Tech is changing live sport..what you need to know.

2018 has been a monumental year for disruptive technology in entertainment, none more so than in live sports. Following the dramatic changes technology has already made to the music, film and TV industries the next battleground ripe for disruption from tech companies is in live sports rights which have traditionally been in the exclusive domain of traditional broadcasters.

5 of the big power moves disruptive tech services has made so far in 2018:

1) Matchroom’s billion dollar deal with DAZN

UK based Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing has been instrumental in the recent resurgence of boxing's popularity in the UK spearheaded by the charisma and star power of World Heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Now the boxing industry in the US has been turned on its head by the recent announcement of a $1bn 8-year distribution deal between Matchroom and Perform's DAZN OTT platform who have ambitions to become "the Netflix of Sport".

The boxing deal is the biggest of all time and threatens the traditional boxing Pay-Per-View model in the US dominated by HBO and Showtime. Instead of consumers paying up to $99 for a single PPV fight purchased through traditional broadcasters, US consumers will be able to watch exclusive PPV quality fights broadcast live through the DAZN platform for a flat $9.99 subscription a month with no contract. DAZN has also acquired the rights to Viacom owned Bellator MMA and have demonstrated a willingness to make serious moves in combat sports by investing big with deep pockets and even bigger ambition. The gloves are off and the fight is on. 

2) Amazon Prime Sports ramping up

Amazon has shown its hand in getting serious with its live sports ambitions when they obtained the exclusive rights for the 2018 US Open in the UK. Amazon has also secured the rights to screen 20 live games from the English Premier League from 2019. This will likely be the start of more investments that will set them on an inevitable collision course with the UK’s traditional broadcasters as the battle for eyeballs and subscriptions intensifies in an increasingly fragmented market.

3) Twitch broadening their offering

Amazon platform Twitch has been achieving impressive growth since its launch in 2011. Its traditionally focussed on broadcasting live video of consumers gaming but with the recent live streaming of AAA Wrestling’s flagship annual event Triplemania XXVI broadcast from Mexico City, a clear statement of intent has been made to broaden Twitch’s offering.

The platform has evolved expanding from exclusively broadcasting gaming content to now branching out into new areas including live sports entertainment that lends itself well to Twitch's unique interactive environment.

4) The launch of Eleven Sports in the UK

The broadcast rights for the cream of European soccer leagues in the UK has traditionally been held by the two titans Sky and BT Sport. This has been turned on its head by the arrival of Eleven Sports – a new OTT platform that has outbid the traditional broadcasters for the broadcast rights to show live games from Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s La Liga leagues (previously held by Sky since 1998) 

Added to Eleven Sports recent acquisitions of the rights to show the US PGA Championship and the recently obtained UFC rights from 2019 and you have a new competitor that is solely an OTT platform challenging the traditional broadcast model in a way never seen before in the UK. It will be interesting to see how Sky and BT Sport respond to losing a core part of their programming to a new OTT entrant.

5) YouTube’s foray into PPV

The Pay Per View business model may be under attack in a traditional sense from new OTT platforms but with the recent ‘white collar’ boxing match between prolific YouTube stars KSI and Logan Paul - the biggest names of the YouTube creator revolution boasting an astonishing 37 million subscribers between them - recently drawing 800k pay-per-view buys on YouTube and a sold out 20,000 crowd at Manchester’s MEN Arena PPV can still prove to be an incredibly successful commercial model.

The event proved that millennials and Generation Z consumers are willing to pay for content if it resonates and is set at the right price. After the success of this show, the floodgates have been opened for PPV to be potentially a lucrative option on new media platforms that appeal to younger audiences in a way that hasn't been demonstrated before.  

Last Word

With TV ratings on traditional broadcast channels in decline and the consistent rise of cord cutters and cord never’s we are entering the biggest period of disruption live sports has experienced since the dawn of satellite and cable TV in the 1980’s. Smart devices and game consoles have enabled users to access OTT services on the big screen as easy as they would a traditional channel, with this, the main barrier to entry has been lifted and has enabled a level playing field for tech companies to disrupt traditional broadcasters.

If 2018 is when the first shots were fired, 2019 will be when the war begins.