The effects of COVID-19 has sent shockwaves around the world, upending the world’s health, educational, financial, and commercial institutions, and the sports ecosystem – owners, players, franchises, broadcasters, advertisers, suppliers – are no different.
Games, tournaments, and even the Olympic Games in Tokyo have been cancelled or postponed, disrupting stakeholders across international sport. With professional leagues suspending their activities, rights owners, broadcasters, and advertisers are trying to figure out the downstream impact of event cancellations and modifications.
The current sports business model built on the reliance of sports leagues on broadcasters, and in turn on advertising revenue is now being questioned. Even though sports viewers will come back to TV and while the basic operating model of sports leagues won’t change, the coronavirus disruption has underlined the limits of the sports business model relying mainly on TV broadcasting and live audiences.
Anything longer than a temporary shutdown would see the leagues unable to meet their commitments to broadcasters, limiting their ability to distribute income back to the clubs. The impact on the industry would be dramatic: no games mean no TV deals and no match day income; no income means no clubs.
Many other questions have come out of the situation. How to simultaneously manage fan expectations and minimize operational disruption? Can new technologies and channels help engage fans during suspended or modified league operations?
With the pandemic restrictions likely to last for some time, the entire sports ecosystem will need new ways to deal with threats to financial and business continuity arising from disrupted cash flow, insurance challenges, and possible declines in long-term attendance and engagement.
To make up for the TV revenue imperative, many leagues are currently developing contingency plans, underscoring the necessity to explore more diverse income streams.
As users are increasingly turning to streaming, sports organizations are looking to launch or expand their streaming channels to respond to the crisis. In order to add more incremental revenue streams, leagues and teams are developing their own direct-to-consumer (D2C) media subscriptions services to distribute their sports content. With no fixed schedule and niche or other original content, these Netflix-style Sports channels are more appealing to fans and are an effective tool for generating revenue beyond traditional broadcast rights contracts.
Sports video content is an increasingly fragmented environment but if distributed and monetized effectively, it can drive massive engagement and represent a source of untapped revenue for every organization. Consumers will sample more of these streaming services – and many will stick with them once the pandemic subsides. This might in turn accelerate the existing decline in cable television, reduce broadcasters’ advertising income and power to purchase sports rights.
The challenge remains in identifying scalable and reliable monetization tools that work cross-platforms and devices, globally. With 10+ years experience in live and on-demand sports video streaming and monetization, InPlayer is trusted by the largest leagues, federations, rights holders and content owners in the world, supporting their digital transformations and online video monetization strategies.
To claw back some of the lost revenue at the gate and keep fans engaged, sports professionals can sell digital tickets using pay-per-view/ subscription functionalities for games played behind-closed-doors. Fans who don’t already have a season membership can pay to watch games from home and also subscribe to a library of content.
Fans already holding a season ticket can be granted access to the live streamed games with individual voucher code to use. These monetization approaches not only keep the supporters connected and engaged with clubs honoring commitments to their season ticket holders – but they guarantee income until fans can return to stadiums.
The new reality of social distancing has pushed organizations to transition to new operating models. InPlayer is helping professional sports willing to keep offering a point of community and connection for their fans, and to capitalize on online video streaming and monetization solutions to address this unprecedented situation.
The effects of COVID-19 has sent shockwaves around the world, upending the world’s health, educational, financial, and commercial institutions, and the sports ecosystem – owners, players, franchises, broadcasters, advertisers, suppliers – are no different.
Games, tournaments, and even the Olympic Games in Tokyo have been cancelled or postponed, disrupting stakeholders across international sport. With professional leagues suspending their activities, rights owners, broadcasters, and advertisers are trying to figure out the downstream impact of event cancellations and modifications.
The current sports business model built on the reliance of sports leagues on broadcasters, and in turn on advertising revenue is now being questioned. Even though sports viewers will come back to TV and while the basic operating model of sports leagues won’t change, the coronavirus disruption has underlined the limits of the sports business model relying mainly on TV broadcasting and live audiences.
Anything longer than a temporary shutdown would see the leagues unable to meet their commitments to broadcasters, limiting their ability to distribute income back to the clubs. The impact on the industry would be dramatic: no games mean no TV deals and no match day income; no income means no clubs.
Many other questions have come out of the situation. How to simultaneously manage fan expectations and minimize operational disruption? Can new technologies and channels help engage fans during suspended or modified league operations?
With the pandemic restrictions likely to last for some time, the entire sports ecosystem will need new ways to deal with threats to financial and business continuity arising from disrupted cash flow, insurance challenges, and possible declines in long-term attendance and engagement.
To make up for the TV revenue imperative, many leagues are currently developing contingency plans, underscoring the necessity to explore more diverse income streams.
As users are increasingly turning to streaming, sports organizations are looking to launch or expand their streaming channels to respond to the crisis. In order to add more incremental revenue streams, leagues and teams are developing their own direct-to-consumer (D2C) media subscriptions services to distribute their sports content. With no fixed schedule and niche or other original content, these Netflix-style Sports channels are more appealing to fans and are an effective tool for generating revenue beyond traditional broadcast rights contracts.
Sports video content is an increasingly fragmented environment but if distributed and monetized effectively, it can drive massive engagement and represent a source of untapped revenue for every organization. Consumers will sample more of these streaming services – and many will stick with them once the pandemic subsides. This might in turn accelerate the existing decline in cable television, reduce broadcasters’ advertising income and power to purchase sports rights.
The challenge remains in identifying scalable and reliable monetization tools that work cross-platforms and devices, globally. With 10+ years experience in live and on-demand sports video streaming and monetization, InPlayer is trusted by the largest leagues, federations, rights holders and content owners in the world, supporting their digital transformations and online video monetization strategies.
To claw back some of the lost revenue at the gate and keep fans engaged, sports professionals can sell digital tickets using pay-per-view/ subscription functionalities for games played behind-closed-doors. Fans who don’t already have a season membership can pay to watch games from home and also subscribe to a library of content.
Fans already holding a season ticket can be granted access to the live streamed games with individual voucher code to use. These monetization approaches not only keep the supporters connected and engaged with clubs honoring commitments to their season ticket holders – but they guarantee income until fans can return to stadiums.
The new reality of social distancing has pushed organizations to transition to new operating models. InPlayer is helping professional sports willing to keep offering a point of community and connection for their fans, and to capitalize on online video streaming and monetization solutions to address this unprecedented situation.
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