’s La Liga and others (Shaw, 2021).” The reason soccer is so successful is because the competing sports have not yet switched to streaming platforms. By making the sport available, it drives more attention. It drives general sports fans that want to watch a game on demand and creates a new fan as a result. Because it is so readily available, people become more open to watching it. An article from theringer.com titled “Live Sports Are the Next Great Battle of the Streaming Wars” argues that as more and more sprots see the success that soccer received on streaming wars, they are slowly warming up to the new platform. The article states “Streaming is no different: a crowded and lucrative marketplace where new players, even ones backed by massive corporations, have to jostle their way in, and established presences have to actively maintain their edge. Given that Netflix and its peers have largely focused on building up an alternative to live viewing rather than breaking into the market themselves, that leaves an obvious vacuum for younger services to fill (Herman, 2021).” This article talks about the different deals that have been made recently that is creating the new direction of sports and sports media. It talks about the recent success with deals such as NFL TV and Amazon. This ties into what I think the next three years will look like for sports media. I believe that more networks and leagues will become more open to streaming, and sports will rely significantly more on streaming views than live TV. Although not everyone will watch it at the same time, there will still be the same hype and comradery around the games, just in a way that allows eve4ryone to watch it on THEIR time. The future of sports tv is streaming.
Works Cited
Herman, Alison. “Live Sports Are the next Great Battle of the Streaming Wars.” The Ringer, The Ringer, 15 Apr. 2021, https://www.theringer.com/sports/2021/4/15/22385705/live-sports-streaming-wars-future-industry.
“The Sports Industry's Gen z Problem.” Morning Consult, 29 Sept. 2020, https://morningconsult.com/2020/09/28/gen-z-poll-sports-fandom/.
“How Soccer Became Every Streaming Service’s Favorite Sport.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-12-12/mls-playoffs-set-up-the-league-for-a-big-payday-from-streaming-services?utm_medium=email&%3Butm_source=newsletter&%3Butm_term=211219&%3Butm_campaign=screentime.
Michael McGurrin
ReplyDeleteIt is time to face the facts that streaming is taking over the world. The era of cable networks is coming to an end. The same is said about sports media coverage across online platforms. Sports media has made a significant transition from being on traditional media networks. Granted, there are still some major cable and broadcast networks that broadcast many popular games. However, streaming has taken over sports viewership. Many streaming services have been created or services buying rights to different leagues. According to The Athletic, ”The NFL is developing a subscription streaming service that would include games, radio, podcasts, and team content” (Kaplan). That would be huge for the NFL to have exclusive games on their network, and that would be all money gained for them. When it comes to baseball, one company jumped into the sports field. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “The streamer has struck a rights deal with Major League Baseball to carry a weekly doubleheader of games on Fridays” (Porter). That company would, of course, be Apple getting the rights for Apple TV. Finally, with the NHL striking a massive deal with ESPN, ESPN has become the home for hockey. According to the New York Post, “During the regular season, there will be 75 exclusive games on ESPN+ and Hulu” (Marchand). This shows that all the professional sports leagues are striking deals with streaming services that will generate a lot of revenue.
This new philosophy brings up a good point about what will happen in the coming years for sports media? With changes like converting games from live TV to streaming, we should expect many changes. There have been several ideas that have been getting tested for a bit now. ESPN had the Manning show for ten games this past season for Monday Night Football. According to Variety, “Media companies see the format as one of the creative steps that networks and streamers must take to squeeze profits out of increasingly sky-high sports rights” (Steinberg). They are testing ideas for one sport to try to expand to multiple sports on streaming services. Also, we could see the change in almost every sport is available on a streaming service. We could see that change very soon with the dip in viewership for broadcast and cable networks. Sports may have been one of the few things to increase with cable. However, people will be getting rid of cable soon. Sports seem to be targeting the young adult audience, which is why we see a transformation in streaming. According to Morning Consult, “Between 2010 and 2018, the North American sports market grew more than 40 percent from $49.9 billion to $71.1 billion” (Silverman). I think it is fair to say that we will see a drastic amount of changes; however, at least they will be good changes.
Kaplan, Daniel. “NFL Considers Creating a Streaming Service of Its Own.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 28 Mar. 2022
Marchand, Andrew. “NHL Embraces Future with $2.8 Billion ESPN Deal.” New York Post, New York Post, 11 Mar. 2021
Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022
“The Sports Industry's Gen z Problem.” Morning Consult, 29 Sept. 2020
Steinberg, Brian. “Inside the Manningcast: How ESPN and Two Football Brothers Are Transforming Sports TV.” Variety, Variety, 10 Feb. 2022
Shawn A Baker Part 1
ReplyDeleteSports media has changed quite drastically over the past few years, and it will continue to do so. Much of this change has been a result of streaming services. Many sports are actually now shifting towards/being bought by streaming services, which has led to a decrease in subscriber accounts for legacy multichannel bundles. It’s estimated that subscriber count is down to 20 million, which was at a previously predicted 40-50 million subscriber count. (Szalai). Due to streaming services now containing sports, they are “stealing” subscribers from legacy bundles. However, stealing isn’t quite accurate since the sports industry itself is highly investing in streaming services. They may be losing subscribers in cable and legacy bundles, but they are gaining them in the streaming services. (Szalai).
The sports industry does have a good reason for doing this, that reason being Gen Zers. Gen Zers are not as into sports as the other generations that came before them. In fact, Gen Zers are less likely to consider themselves as sports fans. “Gen Zers are half as likely as millennials to watch live sports regularly and twice as likely to never watch.” (Silverman). This is in part because many Gen Zers don’t use cable, so they don’t have access to sports. What they do have instead is streaming services, hence the need for sports to start shifting towards streaming services in order to gain younger fans. (Silverman). There’s also been a shift in which sports that Gen Zers do watch, with esports growing in popularity among this generation. One of the reasons for this is because many esports athletes are very active on social media and engage a lot with their fans, which makes them even more popular among them. Because of this, the sports industry (especially the NHL) are now encouraging their athletes to do the same. (Silverman). It’s no longer enough to just play on the screen, athletes are going to need to start engaging with their fans in order to gain more among generation Z.
Shawn A. Baker Part 2
DeleteI do expect sports media to change quite a bit over the next few years. I do expect different sport leagues to shift more towards streaming, to a point where it even becomes too expanded. The sports industry might spread themselves too thin depending on how many streaming services they own, which might force them at some point to try to consolidate all their sports somehow. On streaming services, I also expect to see sports being offered but on a higher, “premium” tier. (Szalai). With the shift towards streaming, I do expect subscriber count to decrease even more with legacy bundles. I also think athletes will start to be more engaging on social media since that’s of high importance for Gen Zers, and that’s the generation the sports industry is struggling to gain popularity in. It will also be important to be active on social media for Gen Alpha as well. That said, it’s not just athletes that should be active on social media. Gen Zers, in this new fast paced society, have a shorter attention span and are not interested in watching a full game. Instead, they are much more likely to watch highlights on social media. (Mons). So with this in mind, I do expect in the next few years a lot of emphasis will be put on social media and on shorter, highlighted videos. I don’t think sports will completely shift towards social media and highlight reels, there’s still a big enough audience that watches full games, but I do think they’ll be more of it.
Szalai, Georg. “Wall Street Reacts to NFL Deals: ‘the End of the Bundle as We Know It’?” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/wall-street-reacts-to-nfl-deals-the-end-of-the-bundle-as-we-know-it-4153327/.
Silverman, Alex. “The Sports Industry’s Gen Z Problem” Morning Consult, Morning Consult, 28 Sept. 2020
Mons, Jan Kees. “6 Powerful Trends in Sports Media and Broadcasting.” Sport Tomorrow, 10 Mar. 2021, https://sporttomorrow.com/6-main-trends-in-sports-media-and-broadcasting/#4_New_platforms_will_come_to_the_fore.
Sarah Lefkowitz
ReplyDeleteIt is time to face it. Streaming is king. It has already basically taken over the music and entertainment industries, and it is really overtaking the sports world. Certain games and even sports themselves, are now exclusive to specific streamers. Sports is one of the most profitable but expensive markets. Mass amounts of audiences want to watch these games, which is huge to advertisers and the networks and services themselves. Live sports are starting to be pulled off traditional media and placed on streaming services. This become such a popular shift that the NFL is considering even starting their own streamer. “The NFL has distributed live games for free through mobile devices and on Yahoo for tablets and laptops, but these deals have expired. In the future, it appears if fans on the go want to stream games on their phone and they don’t have a cable subscription, they will need to pay for what is tentatively called NFL Plus” (Kaplan). If the NFL can make a profit off their highly in-demand games, why wouldn’t they? It makes complete sense that the NFL would want their games on their own service. It means no competition and huge profits for the NFL. Why should Yahoo and cable networks stream games if the NFL can do it internally? I know if this does become a running service, my dad will have no choice but to purchase, as he is a huge football fan. He is of course, not alone in this. Millions of people would flock to the NFL, like they do for TV’s biggest night- Super Bowl, and it would be an absolutely huge money maker. I expect that more leagues / sports / maybe even teams, will create their own exclusive streamers too. Niche audiences want their niche programming and will move to a new service to get it.
Before any new streaming services come about, pre-exisiting services are continuing to poach the exclusive rights to sports. I think this will definitely continue. The NHL, for example, was looking to get away from NBC, so it moved to ESPN. “The league was looking to get away from NBC with hopes of getting both a better payday, which it did, and getting the sport back onto platforms that help drive sports conversation beyond the traditional hockey fan” (Shapiro). I expect that other sports will take this lead. Games that are on networks are oversaturated by the other programming on those networks. If games are on more niche services, fans can be more engaged in the content, plus what league is going to turn down a higher payout?
Lefkowitz (cont.)
ReplyDeleteI think one last shift we will see in the next 3-5 years is more sports content going international. Soccer is one sport that really has international reach and another sport that is starting to go international is baseball. Apple just landed a deal with the MLB to put on Friday night games for the 2022 season. Games will be available to Apple TV+ users in the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Kingdom. Baseball has a special place in the heart of so many Apple customers — not just in the United States, but in many countries around the world” (Porter). Of course the MLB is based here in the US and Canada, but baseball is played all over the world. Now baseball fans all over the world will get to watch the MLB with Apple TV+. I think this will definitely be a trend with other sports. More reach means more audiences and more money. More games will definitely start to get international coverage over the next few years.
Kaplan, Daniel. “NFL Considers Creating a Streaming Service of Its Own.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 28 Mar. 2022, https://theathletic.com/3213873/2022/03/28/nfl-considers-creating-a-streaming-service-of-its-own/.
Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/.
Shapiro, Sean. “ESPN's NHL TV Rights Deal Previews the Future of American Sports Broadcasting Landscape.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2022, https://theathletic.com/3130968/2022/02/26/espns-nhl-tv-rights-deal-previews-the-future-of-american-sports-broadcasting-landscape/.
Sports media has reached a tipping point in its reliance on traditional legacy media. Since a lot of people at home no longer rely on cable to get their sports, a lot of people are turning to streaming. When you buy a streaming package you have access to all of your sports channels all in one hub. The NFL is considering making their own streaming service. Their streaming service would really be detrimental to cable networks like NBC. NBC relies on the football season because that is where they get most of their viewership along with other original programming. “The NFL is developing a subscription streaming service that would include games, radio, podcasts and team content. Teams were briefed on the development at the annual NFL owners’ meetings occurring in Palm Beach, Fla(Szalai).” Having the NFL making its own streaming service would be good, but then comes the game of which streaming service will it be an add on too? Right now the winning streaming service is Disney plus. So making the NFL plus a Disney plus exclusive would be a move that would be understandable. On its own the NFL streaming service will of course survive, but standing with something as big as disney that is a lucrative deal for both parties. “What we thought was a 40-50 million subscribers floor due to the NFL is probably now closer to 20 million, as more and more marquee sports content (especially NFL content) becomes available outside the legacy multichannel bundle(Kaplan).” Streaming is taking over the world as we know it. In reality the NFL at least trying to develop their own streaming service should have been seen for a long time now. In the next 3-5 years I see that all sports will be on streaming and have their own services. But I do believe that having all the sports under one shared platform will be ideal. What might end up happening is that when the NFL season is over people will cancel their subscriptions and turn over to basketball hockey etc. The NBA has announced that they will be doing a streaming deal with sinclair. “After all, Sinclair was looking for additional financing to fund its Diamond Sports subsidiary. The NBA realized that Diamond, which operates the Bally Sports RSNs, would not get that financing until it secured a multiyear deal that would allow it to stream the games of 16 NBA teams(Ourand).” With this deal the NBA might have to help them out financially but will also be a risk. Maybe going a safer route with adding a streaming service to disney may be a safer option.
ReplyDeleteKaplan, Daniel. “NFL Considers Creating a Streaming Service of Its Own.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 28 Mar. 2022, https://theathletic.com/3213873/2022/03/28/nfl-considers-creating-a-streaming-service-of-its-own/.
ReplyDeleteOurand, John. “Sports Media: An inside Look at the NBA's Streaming Deal with Sinclair.” Sports Business Journal, https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2022/03/07/Insiders/Sports-media.aspx.
Szalai, Georg. “Wall Street Reacts to NFL Deals: ‘the End of the Bundle as We Know It’?” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/wall-street-reacts-to-nfl-deals-the-end-of-the-bundle-as-we-know-it-4153327/.
Jordon Bennett Part 1
ReplyDeleteIn a world where television is drastically changing, for now, sports are continually putting up numbers for cable and broadcast TV. With top networks like NBC having the rights to the NFL, could we see a possible switch from broadcast to their streaming service Peacock all together? With the older generation still watching Sunday Night Football on NBC, sports will continue to carry the views for television. Saying that, sports are now being seen on streaming services, like the NFL and The English Premier League being on Peacock, only having one or two games on television. It all comes down to whichever strategy makes the most money, soccer is becoming every streamers top sport, and Apple is making a streaming deal with the MLB.
The Major League Soccer concluded its most watched year since it’s deal with Walt Disney Co. and Univision Communications Inc back in 2015. The deal ends in 2022, with dozens of companies already expressing interest in the league. (Shaw) Soccer is growing rapidly in the US, with Peacock renewing their EPL deal for more than $2.5 billion. (Shaw) Subscribers for Paramount+ grew substantially since they announced they will be streaming the UEFA Champions League, the biggest club soccer tournament in Europe. With access to European games being difficult, having the top European leagues on streaming services in the US, means soccer fans have access to more games. World Soccer Talk stated on a typical Saturday, fan have access to over 75 professional games from all over the world. (Shaw) This is because of streaming services, it allows fans to watch any game they want from the top leagues, and it allows brings in subscribers for the services, so it’s a win, win for everyone.
Jordon Bennett Part 2
ReplyDeleteApple TV+ has made the decision to join the live sports business. This is a great decision from the tech giant as sports are still the benchmark for views in the US. The MLB is also one of the most viewed sports in the US, so making a deal to stream weekly doubleheader of games on Fridays will bring in subscribers. (Porter) This deal is great not only for them, but for the MLB as the games will be available all around the world, from the US, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, etc. Baseball is becoming a worldwide sport, so promoting the biggest league is great business from both Apple and the MLB. The MLB’s licensed to many networks which could make it difficult or fans to afford and keep attention to. Running into these troubles could lead to potential viewership dropping, as well as contract separations.
For now, sports are still thriving on television, but with streaming services taking a firm grip on entertainment content, we could soon see sports only restricted to streaming services. Sport is a major business that generates billions of dollars. The reason we don’t see major sporting leagues using their own network is because of the profits they make on broadcasts deals. One thing we could see in the future is putting fans closer to the games. We are already seeing new camera’s which are aimed at bringing the fan closer to the game and atmosphere from home. Innovations like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are something we could see in sports, bringing the fans to the sidelines of the games. (Comcast) The future is endless for sports and networks. It all comes down to which will make the most money. Streaming services are buying more rights to sports, which could mean we are seeing the end of television.
Shaw, Lucas. “How Soccer Became Every Streaming Service’s Favorite Sport.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 12 Dec. 2021, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-12-12/mls-playoffs-set-up-the-league-for-a-big-payday-from-streaming-services?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=211219&utm_campaign=screentime.
Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/.
“How Streaming Is Changing the Future of Sports.” Comcast SportsTech, 10 Mar. 2021, https://www.comcastsportstech.com/inside-track/how-streaming-is-changing-the-future-of-sports/.
We have seen drastic changes over the years when it comes to the way we consumer sports through the media. Years ago, sports were watched entirely through cable television and were broadcast on certain days. Now different sports are displayed on streaming services and consumers are more aware of this transition, making them more inclined to view through streaming platforms. For example, ESPN just recently secured national rights to the NHL through the A Package, creating a symbolic relationship between both companies. This relationship also allows ESPN to create a schedule of traditional television coverage directing their priorities towards consumers (Shapiro). This increases ratings for both companies and prioritizes the consumers' needs as the world continues to evolve. The transition to streaming has allowed for more creativity within content and companies are branching out of traditional broadcasts.
ReplyDeleteESPN is switching up their traditional “Monday Night Football” broadcast, to include chats with former athletes and segments of live banter and crosstalk (Steinberg). Fans are hooked on these new segments and The Mannings have captured on average 13% of the total audience of “Monday Night Football” (Steinberg). These new additions in streaming are keeping fans entertained and helping media evolve into a more interactive and creative environment.
As we have seen how streaming is impacting certain genres of sports, I would say it is safe to say that streaming is the future for live sports. There are many opportunities for sports to branch out of its traditional content when intertwined with streaming. Though this transition will not happen overnight due to many factors involving right costs, consumers prices, tv network long standings, etc., it is something to be aware of and look for in the future (Weissbrot). These large tech and streaming companies are getting more attention and power, and will start to take over in the next couple of years.
Alison Weissbrot March 24, 2021. (n.d.). The future of sports is streaming. Campaign US. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.campaignlive.com/article/future-sports-streaming/1710912
DeleteShapiro, S. (2022, February 26). ESPN's NHL TV rights deal previews the future of American Sports Broadcasting Landscape. The Athletic. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://theathletic.com/3130968/2022/02/26/espns-nhl-tv-rights-deal-previews-the-future-of-american-sports-broadcasting-landscape/
Steinberg, B. (2022, February 10). Inside the manningcast: How ESPN and two Football Brothers Are Transforming Sports TV. Variety. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://variety.com/2022/sports/features/espn-manningcast-superbowl-sports-tv-ratings-1235175580/#recipient_hashed=62dfc0b27ad1de67d64a0c44fb55f17fe8a7cd610e9d3f50edf2cced899812f7
Part 1
ReplyDeleteAs time moves on, it’s clear the viewing of sports has been a major part of cable since the first televised sporting event a little over 80 years ago. Now, we are in the 2020s, and towards the end of a two-year pandemic where streaming services engulfed the world entirely. Cable has always kept a grip on sports events, but that grip may be loosening. One of the biggest examples is, America’s pastime, baseball. Apple TV+, amid the MLB lockout struck a major deal that can change the way we view baseball. According to the Hollywood Reporter, “The MLB deal is the first foray into live sports for Apple TV+. Its Friday Night Baseball package will feature two weekly matchups along with pre- and postgame shows, with no local blackouts. Apple will also produce MLB Big Inning, a live show featuring highlights and look-ins to games on every weeknight of the regular season” (Porter). This was the push forward Apple needed to get their streaming service to compete with the larger platforms, such as Hulu, Disney+ and Netflix. One of the issues that has carried over to streaming services is the fact that sports like football are aired on different channels, depending on the day. Now, depending on the day, certain NFL games are aired on different streaming services. This in fact could change in the near future. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “The overall takeaway is that the NFL is following the path we have seen first in scripted TV, then original films, followed by kids and unscripted content, and increasingly news and now sports. In essence, the industry is devaluing the linear bundle and investing aggressively in individual streaming services. This has led to increased levels of cord-cutting but rapid uptake in streaming” (Szalai).
Part 2
ReplyDeleteThese major changes in big American sports are changing the game for viewers and are just the beginning. The question that comes to hand is; What’s going become of sports viewership within the next 5 years? Well, I think it’s going basically be exactly the way it was on cable, but rather TV channels, it's going to be streaming services. One big change was amazon buying the rights to Thursday night football. According to The Ringer, Last month, the relatively dry business of NFL TV rights made headlines for one specific reason: Amazon had secured exclusive rights to 15 Thursday Night Football games as part of its Prime Video service for the next decade, starting with the 2023 season” (Herman). I think overtime certain services will pertain to certain sports. For example, Apple could obtain more rights to MLB than just Fridays. Amazon could obtain more rights to NFL games, than just Thursdays. If they have the money to buy it, why not. For now, we stuck in this conflicting state of sports where you pick and choose to watch on cable, a streaming service or if you can’t get either, an illegal streaming site with super weird and obscure advertisements.
Herman, Alison. “Live Sports Are the next Great Battle of the Streaming Wars.” The Ringer, The Ringer, 15 Apr. 2021, https://www.theringer.com/sports/2021/4/15/22385705/live-sports-streaming-wars-future-industry.
Porter, Rick. “Apple Enters Sports Arena with Major League Baseball Streaming Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/apple-major-league-baseball-streaming-1235106716/.
Szalai, Georg. “Wall Street Reacts to NFL Deals: ‘the End of the Bundle as We Know It’?” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/wall-street-reacts-to-nfl-deals-the-end-of-the-bundle-as-we-know-it-4153327/.