Sports Transition to Streaming Brings Linear Reckoning Closer

Yet broadcasters acknowledge these sports crown jewels are inevitably moving to streaming platformsamp8211either their own platforms or alternatives owned by their amp8220Big Techamp8221 competitorsMonday Night Football ESPN and Sunday Night Football NBC have been the most watched programs in broadcast for several years and the Oscars was the only nonsports program to crack the top 20 of most watched individual amp8220episodesamp8221 from last year Ninetyfive percent of that list is the NFL Thatamp8217s domination of the mediumBut in 2024 Netflix is broadcasting a Christmas Day doubleheader part of a multiyear deal valuing each game at about 75 million Amazon Prime continues to own Thursday Night Football Peacock broadcasts several sports including College Football and the English Premier League It also created the amp8220Gold Zoneamp8221 for this yearamp8217s Olympics which allowed viewers to watch one channel where the coverage would shift from sport to sport The NBA replaced longterm partner TNT with Amazon Prime as the third pole alongside NBC and ESPN in its future broadcasting strategyThen in May Disney Fox and Warner Bros Discovery announced an unprecedented partnership and the launch of Venu Sports shattering any illusion that the war was between traditional broadcasters and streamers Itamp8217s now a demarcation between those who understand streaming is the future and those who donamp8217t While Venuamp8217s launch is currently tied up in litigation the march towards making sports streamingfirst continuesWhy is this massive shift happeningFirst leagues no longer have to resort to networks to get eyeballs Anywhere from 88 to 99 of US households subscribe to at least one streaming service meaning leagues can depend on a substantial audience NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement amp8220Prime Videoamp8217s massive subscriber base will dramatically expand our ability to reach our fans in new and innovative waysamp8221Hans Schroeder executive vice president and COO of NFL Media told Yahoo Finance quotStreaming is clearly continuing to grow and I think that39ll be a bigger and bigger part of our future as we look forwardquotSecond the leagues also are intrigued by the potential for larger budgets and advanced technology capabilities that streaming partners can provide Veteran broadcaster Al Michaels told Sports Business Journal that quottwo NBA owners called him and told him that Amazonamp8217s game and studio production of 39TNF39 was a factor in their intention to move to Prime Video from TNTSo what happens to linearEmarketer predicts that CTV advertising will eclipse linear spend sometime in 2029 I believe thatamp8217s not fully accounting for this rapid migration of sportsI predict the inflection point will likely occur earlier than expected probably in 2027 Sports will be thought of as a streaming experience not a linear one To a young generation of cordnever fans that distinction is already archaicShould advertisers careThis is good for advertisers who are investing heavily in CTV some of whom are only interested in linear for sports CTV of course offers advertisers the best of both worlds from linear TV and digital immersive storytelling on the biggest screen in the house with precision targeting and measurementMore sports on CTV gives advertisers more opportunities to efficiently reach their audiences and demonstrate outcomes for their campaignsamp8212as most outcomes are generally easier to measure on digital mediums than on linearThis shift is not only beneficial for advertisers though Itamp8217s good for leagues who can work with the streaming platforms to develop new innovative ways to broadcast the content which viewers could choose their preference Besides the Peacock Gold stream Amazon has experimented with alternative TNF broadcasts with Lebron James and one focused on nextgen statsIt will be good for media companies that win and maintain their sports rights and embrace the positives of streamingSome have argued this shift is a mixedbag for consumers who over the years moved from needing bunny ears to watch all NFL Games to a cable subscription to now up to five streaming services Iamp8217ll save that debate for another dayIn the meantime I have some football to streamPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Sports Transition to Streaming Brings Linear Reckoning Closer

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