How Streaming Satisfies the Demand for Personalized Experiences

One of the biggest pieces of recent news to come out of the streaming space was Netflix, OTT’s top provider, losing 200,000 subscribers in Q1 2022 – the company’s first quarterly dip in a decade. The real shocker, however, may come next quarter – when Netflix projects it will lose another 2 million paid viewers.

Experts variously point to fragmentation within the industry, a pandemic hangover and streaming fatigue as reasons for the downturn. But while Netflix has undoubtedly been dinged by increasingly heated competition, fewer sheltering-at-home binge watchers and (likely) its own price hikes, many other streaming platforms continue to thrive. What are the others doing – or offering – that is different?

One theory: personalization. The current streaming craze can be traced in part to the ability of digital platforms to deliver thoughtfully curated content and custom features that give consumers exactly the access they want. OTT differs from network television and even traditional cable in this way, providing varied and regularly refreshed content, live or on demand, and tapping into subscriber data to match content and features with the preferences of individual viewers. And nowhere is this phenomenon more pronounced than it is in sports.

Why Personalization Is a Priority for Sports Fans?

Consumers want personalized experiences. Fans demand them. Many entertainment viewers will sacrifice a little something to get what they want. Maybe they will watch a show with ads to save a few bucks. They’ll pick up a movie 10 minutes into its play time because they’ve seen it before and are short on time. Sports viewers, however, rarely compromise. Many pay premiums for access to broadcasts of every one of their favorite team’s games, or for comprehensive coverage of a league. Most prefer to watch their sports live, but when they can’t, joining a broadcast in progress often won’t do. To avoid missing a single possession or play, a fan will pay extra for on-demand access.

Building that optionality into OTT platforms elevates the level of fan personalization – and may be just the beginning of how far streaming sports can take the concept and run with it. As providers develop increasingly sophisticated integrations and algorithms, viewers’ choices – and the data that reflects them – can help OTT services further customize their offerings for individual viewers. Everything is on the table, from prioritizing content in a viewer queue to defaulting to preferred camera angles to learning a subscriber’s style choices on an integrated team merchandise store.

Where Local Sports Fits In

What has made streaming such a boom in the sports space is its capacity for ultra-personalizing content. At the NFHS Network, for instance, we partner with high schools across the country to engage niche sports audiences – parents, friends, family, students, locals and alumni – in a way that wasn’t possible before digital streaming. With our automated, plug-and-play equipment, member schools of any size can create streaming broadcasts and dedicated subscription-based OTT channels for single sports or competitions – for free, and with almost zero maintenance.

The implications are game-changing for both schools and fans. For our partner schools, an NFHS Network digital broadcast is found revenue, and provides the same per-view return on investment for an archery event in Anchorage as it does for a Friday night football broadcast in Fort Worth. That means all fans – whether you’re a soccer mom, a friend of the starting small forward or have a rooting interest in the varsity debate team – are equally served.

Supported by smart tools, a democratized platform and a model designed around local audiences, streaming has the unique power to serve players, teams, schools and fans – and personalize sports content at a hyper-local level.