How Can Sports Streaming Surpass Broadcast and Cable?
The first measure of sports streaming success is replicating the cable/broadcast experience, but Julie Neenan Souza, Head of Sports, Global Professional Services, AWS, insists that sports streamers should be aiming higher when it comes to leveraging streaming’s core strengths, from interactivity to betting to personalization to live ecommerce. Meanwhile, Chance Mason, VP Global GTM Strategy, ViewLift contends that the key to next-level sports streaming delivery is streaming infrastructure companies like AWS embracing their emerging role as D2C media companies and partnering with sports leagues and sports rights holders at that level. Souza, Mason, and Matt Del Percio, Partner, Altman Solon, discuss these and other emerging opportunities for sports streaming in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.
Del Percio asks the group, “What are you seeing happening in the streaming sports space on both the consumer and on the supply side?”
Souza says the industry has done a good job of turning the internet into cable. However, that approach still does not even come close to reaching the value proposition of the native capabilities of streaming platforms. First, she says, there should be many more dynamic ways to monetize the data of sports fans. She also says that there are subscription models that have not been capitalized on anywhere nearly as much as possible, such as micropayments, which would allow viewers to pay for specific games they want to watch. “I don't think we need to just adopt a single subscription model because that's the way it's been done and that we're also borrowing from cable,” she says. “And then think about all of the things that we do on a second screen when we're watching a live sporting event. I am chatting with my friend. I am doing all these other things that should be built into the live-streaming experience. So I should be able to choose my camera angle, choose my audio feed, choose my level of augmentation. Do I want a Prime Vision stats overlay? Do I want some sort of Snapchat filter on what I'm watching? Do I want the Big City Greens or the Toy Story or whatever version of this game? Can I follow my fantasy stats? Can I buy tickets to the next game? Can I buy my favorite player’s jersey? Can I order Uber Eats 20 minutes before halftime, take a poll place, make a real money bet, all of these things? Can we start building a much more robust, interactive, engaging, and personalized viewing experience? That is one step away from the Holy Grail for me.”
Souza offers further examples of heightened engagement for sports streaming viewers. “If I'm watching an NBA game, I want to be prompted for prop bets. Anytime somebody's on the free throw line, I want all my fantasy stats updated in an L-bar. Definitely prompt me to order Uber Eats 20 minutes before halftime and open a chat thread to talk smack with my friends. And then we're going from what has historically been a fairly passive viewing experience into much more of an active viewing experience because you're engaged with your content.”
Mason agrees with Souza’s call for increased live user engagement and emphasizes the importance of personalization. “Whether I follow five different leagues, three different leagues, whatever it may be, my experience has to be personalized because there's just too much noise around everything that's going on,” he says. “You're going to need fan engagement tools. Unique interactions, people that like the same player, people that like the same teams, those kinds of things. But there's just so much content out there. Personalization will be the key to keeping the viewer sticky to the content.”
Mason also says that from the provider's perspective, the role of technology in enabling real-time data and stats for teams and coaches is essential, along with addressing the challenges of balancing innovation with consumer affordability. “If you look at it from the provider standpoint, that's where the technology is available,” he says. “AWS is doing some amazing things with AI. When you look at the NFL, you get to the Thursday broadcast on Prime, and you have multiple options to consume from. However, is a lot of that technology available for the teams and the coaches so that they can make real-time decisions based on real-time data and stats? Or does a consumer want to see that as an overlay, as a part of their entertainment experience? I think that's yet to be seen, and if there's a demographic that goes one way or another. It's two different lenses, and we have got to make sure that the cost of the lens for the provider doesn't get pushed down to the consumer where there isn't the ability to aggregate and get access to different content from other leagues or teams, to where we get to the point where we're spending so much money on that. For the consumer, prices are rising. They're introducing new business models like AVOD because they can't increase price ranges. So the prices can't continue to rise year-over-year or because we're pushing innovation. There has got to be a balance between innovation and in what the consumer can accept.”
Souza asks Mason, “To the extent that you allow that personalization functionality, doesn't it give a little bit more ammunition to tiered structures? So, the people who want to do the deep dives or have a certain level of personalization, maybe they're willing to pay more for it, but you're not necessarily putting that burden on the entire base?”
Mason says sports rights costs are the biggest barrier to the tiered structure approach. “There's a league you can watch on four different platforms, and it's Monday at one place. Maybe it's Thursday at another place, maybe it's Sunday at another place. And the consumer's very confused,” he says. “This is just a maturity curve. And entertainment companies are shifting to direct-to-consumer companies that were just gone producers before. Infrastructure providers like AWS are now media and entertainment companies. You can develop virtual production studios like Monumental Sports. They not only have ownership of multiple teams, but they built a studio. They bought a Regional Sports Network (RSN), and now they're an entertainment company. They have a linear channel. They have all their sports teams under one umbrella. They built a state-of-the-art studio. The Utah Jazz doing the same thing. And so they're becoming their own media entertainment companies.”
See videos of the full program from Streaming Media Connect February 2024 here.
We'll be back in person for Streaming Media NYC May 20-22, 2024. More details here.
Related Articles
Keeping users engaged in between main events and enhancing overall fan experiences is a challenge for all sports streamers. It means giving fans new chances to interact with the content, developing second screen experiences, bringing in influencers, addressing accessibility concerns, and more, according to Joe Caporoso, President of DAZN's Team Whistle, in this conversation with Reality Software's Nadine Krefetz from Streaming Media Connect 2024.
13 Sep 2024
Boston-based consulting firm Altman Solon recently released "Going for Gold: The Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games, media, and digital native fans," which used their annual Global Sports Survey findings to understand how broadcasters are adapting their 2024 Summer Olympics coverage to appeal to a digitally native fan base. David Dellea, Partner, Altman Solon, talks with Streaming Media's Tyler Nesler in-depth about the findings of this survey, and he provides his professional insights and expertise into the rapidly evolving sports media business.
01 Aug 2024
Even as a leading global disruptor in premium sports rights acquisition and content delivery, DAZN must contend with the practical realities of serving customers in a broader sports streaming marketplace, and advertising and monetization strategy is inevitably more complicated than placing 15s and 30s and positioning branded integrations and the like, says DAZN Global CRO and President USA Walker Jacobs. Customization, fanbase-building, and more factor into the monetization equation, as Jacobs tells Reality Software's Nadine Krefetz in this candid fireside chat from Streaming Media NYC 2024.
28 Jun 2024
When it comes to implementing streaming tech for large-scale, high-stakes live sports, often decisions around managing latency are driven as much by cost concerns as network conditions, audience expectations, and the like. Globo Digital Products, Platform & Adtech Manager Jonas Ribeiro reveals the latency Globo delivers on typical sports streams at scale and what factors into those numbers in this discussion with Eyevinn Technology's Magnus Svensson at Streaming Media Connect 2024.
15 Apr 2024
Most of the essential elements of streaming workflows and architecture are moving toward the cloud, but the fundamental question driving streaming workflow development should always be not how do we migrate this or that process to the cloud, but what will serve the production and the viewer best, according to CBS Sports Senior Director, Advanced Production Technology Corey Smith, who breaks down these questions in this discussion with Eyevinn Technology's Magnus Svensson from Streaming Media Connect 2024.
12 Apr 2024
Live sports is the last appointment viewing left in the media world, but meanwhile, chaos reigns in the realms of licensing and rights and the ability of streaming consumers to access the games they want to see. AWS Head of Sports Julie Neenan Souza, ViewLift VP Chance Mason, and Altman Solon Director Matt DelPercio discuss the current state of sports media in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.
01 Apr 2024
As the prices paid for top-tier sports streaming rights continue to reach astronomical levels, and the potential disruption created by the blockbuster ESPN/Fox/Warner Bros. joint venture (popularly termed "Spulu") teased in February, what sports licensing will look like as 2024 rolls on and who will be able to afford it is anybody's guess. Will it play out differently in the U.S. and Europe? And as costs are passed on to users, why wouldn't sports fans just stick with cable? Find out what top analysts like ESHAP's Evan Shapiro, Erickson's Paul Erickson, Dataxis' Ophelie Boucaud, and TVREV's Alan Wolk, say in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.
25 Mar 2024
Chris Packard, Global Live Operations Lead at LinkedIn, discusses the role of interactivity in enterprise streaming, what the essential elements are of a successful user experience, and striking a realistic balance between ultra-low latency and synchronization, in this discussion with nanocosmos' Oliver Lietz and Help Me Stream's Tim Siglin from Streaming Media Connect 2024.
04 Mar 2024
Companies and Suppliers Mentioned