Sports programming has always been a centerpiece of the linear pay TV package. Over the past few decades, Sports rights holders have constructed a sophisticated web of media partnerships to maximize revenue without sacrificing the broad audience reach that is crucial to building broader popularity, a developing future generations of fans. To do this, the large U.S. leagues generally addressed three different audiences with three different media product strategies.
1. Casual Fans, who want to watch some of the biggest games of the season, were addressed with “Game of the Week” deals with the big broadcast and cable networks;
2. Hometown Fans, who want to follow their local teams, were addressed with deals with local broadcast affiliates or Regional Sports Networks; and
3. Diehard Fans, who want access to many games of a particular sport, were addressed with the league’s direct-to-consumer products
In the past few years, Sports has rapidly become an important part of the video streaming landscape. But even as consumers have embraced these new streaming Sports offerings, much remains unknown about the future. That sophisticated web of deals is difficult to unwind, in order to transition to new digital models; further, the transition is made even more complicated by the fact that about half of American households have linear pay TV, and half don’t, so Sports rights holders need licensing deals that accommodate both groups.
In this report, Antenna takes stock of consumer subscription behavior to assess the elements of the Sports streaming landscape that seem CLEAR versus those that remain UNCLEAR
