The world of live sports is transforming as people use more screens to better curate their viewing experiences, CNBC reports.
Today, most sports fans say they use a second screen during live broadcasts while discussing the game with friends or checking social media. Meanwhile, a growing number of younger fans are turning to video platforms to watch highlights, listen to live commentary from influencers, and engage in communities built around sports.
YouTube is one of the big winners here. The Alphabet-owned platform recorded a 45% increase in views of sports content in 2024, as people sought highlights from the Paris Olympics and watched exclusive NFL Sunday coverage on YouTube.
Content creators like Mark Goldbridge, a British streamer who conducts parallel “live watches” of Premier League matches on YouTube, have helped the platform provide alternative sports experiences.
“People are no longer just watching Sky Sports at 5:30; they’re multitasking,” commented Goldbridge, referring to the leading European sports broadcaster. “They join our live chats, play video games like Championship Manager with sports in the background.”
His streams, which typically attract over 250,000 viewers, offer an alternative route for broadcasters to reach global audiences. In November 2024, Sky Sports Austria granted Goldbridge the rights to live stream an Austrian Bundesliga football match as part of parallel viewing on YouTube, helping him connect with a community of 1.3 million fans.
For rights holders, the migration of viewers to streaming platforms is extremely lucrative. Competition among players like Amazon, Netflix, and Disney has boosted the value of streaming rights in U.S. sports media from $14.6 billion in 2015 to nearly $30 billion in 2024, according to S&P forecasts.
However, while such deals are becoming more common in the U.S., they are less prevalent elsewhere.
“In European markets like Germany, France, and the UK, there’s much more stagnation to some extent,” commented Ben Stevenson from the market research company SportBusiness. “Media revenues in these markets have declined post-COVID, and teams or leagues tend to prefer the guaranteed audience that comes with traditional broadcast deals.”
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The dominance of traditional television in Europe and North America means that streaming innovations often originate in less developed markets.
“Rights holders seek deals with well-known operators because they guarantee profits,” said Stevenson. “So, deals with streamers have emerged in markets where media rights deals haven’t reached a certain minimum guarantee.”
In Brazil, where football clubs, not leagues, own the broadcasting rights for top-tier matches, broadcasting has shifted to social media. In 2022, CazéTV—a production company owned by the agency LiveMode and popular Brazilian streamer Casimiro—secured the rights to live stream matches from Rio de Janeiro’s local league alongside live reactions from its own commentators.
The format’s success led CazéTV to secure the rights to broadcast 50% of the matches from the FIFA World Cup 2022 on Casimiro’s own Twitch and YouTube channels. LiveMode co-founder Sergio Lopez told the StreamTime Sports podcast that Casimiro’s live broadcasts were viewed on 48 million different devices, as people tuned in to watch the streamer’s reactions to every pass or play.
Relying on Casimiro’s commentary allowed FIFA to avoid cannibalizing its engaged audience while promoting its paid channel.
These changes present an opportunity for traditional broadcasters to develop lucrative new content formats, Stevenson believes. “Formula 1 increased the value of its deal from about $4 million a year to around $80 million by transitioning from direct broadcasting to digital programming,” he told CNBC.
Meanwhile, British Sky Sports is also rushing to adapt. In August 2024, it launched its own streaming service to meet the growing demand for live sports, giving users access to four times as many lower-league football matches and greater coverage of tennis, golf, and other sports.
Source: investor.bg
