Welcome to the blog of Dr. Lisa Burns' Media Studies senior capstone class (Section A) at Quinnipiac University. If you're looking for the latest on media industry trends and insightful media analysis, you've come to the right place.
Friday, April 7, 2017
Sports Blog 7, Question 3 (April 11th)
Has sports media reached a tipping
point in its reliance on traditional media? What changes, if any, do you expect
to see over the next 3 – 5 years? Limit: 7 responses
Live-streaming OTT and VOD are taking over the world of sports media. Sports media has reached a tipping point in its reliance on traditional media due to the growth in popularity of streaming services. Twitter is already a competitor in this industry with the rights to live-stream NHL games as well as MLB games. Facebook is also in the market to have one “Facebook Live” professional baseball game per week. “Facebook sees live sports as particularly valuable content for driving user engagement” (Spangler, Todd, “Facebook…”). Social media websites are not the only ones capitalizing on the popularity of streaming. ESPN, BAMTech, Playmaker, iStreamPlanet and other media companies are starting to make the shift to streaming all of their content. “BAMTech relationship gives the company ‘optionality’ to deliver core ESPN programming and other networks in a direct-to-consumer package that would cut out cable, satellite and telco TV distributors,” thus making ESPN more accessible to consumers via BAMTech instead of their cable subscription (Spangler, Todd, “ESPN…”). ESPN plans on including the popular college sports such as football and basketball on this streaming service as well as those growing in popularity. The market for OTT streaming is booming. With only a few established providers, NBC’s Playmaker and Turner ‘s iStreamPlanet need to capitalize on it. “Playmaker has driven NBC Sports Group’s live-streaming efforts, including the Rio Olympics, NFL, NHL, NASCAR, Premier League and Triple Crown races. In addition to streaming tens of thousands of NBC Sports events, the IOC signed on as Playmaker Media’s first client to provide live-streaming support for the Olympic Channel” (Dachman). NBC also saw success when they recently live-streamed the presidential election and debates. It seems that they have found new ways to engage consumers and fans. With the success of streaming already, it seems that sports media no longer needs to rely on traditional media to get their content to the fans.
Sadly, this will make some things in sports and sports media change. “As America’s traditional pastimes, baseball and football, suffer from aging fanbases and disinterest from younger sports fans, one sports league has stayed ahead of the curve — the NBA… in order to maintain that popularity, the league may have to change the game to cater to its audience” (Hadley). The average attention span is down to eight seconds, thus not only does sports media need to find a way to grasp on the fans’ attention, but also the games themselves. The game of basketball is already starting to address this need. The introduction of the 3-point line has helped limit the number of intentional fouls, thus the game is not running as long as previously. They also reduced the length of the game from 48 minutes to 44. In the future, they might even need to limit the number of timeouts a team can take to a smaller number, simply to retain their audience. Over the next three to five years, I expect the ways the games are played to be changed to fit in with the shortening of attention spans. I would not be surprised if the amount of time a football quarter is gets decreased since they are seeing a decline in viewership. Also, I expect to see an increase in established streaming services for sports. I feel like they will be making the jump away from traditional media and capitalizing on the popularity of streaming and having easy access to the media at your fingertips.
Hadley, Greg. "Millennials and Their Short Attention Spans Have the NBA considering Rule Changes." Sacbee. N.p., 15 Jan. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Spangler, Todd. "ESPN to Launch Over-the-Top Sports Service After Disney’s $1 Billion Investment in MLB’s BAMTech." Variety. N.p., 09 Aug. 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Spangler, Todd. "Facebook Wants MLB Live-Streaming Rights, Which Twitter Already Has for 2017 Season." Variety. N.p., 22 Feb. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
I do not think sports media has reached a tipping point in its reliance on traditional media – yet. However, I believe it will soon. As Nielsen put it, “Despite the proliferation of devices and unprecedented media fragmentation, sports programming continues to thrive...” (Nielsen). The sports industry is still doing just fine on traditional media. For example, “Sunday Night Football still ranks No. 1 in both measures” (ratings and viewings) (O’Connell). Even though its 2016 run was down ten percent from the previous season, many are blaming “attention on the presidential election, poor team matchups and the increasing number of Thursday Night Football airings” (O’Connell). A ten percent drop also isn’t that bad considering it is still ranked number one. Therefore, I don’t think sports media is at a tipping point just yet because it is still thriving and doing well on traditional media. However, I think it is going to soon because while it is still doing well, it is on the decline. There are going to be many changes over the next three to five years. Instead of relying on traditional media so much sports media is going to have to start evolving and relying on other types of media such at OTT services and even social media, which it is already starting to do. There are already streaming services out there for sports media and I think they are going to start growing in popularity over the next few years with the changes that we see are already in place. For example, “Disney is paying $1 billion for a 33% stake in Major League Baseball’s BAMTech streaming-media unit, and with the investment ESPN is planning to launch a new “multi-sport” subscription streaming service” (“ESPN to Launch”). Even though ESPN president John Skipper explained, “…the new OTT service would not cannibalize viewers from the sports giant’s existing pay-TV footprint” (“ESPN to Launch”), he also added “at least for now” (“ESPN to Launch”). Combining this with his later comment, “if the business model that is supporting these great media properties starts to fray in any significant way, we have the ability to pivot quickly and put out a direct-to-consumer product to potentially replace it or supplant it’” (“ESPN to Launch”), shows that even he believes that sports media’s reliance on traditional media is lessening since he is already putting measures in place in case this happens.
It is not just OTT streaming services that will help to decrease sports medias reliance on traditional media within the coming years, but also social media. Facebook and Twitter are both getting into the sports streaming game. While “Facebook is in discussions with Major League Baseball to secure rights to stream one game per week free on the social platform”, Twitter has already “inked a pact with MLB for rights to live-stream one baseball game per week, which will be exclusive among free over-the-top distributors” (“Facebook Wants MBL”). They both see the potential value streaming sports media can be in terms of “user engagement” (“Facebook Wants MBL”). With this shift already starting towards OTT services and social media streaming, I think sports media is going to start relying less and less on traditional media, but I also believe traditional media will always have it’s own special place for sports media. So long as it is around I don’t think traditional media will ever be obsolete when it comes to sports.
Works Cited O’Connell, Michael. “’Sunday Night Football’ Wraps Its Season Only Slightly Humbled at No. 1.” The Hollywood Reporter 04 Jan. 2014. Spangler, Todd. “ESPN to Launch Over-the-Top Sports Service After Disney’s $1 Billion Investment in MLB’s BAMTech.” Variety 09, Aug. 2016. Spangler, Todd. “Facebook Wants MLB Live-Streaming Rights, Which Twitter Already Has for 2017 Season.” Variety 22 Feb. 2017. “Year In Sports Media Report 2016.” Nielsen.com. Accessed 10 April 2017. Web.
I don’t believe that sports media has reached a tipping point on its reliance on traditional media. Although there is tremendous growth with social media, OTT services, and on-demand service, sports viewership is still always in the top ratings for viewers. Overall media consumption across devices grew 13% in 2016 (Nielsen.) Even though fans are still engaging with sports and sports media in large masses, the advancements in technology have allowed fans to find and watch content in many new ways, which hurts traditional media. 2016 was home to the Rio Olympic Games, which obviously brought huge numbers to social chatter and television viewership. On August 14th, Usain Bolt was running his event to become the first athlete to win three gold medals in the Men’s 100m Track and Field Final. At 9:28pm following the conclusion of Bolt’s winning race, there were nearly 14,000 tweets and 38.4 million television viewers talking about Bolt (Nielsen.) Another example is for the sport of basketball and the rule changes that have been because of the way fans receive content. The NBA and their starts are very popular on social media and in order to maintain that popularity, the league has to cater to the millennial that are driving the social media conversation and numbers. Although the average NBA game is shorter than the NFL or MLB, the NBA knows they still have some problems to address (Hadley.) Adam Silver, the commissioner of the league had this to say about the problems facing the NBA and their slow pace; “Obviously people, particularly millenials, have increasingly short attention spans, so its something as a business we need to pay attention to” (Hadley.) In my opinion, the NBA is doing mostly everything right but the last few minutes of a game are torcher. The teams have too many timeouts and when you have a commercial break every single possession, it tends to make me turn to twitter to follow the game instead of finishing it on television. One thing that is affecting the traditional media the most is the growth of social media. Fans are now always on their phones during games to see states and highlights. When fans watch games, they are most likely scrolling through their phones on a social media site at the same time. Social media allows you to become more educated on sports too. You can look back on stats, highlights, and interviews and so much more just by searching twitter quickly. Social media also gives fans the ability to speak their mind and interact with other fans while the game is being played. So now fans don’t even have to be watching the game to know what is happening. You can even get live score updates quicker on twitter than you can through and ESPN app or push notification. Works Cited:
Hadley, Greg. "Millennials and Their Short Attention Spans Have the NBA considering Rule Changes." Sacbee. N.p., 15 Jan. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Spangler, Todd. "Facebook Wants MLB Live-Streaming Rights, Which Twitter Already Has for 2017 Season." Variety. N.p., 22 Feb. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
“Year In Sports Media Report 2016.” Nielsen.com. Accessed 10 April 2017. Web.
As the number of chord-cutters increase, the reliance on alternate methods of consuming sports media has begun to change. That being said, sports media has not yet reached a tipping point in its reliance on traditional media. Just because companies such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming eager to live-stream sporting events does not mean that the traditional sports networks and sports media have anything to fret. Try to look at the opportunity to get involved with OTT/VOD services from a business standpoint. Being live-broadcasted onto social media has the potential to be an extra channel to boost viewership, since some sports networks have been struggling recently. In MLB’s case, a live-streaming deal with Facebook could potentially expose the league to a global audience of approximately 1.8 billion people (Spangler). In the NFL’s case, NBC’s 2016 Sunday Night Football viewership was down 10 percent – some accredit this to a number of distractions ranging from attention on the presidential election, to poor team matchups, to an increasing number of Thursday Night Football airings (O’Connell). Regardless the reason, viewership was down 10 percent and if the NFL had streamed the games over social media, they may have been able to recover from the lack of ratings produced that season. Aside from the ratings, OTT/VOD services and live-streaming deals can open new revenue streams in order to maximize profit.
A threat that I see comes from companies such as BAMTech, Playmaker, and iStreamPlanet. In an interview with CNBC, CEO Bob Iger said that BAMTech has the option to deliver core ESPN programming and other networks a direct-to-consumer package that would cut out cable, satellite, and TV distributors (Spangler). If this is true, traditional sports media forms may have something to worry about. In the future, the only way traditional sports media will reach a tipping point is if the OTT/VOD services offer the best bargain for a consumer’s money, and also can simultaneously fix the viewership issue from the sports league perspective. Within 3-5 years I don’t see much changing. If anything, the OTT/VOD services will begin to start up and act as a supplement to traditional sports media. As the older generations start to pass, that is when I see the traditional forms of sports media staring a tipping point in the face.
Works Cited: O'Connell, Michael. "'Sunday Night Football' Wraps Its Season Only Slightly Humbled at No. 1." The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, 04 Jan. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. Spangler, Todd. "ESPN to Launch Over-the-Top Sports Service After Disney’s $1 Billion Investment in MLB’s BAMTech." Variety. Variety, 09 Aug. 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. Spangler, Todd. "Facebook Wants MLB Live-Streaming Rights, Which Twitter Already Has for 2017 Season." Variety. Variety, 22 Feb. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
I believe sports media will always have a home on traditional media platforms, however, there is no denying the recent viewership trends to stream games live from their phone or tablet, or to keep up to date with games through social media and other OTT services. I do not know the exact percentage but I’d guess that easily more than half of bars in the United States utilize TV sets to broadcast sports events, the two are synonymous with one another, and this is merely one avenue, if you will, to still watch sports through traditional media platforms. Despite Sunday Night Football losing a bit of viewership in 2016, it was only down 10 percent and still boasted an average of 20.3 million viewers (O’Connell). There has, however, been a large push for sports media to be integrated with social media platforms and I suspect this to naturally continue within the next three to five years. Facebook has been attempting to strike deals with the MLB in order to reserve rights to stream games for free on their website. Twitter has been ahead of the curve and will be showing MLB games in this current 2017 season (Spangler). Facebook’s deal will prove to be bolder than Twitter, with the lack of advertisements, whereas Twitter will have ads for its live programming.
. NBC has introduced a new OTT/VOD service with iStreamPlanet, NBC plans to not only target high-profile sports events like the Tour de France but they intend to look into making streams available for niche fan bases, such as the growing fan base for cricket in the U.S. (Dachman). Much like the move from cable television towards streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, sports media is also seeing a push for incorporation of similar streaming services along with social media trying to create a new platform to view and chat about the sports game at hand. As mentioned earlier the core root of sports media on traditional media platforms will still be a huge player, but streaming services and deals will make sport events more accessible to the masses. Works Cited Dachman, Chief Editor Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - 3:33 Pm Print This Story, Jason. "NBC's Playmaker Media, Turner's IStreamPlanet Combo Aims To Reshape Booming OTT/VOD-Services Market." Sports Video Group. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. O'Connell, Michael. "'Sunday Night Football' Wraps Its Season Only Slightly Humbled at No. 1." The Hollywood Reporter. N.p., 04 Jan. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. Spangler, Todd. "Facebook Wants MLB Live-Streaming Rights, Which Twitter Already Has for 2017 Season." Variety, 22 Feb. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
I think at this point in time sports media is walking a very fine line with its reliance on traditional media. With that being said, I would not be at all surprised to see that balance of power shift away from traditional media in the near future. Everything we have talked about this semester suggests that there is a definite shift away from consumption of any form of media through traditional outlets and a strong surge towards digital media to provide what we “need”. We’ve certainly seen this being embraced by politicians with the recent election, and especially the power of hashtags, and I would argue that we’re starting to see it more prevalently in major sporting events today. Whether it’s with the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup Playoffs, there are hashtags to categorize general discussion, team specific hashtags, and even particular ones for player nicknames. Now we’re seeing that taken a step further with live streaming of these events on social media platforms, such as Twitter. One article said that for this baseball season, “Twitter will start a weekly MLB game… with the specific schedule yet to be determined. Also under the MLB Advanced Media deal, Twitter has rights to NHL games” (Spangler 2017). I would say that these are two of the most popular “digital” sports if you will, or least sports that have a large digital following. I personally follow many baseball and hockey teams on Twitter in particular, so this is a very profitable way for sports media to reach another audience. That being said, I would suspect as more and more households cut the cord that there will be an increased reliance on these online streaming services for sports specifically. Twitter isn’t the only company trying to capitalize on this shift in consumer behavior either – Facebook is also, “…in discussions with Major League Baseball to secure rights to stream one game per week free on the social platform” (Spangler 2017).
I also think the prevalence of OTT and SVOD services have impacted the way in which consumers receive all their sports viewing instances. Disney and ESPN provide a great example with their recent investment of, “$1 billion for a 33% stake in Major League Baseball’s BAMTech streaming-media unit” (Spangler 2016). However I find it noteworthy that ESPN president John Skipper specifically mentioned in his prepared statement, “…that the new OTT service would not cannibalize viewers from the sports giant’s existing pay-TV footprint – at least, for now” (Spangler 2016).
More than anything I believe at this point in time, when so many viewers do still rely on traditional media, it is important to utilize social media and digital services as a complement to viewing offerings instead of as seeing it as competition. If traditional media sources can find a way to ensure that they offer a service that strengthens their overall provisions, people will have no reason to diverge from their current patterns. When asked about the “multi-screen universe” president of NBC Olympics production and programming, Jim Bell, said, “[millennials] almost can’t watch TV without a second screen… I think Twitter serves, whether it’s a media event or politics or sports, as a very capable second screen” (Best 2017). It really is just about how they harness the offerings. In the next 3-5 years I definitely anticipate a stronger reliance on non-traditional media with regards to sports specifically, however I still believe traditional media will continue to be a powerhouse when it comes to sports. After all, there’s no excitement in watching the Super Bowl on an iPhone… but on a 60” flat screen? Much more enjoyable experience.
Live-streaming OTT and VOD are taking over the world of sports media. Sports media has reached a tipping point in its reliance on traditional media due to the growth in popularity of streaming services. Twitter is already a competitor in this industry with the rights to live-stream NHL games as well as MLB games. Facebook is also in the market to have one “Facebook Live” professional baseball game per week. “Facebook sees live sports as particularly valuable content for driving user engagement” (Spangler, Todd, “Facebook…”). Social media websites are not the only ones capitalizing on the popularity of streaming. ESPN, BAMTech, Playmaker, iStreamPlanet and other media companies are starting to make the shift to streaming all of their content.
ReplyDelete“BAMTech relationship gives the company ‘optionality’ to deliver core ESPN programming and other networks in a direct-to-consumer package that would cut out cable, satellite and telco TV distributors,” thus making ESPN more accessible to consumers via BAMTech instead of their cable subscription (Spangler, Todd, “ESPN…”). ESPN plans on including the popular college sports such as football and basketball on this streaming service as well as those growing in popularity. The market for OTT streaming is booming. With only a few established providers, NBC’s Playmaker and Turner ‘s iStreamPlanet need to capitalize on it. “Playmaker has driven NBC Sports Group’s live-streaming efforts, including the Rio Olympics, NFL, NHL, NASCAR, Premier League and Triple Crown races. In addition to streaming tens of thousands of NBC Sports events, the IOC signed on as Playmaker Media’s first client to provide live-streaming support for the Olympic Channel” (Dachman). NBC also saw success when they recently live-streamed the presidential election and debates. It seems that they have found new ways to engage consumers and fans. With the success of streaming already, it seems that sports media no longer needs to rely on traditional media to get their content to the fans.
Sicbaldi Continued
DeleteSadly, this will make some things in sports and sports media change. “As America’s traditional pastimes, baseball and football, suffer from aging fanbases and disinterest from younger sports fans, one sports league has stayed ahead of the curve — the NBA… in order to maintain that popularity, the league may have to change the game to cater to its audience” (Hadley). The average attention span is down to eight seconds, thus not only does sports media need to find a way to grasp on the fans’ attention, but also the games themselves. The game of basketball is already starting to address this need. The introduction of the 3-point line has helped limit the number of intentional fouls, thus the game is not running as long as previously. They also reduced the length of the game from 48 minutes to 44. In the future, they might even need to limit the number of timeouts a team can take to a smaller number, simply to retain their audience. Over the next three to five years, I expect the ways the games are played to be changed to fit in with the shortening of attention spans. I would not be surprised if the amount of time a football quarter is gets decreased since they are seeing a decline in viewership. Also, I expect to see an increase in established streaming services for sports. I feel like they will be making the jump away from traditional media and capitalizing on the popularity of streaming and having easy access to the media at your fingertips.
Sicbaldi Sources
DeleteWorks cited
Dachman, Jason. "NBC's Playmaker Media, Turner's IStreamPlanet Combo Aims To Reshape
Booming OTT/VOD-Services Market." Sports Video Group. N.p., 10 Jan. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Hadley, Greg. "Millennials and Their Short Attention Spans Have the NBA considering Rule
Changes." Sacbee. N.p., 15 Jan. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Spangler, Todd. "ESPN to Launch Over-the-Top Sports Service After Disney’s $1 Billion
Investment in MLB’s BAMTech." Variety. N.p., 09 Aug. 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Spangler, Todd. "Facebook Wants MLB Live-Streaming Rights, Which Twitter Already Has for
2017 Season." Variety. N.p., 22 Feb. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
I do not think sports media has reached a tipping point in its reliance on traditional media – yet. However, I believe it will soon. As Nielsen put it, “Despite the proliferation of devices and unprecedented media fragmentation, sports programming continues to thrive...” (Nielsen). The sports industry is still doing just fine on traditional media. For example, “Sunday Night Football still ranks No. 1 in both measures” (ratings and viewings) (O’Connell). Even though its 2016 run was down ten percent from the previous season, many are blaming “attention on the presidential election, poor team matchups and the increasing number of Thursday Night Football airings” (O’Connell). A ten percent drop also isn’t that bad considering it is still ranked number one. Therefore, I don’t think sports media is at a tipping point just yet because it is still thriving and doing well on traditional media. However, I think it is going to soon because while it is still doing well, it is on the decline.
ReplyDeleteThere are going to be many changes over the next three to five years. Instead of relying on traditional media so much sports media is going to have to start evolving and relying on other types of media such at OTT services and even social media, which it is already starting to do. There are already streaming services out there for sports media and I think they are going to start growing in popularity over the next few years with the changes that we see are already in place. For example, “Disney is paying $1 billion for a 33% stake in Major League Baseball’s BAMTech streaming-media unit, and with the investment ESPN is planning to launch a new “multi-sport” subscription streaming service” (“ESPN to Launch”). Even though ESPN president John Skipper explained, “…the new OTT service would not cannibalize viewers from the sports giant’s existing pay-TV footprint” (“ESPN to Launch”), he also added “at least for now” (“ESPN to Launch”). Combining this with his later comment, “if the business model that is supporting these great media properties starts to fray in any significant way, we have the ability to pivot quickly and put out a direct-to-consumer product to potentially replace it or supplant it’” (“ESPN to Launch”), shows that even he believes that sports media’s reliance on traditional media is lessening since he is already putting measures in place in case this happens.
It is not just OTT streaming services that will help to decrease sports medias reliance on traditional media within the coming years, but also social media. Facebook and Twitter are both getting into the sports streaming game. While “Facebook is in discussions with Major League Baseball to secure rights to stream one game per week free on the social platform”, Twitter has already “inked a pact with MLB for rights to live-stream one baseball game per week, which will be exclusive among free over-the-top distributors” (“Facebook Wants MBL”). They both see the potential value streaming sports media can be in terms of “user engagement” (“Facebook Wants MBL”). With this shift already starting towards OTT services and social media streaming, I think sports media is going to start relying less and less on traditional media, but I also believe traditional media will always have it’s own special place for sports media. So long as it is around I don’t think traditional media will ever be obsolete when it comes to sports.
DeleteWorks Cited
DeleteO’Connell, Michael. “’Sunday Night Football’ Wraps Its Season Only Slightly Humbled at No. 1.” The Hollywood Reporter 04 Jan. 2014.
Spangler, Todd. “ESPN to Launch Over-the-Top Sports Service After Disney’s $1 Billion Investment in MLB’s BAMTech.” Variety 09, Aug. 2016.
Spangler, Todd. “Facebook Wants MLB Live-Streaming Rights, Which Twitter Already Has for 2017 Season.” Variety 22 Feb. 2017.
“Year In Sports Media Report 2016.” Nielsen.com. Accessed 10 April 2017. Web.
ReplyDeleteI don’t believe that sports media has reached a tipping point on its reliance on traditional media. Although there is tremendous growth with social media, OTT services, and on-demand service, sports viewership is still always in the top ratings for viewers. Overall media consumption across devices grew 13% in 2016 (Nielsen.) Even though fans are still engaging with sports and sports media in large masses, the advancements in technology have allowed fans to find and watch content in many new ways, which hurts traditional media. 2016 was home to the Rio Olympic Games, which obviously brought huge numbers to social chatter and television viewership. On August 14th, Usain Bolt was running his event to become the first athlete to win three gold medals in the Men’s 100m Track and Field Final. At 9:28pm following the conclusion of Bolt’s winning race, there were nearly 14,000 tweets and 38.4 million television viewers talking about Bolt (Nielsen.)
Another example is for the sport of basketball and the rule changes that have been because of the way fans receive content. The NBA and their starts are very popular on social media and in order to maintain that popularity, the league has to cater to the millennial that are driving the social media conversation and numbers. Although the average NBA game is shorter than the NFL or MLB, the NBA knows they still have some problems to address (Hadley.) Adam Silver, the commissioner of the league had this to say about the problems facing the NBA and their slow pace; “Obviously people, particularly millenials, have increasingly short attention spans, so its something as a business we need to pay attention to” (Hadley.) In my opinion, the NBA is doing mostly everything right but the last few minutes of a game are torcher. The teams have too many timeouts and when you have a commercial break every single possession, it tends to make me turn to twitter to follow the game instead of finishing it on television.
One thing that is affecting the traditional media the most is the growth of social media. Fans are now always on their phones during games to see states and highlights. When fans watch games, they are most likely scrolling through their phones on a social media site at the same time. Social media allows you to become more educated on sports too. You can look back on stats, highlights, and interviews and so much more just by searching twitter quickly. Social media also gives fans the ability to speak their mind and interact with other fans while the game is being played. So now fans don’t even have to be watching the game to know what is happening. You can even get live score updates quicker on twitter than you can through and ESPN app or push notification.
Works Cited:
Hadley, Greg. "Millennials and Their Short Attention Spans Have the NBA considering Rule
Changes." Sacbee. N.p., 15 Jan. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Spangler, Todd. "Facebook Wants MLB Live-Streaming Rights, Which Twitter Already Has for
2017 Season." Variety. N.p., 22 Feb. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
“Year In Sports Media Report 2016.” Nielsen.com. Accessed 10 April 2017. Web.
As the number of chord-cutters increase, the reliance on alternate methods of consuming sports media has begun to change. That being said, sports media has not yet reached a tipping point in its reliance on traditional media. Just because companies such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming eager to live-stream sporting events does not mean that the traditional sports networks and sports media have anything to fret. Try to look at the opportunity to get involved with OTT/VOD services from a business standpoint. Being live-broadcasted onto social media has the potential to be an extra channel to boost viewership, since some sports networks have been struggling recently. In MLB’s case, a live-streaming deal with Facebook could potentially expose the league to a global audience of approximately 1.8 billion people (Spangler). In the NFL’s case, NBC’s 2016 Sunday Night Football viewership was down 10 percent – some accredit this to a number of distractions ranging from attention on the presidential election, to poor team matchups, to an increasing number of Thursday Night Football airings (O’Connell). Regardless the reason, viewership was down 10 percent and if the NFL had streamed the games over social media, they may have been able to recover from the lack of ratings produced that season. Aside from the ratings, OTT/VOD services and live-streaming deals can open new revenue streams in order to maximize profit.
ReplyDeleteA threat that I see comes from companies such as BAMTech, Playmaker, and iStreamPlanet. In an interview with CNBC, CEO Bob Iger said that BAMTech has the option to deliver core ESPN programming and other networks a direct-to-consumer package that would cut out cable, satellite, and TV distributors (Spangler). If this is true, traditional sports media forms may have something to worry about. In the future, the only way traditional sports media will reach a tipping point is if the OTT/VOD services offer the best bargain for a consumer’s money, and also can simultaneously fix the viewership issue from the sports league perspective. Within 3-5 years I don’t see much changing. If anything, the OTT/VOD services will begin to start up and act as a supplement to traditional sports media. As the older generations start to pass, that is when I see the traditional forms of sports media staring a tipping point in the face.
Works Cited:
DeleteO'Connell, Michael. "'Sunday Night Football' Wraps Its Season Only Slightly Humbled at No. 1." The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, 04 Jan. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Spangler, Todd. "ESPN to Launch Over-the-Top Sports Service After Disney’s $1 Billion Investment in MLB’s BAMTech." Variety. Variety, 09 Aug. 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Spangler, Todd. "Facebook Wants MLB Live-Streaming Rights, Which Twitter Already Has for 2017 Season." Variety. Variety, 22 Feb. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
I believe sports media will always have a home on traditional media platforms, however, there is no denying the recent viewership trends to stream games live from their phone or tablet, or to keep up to date with games through social media and other OTT services. I do not know the exact percentage but I’d guess that easily more than half of bars in the United States utilize TV sets to broadcast sports events, the two are synonymous with one another, and this is merely one avenue, if you will, to still watch sports through traditional media platforms. Despite Sunday Night Football losing a bit of viewership in 2016, it was only down 10 percent and still boasted an average of 20.3 million viewers (O’Connell). There has, however, been a large push for sports media to be integrated with social media platforms and I suspect this to naturally continue within the next three to five years. Facebook has been attempting to strike deals with the MLB in order to reserve rights to stream games for free on their website. Twitter has been ahead of the curve and will be showing MLB games in this current 2017 season (Spangler). Facebook’s deal will prove to be bolder than Twitter, with the lack of advertisements, whereas Twitter will have ads for its live programming.
ReplyDeleteKronenberger Cont.
Delete. NBC has introduced a new OTT/VOD service with iStreamPlanet, NBC plans to not only target high-profile sports events like the Tour de France but they intend to look into making streams available for niche fan bases, such as the growing fan base for cricket in the U.S. (Dachman). Much like the move from cable television towards streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, sports media is also seeing a push for incorporation of similar streaming services along with social media trying to create a new platform to view and chat about the sports game at hand. As mentioned earlier the core root of sports media on traditional media platforms will still be a huge player, but streaming services and deals will make sport events more accessible to the masses.
Works Cited
Dachman, Chief Editor Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - 3:33 Pm Print This Story, Jason. "NBC's Playmaker Media, Turner's IStreamPlanet Combo Aims To Reshape Booming OTT/VOD-Services Market." Sports Video Group. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
O'Connell, Michael. "'Sunday Night Football' Wraps Its Season Only Slightly Humbled at No. 1." The Hollywood Reporter. N.p., 04 Jan. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Spangler, Todd. "Facebook Wants MLB Live-Streaming Rights, Which Twitter Already Has for 2017 Season." Variety, 22 Feb. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Mackenzie Rowe (1/3)
ReplyDeleteI think at this point in time sports media is walking a very fine line with its reliance on traditional media. With that being said, I would not be at all surprised to see that balance of power shift away from traditional media in the near future. Everything we have talked about this semester suggests that there is a definite shift away from consumption of any form of media through traditional outlets and a strong surge towards digital media to provide what we “need”. We’ve certainly seen this being embraced by politicians with the recent election, and especially the power of hashtags, and I would argue that we’re starting to see it more prevalently in major sporting events today. Whether it’s with the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup Playoffs, there are hashtags to categorize general discussion, team specific hashtags, and even particular ones for player nicknames. Now we’re seeing that taken a step further with live streaming of these events on social media platforms, such as Twitter. One article said that for this baseball season, “Twitter will start a weekly MLB game… with the specific schedule yet to be determined. Also under the MLB Advanced Media deal, Twitter has rights to NHL games” (Spangler 2017). I would say that these are two of the most popular “digital” sports if you will, or least sports that have a large digital following. I personally follow many baseball and hockey teams on Twitter in particular, so this is a very profitable way for sports media to reach another audience. That being said, I would suspect as more and more households cut the cord that there will be an increased reliance on these online streaming services for sports specifically. Twitter isn’t the only company trying to capitalize on this shift in consumer behavior either – Facebook is also, “…in discussions with Major League Baseball to secure rights to stream one game per week free on the social platform” (Spangler 2017).
Mackenzie Rowe (2/3)
DeleteI also think the prevalence of OTT and SVOD services have impacted the way in which consumers receive all their sports viewing instances. Disney and ESPN provide a great example with their recent investment of, “$1 billion for a 33% stake in Major League Baseball’s BAMTech streaming-media unit” (Spangler 2016). However I find it noteworthy that ESPN president John Skipper specifically mentioned in his prepared statement, “…that the new OTT service would not cannibalize viewers from the sports giant’s existing pay-TV footprint – at least, for now” (Spangler 2016).
More than anything I believe at this point in time, when so many viewers do still rely on traditional media, it is important to utilize social media and digital services as a complement to viewing offerings instead of as seeing it as competition. If traditional media sources can find a way to ensure that they offer a service that strengthens their overall provisions, people will have no reason to diverge from their current patterns. When asked about the “multi-screen universe” president of NBC Olympics production and programming, Jim Bell, said, “[millennials] almost can’t watch TV without a second screen… I think Twitter serves, whether it’s a media event or politics or sports, as a very capable second screen” (Best 2017). It really is just about how they harness the offerings. In the next 3-5 years I definitely anticipate a stronger reliance on non-traditional media with regards to sports specifically, however I still believe traditional media will continue to be a powerhouse when it comes to sports. After all, there’s no excitement in watching the Super Bowl on an iPhone… but on a 60” flat screen? Much more enjoyable experience.
Mackenzie Rowe (3/3)
DeleteSources
Best, Neil. “Twitter’s had a huge impact on sports, but not all athletes, media members are on board.” Newsday. 1 Apr. 2017. Web.
Spangler, Todd. "ESPN to Launch Over-the-Top Sports Service After Disney’s $1 Billion Investment in MLB’s BAMTech." Variety. 09 Aug. 2016. Web.
Spangler, Todd. "Facebook Wants MLB Live-Streaming Rights, Which Twitter Already Has for 2017 Season." Variety. 22 Feb. 2017. Web.