Is micro-transactions the future of sport viewing?
The future of sport viewing is evolving by the day it seems. From companies like DAZN and Eleven Sports emerging as the Netflix of sports, buying up rights to major events, to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter forging streaming partnerships with La Liga or creating content shows around live events. It is an exciting and uncertain time for rights holders.
The uncertainty is set to increase further with the news that the NBA will allow fans to buy passes to watch segments of games. The Basketball league has offered fans the chance to watch the final quarter of a game for $2 via their NBA league pass offering.
The option went live last week (Oct 16th) and was part of a wider plan that will eventually allow fans the right to buy access to watch any part of a game, with 10 minute passes on their agenda.
So instead of scrolling through Twitter while you wait in your car for your kids to finish football practice, you can now buy 10 minutes of on court action, all for the price of a coffee.
The NBA is hoping to tap into the gaming/esports cultural model that sees gamers buy skins and passes for small change in games. Small transactions can quickly multiply and with purchasing via mobiles easier than ever, this approach could yield even bigger returns than standard subscription models.
While recurring revenue and retention is not assured with the micro-transaction approach, offering flexibility and tapping into the short term focus on consumers is something that the NBA will be acutely aware of. It is a move that will have other sports watching with interest, especially the likes of the NFL and Premier League.
Such a move could also help with illegal streaming, a bug bear of all major rights holders around the globe. Having easy access to short snippets of games live, in an easy to access format could ensure that people take the legal route to consume their sport.
With the micro passes, the NBA will focus on mobile consumption of sport. This segmentation of fans viewing habits shows the consumer led mind-set the sport has adopted, led by forward thinking Commissioner Adam Silver.
This coming season, Sky Sports have picked up the NBA rights after BT Sport recently walked away from renewal talks. With this new approach, the NBA will cater for the fan who cannot afford the hefty monthly Sky subscription but would still like to follow their team in the final minutes of games.
The NBA know that the fourth quarter of the game is the most interesting, and therefore they are trying to capture revenue and interest from the more casual fan, who perhaps would not be interested in watching the full game. Don’t be fooled however, the end-goal here is to move a significant portion of those who make micro-transactions to full league-pass subscribers.
Is this the best of way of casting the net to a wider audience? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.