Andreas Beckwith’s Post

Sports broadcasting contributed €4.9 billion to Europe’s GDP (gross domestic product) and supported over 60,000 jobs in 2022, according to a report commissioned by the EBU from Oxford Economics on the economic impact of public service media (PSM). The findings include direct contributions from content production and broadcasting and significant indirect and induced impacts due to supply chain spending and employees’ consumer expenditure. The study also explores wider impacts, such as the way in which PSM coverage attracts sponsorship income for sport. https://lnkd.in/eCjQ8Ujz

Outstanding piece of work by our brother James Torvaney! For those curious about the intersection of #Sport, #Tech, #Entertainment, and #Media, you won’t find a better oasis to quench your thirst for knowledge. This is the second installment of a seven-part series on the #SportsBusiness in #Africa. Click on the link below to catch the current installment, with previous ones listed at the end.

A22 Sports Management proposed business model raised many different opinions including an obvious "it is impossible" from some of the established football rights holders. But it is really impossible or have we here finally the courage to look at a future proof model that could be more aligned with new audiences & consumer trends? Current football business model is "risk transfer" based. This is common to the entire revenue value chain across media, commercial & IP. The value chain is effectively targeted to benefit rights holders & for many decades survived via increasing competition between the different parties wishing to get those rights in house. A22 CEO Bernd Reichart, unveilled last December, their proposal for a men's and women's ESL, championing that it would be streamed for free around the world on a newly-launched, direct-to-consumer platform called "Unify". The streaming platform would generate income from advertising, premium subscriptions, distribution deals, interactive services and sponsors, A22 said at the time. In my perspective, if we consider on one side, the vast community with willingness to dedicate vast amounts of time & interest to engage within our sport & if we add to it the generational shift, interest in personalization & creation of own experiences that we value today, it definitely worth the time to explore & consider how viable, it is. Big-Tech players have used it for years, with the difference that football has until today gladly accepted that Big-Tech could get access mostly for free allowing them to service their vast & well known audiences with the sport content they love. If anyone can add some of the most valuable football IP in one place & create the best competition globally, it is very likely that this would be interesting content for the vast majority of the global population. It is also possible that the vast majority of that audience would want a free product & would be willing to trade data as exchange currency in return, while super spenders would be more than available to subscribe high-end premium access and experiences. It is also possible that tis platform would sub-license content to a vast number of sub platforms worldwide. And it is also possible that this platform would build the world first marketplace. To me nothing new and nothing impossible in-here, and we can talk about it for years, if no one ever tries it. So to me the question will be if any of the big rights holders will try it with their premium IP or will need to wait for a disruptive newcomer to do it or shall we concede that this will be a lost fight & allow Big-Tech winning? When we are advancing fast on the construction of a new sport around women's football, maybe this would be a central part in the roadmap for what would be necessarily a new business model in Football. Watch this space, discussion is only starting... https://lnkd.in/d676aMjz

Sport and medias– I’ll be watching you   The sport entered an economic dimension through its spectacle when spectators paid their tickets to attend a match (football, basketball, ...) or a sporting event (World Cup or Olympic Games). This is the direct sporting spectacle. For the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, ticketing represents 1.1 billion euros (a quarter of the budget of the organizing committee).   For sports fans who do not participate in sporting events, media coverage is provided. In the 19th century, the cycle industry, too boost its created sporting events. When the newspaper Auto-Velo (then L'Equipe) created the Tour de France in 1903, sales of the newspaper exploded.   Audiovisual media quickly became the most popular in the 20th century. We entered the Global Village era with increasingly sophisticated techniques. Radio and television have brought a new dimension – we follow the exploits of athletes with passionate comments that bring an incomparable emotional charge. No major competition can do without media coverage. Corporate sponsors agree to spend large amounts of money because they know that their brands will be seen and valued. This is the indirect sporting spectacle. For Paris 2024, the IOC’s funding related to television broadcasting fees represents 750 million euros and the TOP partnerships (global sponsors) 470 million, or 1.2 billion. Sponsors and radio-television go hand in hand.   In the sports broadcasting market, viewers are the applicants and television companies are the providers. In the television broadcasting market, television channels buy the broadcasting rights and become the applicants. Sport is one of the most competitive areas among rival channels. A sporting event is a unique “product”. The channel that obtains exclusive broadcasting rights has a definite advantage over its rivals. In direct competition, public and private channels have fought an intense battle; sports broadcasting rights exploded in the 1980s and 1990s in Europe with the liberalization of audiovisual media. In France, for Paris 2024, the public broadcasting group France Télévisions obtained the television rights while Radio France (public radio) and RMC (private radio) obtained the radio rights.   Public information, therefore free, accessible to the greatest number without being beaten by commercial advertisements (private channels, TF1), nor having to pay an entrance fee (channels by subscription, Canal +), nor suffer from oriented comments (opinion, not information, Bolloré Group channels) is an indication. The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris broadcast in France are resolutely open, neutral (politically), respectful of diversity and republican values. If the French medals and victories are celebrated, those of other countries are treated fairly and friendly, never denigrated.   Spectators from all countries to your TV sets: if images are censored, if comments are oriented, with nationalist slips, democracy is perhaps threatened...

Live sports on Netflix? Earlier this week, I read an interview with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos in The Hollywood Reporter (https://lnkd.in/gFgyypsx) that indicated the company was more interested in "live events" than in acquiring the rights to live sports. 𝘚𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴: “𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴,” 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥. “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭.” Of course, that didn't stop the streaming giant from sending me an exciting email yesterday announcing two live National Football League (NFL) games Netflix will be streaming on Christmas Day. (Christmas Day is technically a "live event", I suppose...) To be clear, I'm not a "sports guy". I enjoy mixed martial arts so I'll sometimes watch Ultimate Fighting Championship events at a local restaurant with friends. (I'm also excited to watch "Tyson vs. Paul" in mid-November on Netflix -- watch-party, anyone?) I watch the Super Bowl every year... but mostly for the ads. I'll watch the World Cup when Italy plays to avoid disappointing looks from my Sicilian father. And if the Maple Leafs ever make the Stanley Cup final, I'll watch Game 7. But I'm definitely not a "sports guy". And as a result, I don't subscribe to cable services to watch sports... ... which also means I can't put any sports on "in the background" while doing other things... ... which means I'm unlikely to ever become significantly interested in sports. It's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, isn't it? That's why I think there's something so interesting about making sports so readily accessible via streaming platforms. Of course, live sports on streaming services will encourage die-hard sports fans to sign up for those streaming services to avoid missing any games. But I also think there's an interesting "discovery" aspect to these deals. For example, a big reason my children don't watch sports is because they have limited access to games in my cable-free household. Would they watch a football game out of sheer curiosity if it was readily available? I'm not sure... ... ask me on December 26th and I'll let you know. #Media #Streaming #Sports

🎥 What does it actually mean for sports to become "more global"? In light of the global sporting sensation that is the Olympics, the Economist wrote an article last month highlighting how sports media is becoming more international. Under the sub-heading, "Faster, higher, more international," the publication traces a line of very consequential trends in sports, media, and culture: 1 - Compared with other forms of entertainment, sports is relatively "unglobalised." Revenue from the music and film industry is spread very internationally. Contrast that with the NFL, where only 2% of media rights revenue comes from outside the US. There is a lot of upside in international monetization, particularly for US sports. 2 - Streaming Platforms Increases The Net of Global Reach. With 270 Million users in 190 countries, Netflix can actually "broadcast" something like the NFL, MLS or WWE across borders in a way that no other network can. So we're in a situation where rights holders in the 2020s/2030s can literally broadcast to the biggest audience sizes ever. 3 - New Content Formats Drives New Eyeballs Series like Formula 1's Drive to Survive, which is on Netflix, have had a material impact on increasing the fandom and growing the revenue of motorsport. These days, almost every sport, team or athlete is trying to create their own docuseries for streaming platforms, creating a gold rush for sports-related content. Analysis: While some people think the value of sports rights is inflated, I think the above trends indicate that the ceiling for the value of a sport, a team, or a league still has a long way to go. Global sports broadcasting is increasing and young, developing markets will generate new sports fans who will be able to spend increasing amounts of both time and money on their favorite sports. This is one of the reasons why you see so much interest in sports-related investments and so many new sports-related investment funds popping up. All the tailwinds are blowing in the direction of even more growth in sports, media, and entertainment around the world. #sports #sportsmedia #media #entertainment #streaming #film #sportsrights

We've been talking about Netflix's entry into live sports content for years. 𝐈𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠?   🥊 Netflix's impressive success in sports has been mostly driven by sports-focused docu-series such as Drive to Survive in Formula 1.   As quoted by the Financial Times, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on an earnings call earlier this year: “𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠.”   However they hadn't invested yet in acquiring live sports streaming rights.   3 days ago, they made a massive entry in boxing with the mega-fight featuring Mike Tyson (58 yo) and Jake Paul (27 yo) - live streaming from the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭?   ➕ On one side, the fight was made available to all of Netflix’s 280 million subscribers at no extra charge (vs. traditional pay-per-view model in boxing and fighting sports) and Netflix declared that 60 million households around the world tuned in.   ➖ On the other, multiple technical problems and complaints about buffering and image quality were reported during the event and they will have to identify and fix the issues as fast as possible.   What's interesting in terms of timing, as explained by CNBC is that "𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑗𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒, 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑘𝑒-𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠."   Yes, the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Formula 1 have deals expiring in 2025.   But the National Football League (NFL) ($111 billion 11-year deal signed in 2021) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) ($77 billion 11-year deal signed in 2024) both are locked for the coming years.   CNBC also shared a chart of recent media rights deals, contract duration, and estimated values created by Bank of America (e.g., Major League Soccer's 2023-2032 $2.5 billion deal with Apple).   It's also a time when the global media landscape is evolving fast with the upcoming Paramount-Skydance Media merger and potential M&A activity coming from Warner Bros. Discovery. 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐱 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭.   Next live events will include:   🏈 NFL Christmas Games in December including Kansas City Chiefs vs. Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens vs. Houston Texans. A 3-year deal signed with the NFL to broadcast the league's Christmas Day games at a reported $150 million fee reported by Bloomberg.   👊 WWE Monday Night Raw starting January as part of a 10-year, $5 billion deal. 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬? Are we going to see Netflix acquire more and more live sports rights?

❌ The evolution of this trend is incredible. 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 (𝟮.𝟬) The multi-format approach to consuming sports media is nothing new - it's a reality that's happening. Fans consume content according to their preferences and the popularity of these preferences is determined by trends. There are also figures - creators - who not only read #trends well, but also give it direction and dynamics. 🔴 Mark Goldbridge, 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗴𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹, 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗱. Wikipedia should have his picture next to the "Watchalong" entry, because he popularized and took "joint" watching of the game to another level. ❌ Until now, it was a joint watching of the game, without the game itself being broadcast in the watchalong. ✅ 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱. As Goldbridge announced, "On November 23, That's Football made history, becoming 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁-𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿-𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗷𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴. This wasn’t just a broadcast - it was a new way of experiencing live football." See for yourself ( 🇦🇹 RB Salzburg vs LASK). One can argue whether the 🇧🇷 Brazilian #CazeTV did not try a somewhat similar approach to some extent, but that's another story. What is more important: this is actually "a new way of experiencing live football" and I suspect that more broadcasters will eventually see the true and verifiable potential of the sports community on YouTube. 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝟮.𝟬. 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮 𝗱𝗼𝘂𝗯𝘁. Sky's The #Overlap also entered the classic #watchalong format in a great way, broadcasting live for the first time from a joint viewing of the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Arsenal #London - #Manchester United match. A great crew sat on the couch and did their thing - they commented. Probably a few things will evolve (like the increased presence of creators in the chat), but you have to admit - the test was successful. Huge congrats Dizplai and Ed Abis for this partnership! 🔴 Broadcasters, brands - take a note. Sharing formats for free on #YouTube (or other #video platforms) is a cost that can be utilized in the long term: with native sponsorship, product placement. Besides, it's happening now. And hopefully more.

Let’s Talk About…Niche Sports on the Block with Nic BENSON, CEO, Major League Rugby, Lowell Conn, President, Protocol Sports Marketing and Pamela Duckworth, Head of Fubo Studios, Fubo moderated by Jeff Jacobs NEP Group, Inc. Join this on trend panel discussing the rise in accessibility for niche sports properties, some still riding the wave after the high of Paris 2024, to continue reaching their legions of passionate fans and grow their sports brands. OTT and the digital space enable scalable solutions through platforms such as paid and “freemium” models, creative production methods and strategic marketing tools which offer personalized, immersive experiences. Through scalable solutions and tech, the niche sports on the block are in a stronger position than ever before to drive international expansion, investment, sponsorship and greater monetization opportunities. 👉 Full Programme : https://lnkd.in/duVeSVXG 🎟 Join us now: https://lnkd.in/duVeSVXG

REVITALIZING UHF TV CHANNELS FOR LOCAL SPORTS CONSUMPTION. The chances are higher and much more reliable to watch a neighborhood boxing event hosted faraway in Slovakia than to watch a local boxing event hosted in Saki, Oyo State. It doesn't stop at that; National Sports Festival is not on TV National Youths Games is not on TV NUGA Games is not on TV. This has contributed firsthand to the systematic abandon of Nigerian sports. No matter the level of efforts, if it's not seen and valued, then why bother? It's time to revitalize the local UHF TV channels for local sports content or better still build sports dedicated UHF TV channels. While it can be argued that in 2024 the world has moved on to cable TV and social media, the best chances of your sports event ever getting televised will be on local TV channels. Social media is fast and far reaching but think about the millions of sports fans not accustomed to consuming long form sports content on SM and I make bold to say livestreams on SM was made popular in Nigeria by religious organizations and not sports events. Unfortunately, the local sports economy will not thrive without local stars, and when athletes are not exposed or celebrated, talents are frustrated, and sports organizers struggle to get sponsors. If it's hard to get local audience for targeted marketing through local sports content, sponsors for sports events can't be assured. Finally, if you think the local TV channels are underfunded, your patronage could change things. You cannot build a sports star in oblivion - you need eyes. Not some type of eyes. All eyes. What are your thoughts?