Welcome to the blog of Dr. Lisa Burns' Media Studies senior capstone class (2 pm section) 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!
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Sports & Celebrity Blog 9, Question 3 (April 10th)
Has sports media reached a tipping point
in its reliance on traditional/legacy media? What changes, if any, do you
expect to see over the next 3 – 5 years?Limit: 6 responses
I think that sports media has in fact reached a tipping point on legacy or traditional media. A large portion of this is due to the same reasons that news media has reached a tipping point on the same media systems. There is an oversaturation of 24-hour coverage, everybody and their grandmother has an opinion on social media/ podcasts/ blogging sites.
I think the largest changes that should be expected to come are the same that have already been happening with other facets of traditional media. There will become a greater reliance upon access to sports media that is constantly updated while at the same time can be time-shifted. People want to watch live sports and updates whenever they can, and this will likely be done through services such as ESPN + (Alder). ESPN + gives sports fans a vast back catalogue of documentaries, live sporting events, and exclusive studio programs. It is essentially ESPN’s version of the WWE network that launched a few years ago. If its cheaper for me to have ESPN +, Netflix, and YouTube for my entertainment why would I stick with traditional cable packages? The answer may be that ESPN + will not have the rights to all games that a fan wants to watch. This is a fair point, but if ESPN gets enough rights to big games then fans may be willing to ditch cable for ESPN + and to find streams of the rest of their games online.
Traditional viewing of the NFL has shrunk greatly in recent memory, and a large reason for this is that fans simply have better things to do with their time than sit through every single commercial that lands on NBC, CBS, and FOX. The NFL is by far the sport with the greatest saturation of commercial breaks, and the league’s rankings compared with competitors shows that there needs to be some sort of shift otherwise they are bound to continue losing ground. The lost ground so far has led to a 10% drop off in American adults who claim that they are fans. (Roberts) I would expect the NFL to shift towards airing more games online with partners alongside of their television deals. The NFL already currently does so with a deal they have with Amazon (previously Twitter had this deal) to air Thursday night games, but I believe it would be in the leagues best interest to expand this beyond 10 Thursday night games each year. (Tepper)
Somewhat tangentially and likely further down the road than 3-5 years but, I think the future of VR and the consumption of sports media will be fascinating to explore in the future. The NBA already offers VR viewing of games for free with partnered VR headsets that are marketed as the closest viewing experience to watching a game courtside there is other than actually being courtside. (Men’s Journal) Whether or not the technology is there yet for the claims to be true, I believe in the future VR viewing of sports will be more commonplace even if it is only to a niche audience.
Men's Journal. (2018). The Highs and Lows of Watching an NBA Game in VR. [online] Available at: https://www.mensjournal.com/gear/the-highs-and-lows-of-watching-an-nba-game-in-vr-w510072/ [Accessed 6 Apr. 2018].
Roberts, D. (2018). NFL lost fans in past 5 years, while NBA, NHL, pro soccer gained. [online] Yahoo Finance. Available at: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nfl-lost-fans-past-5-years-nba-nhl-pro-soccer-gained-135434674.html?utm_content=buffer6ccb6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer [Accessed 6 Apr. 2018].
Tepper, F. (2018). Amazon will live stream 10 NFL games this season, replacing Twitter. [online] TechCrunch. Available at: https://beta.techcrunch.com/2017/04/04/amazon-will-live-stream-10-nfl-games-this-season-replacing-twitter/?_ga=2.114287623.1062588487.1523054762-654871406.1523054762 [Accessed 6 Apr. 2018].
According to a 2017 Nielsen report, NFL ratings dropped 8% between the 2016 and 2017 football seasons. From 2015-2017, ratings dropped 15% (Kahler). According Anthony Crupi from Advertising Age, “The 18-34 demographic is just completely disappearing from TV.” (Kahler) Nielsen’s second quarter 2017 statistics support that, stating that TV consumption among the 18-34 age group is down 37.9% over the last five years. (Kahler) Somebody better call Bob Dylan, because “The Times They Are A Changin’” in the media world and sports media is finally being forced to adjust. The NFL has responded to this by testing out a variety of platforms including Yahoo, Twitter, and Amazon Prime. It has also inked a deal with Verizon to stream in-market games, the Super Bowl, and other playoff games on smartphones and tablets through the NFL Mobile App (Kahler). NFL TV rights deals expire in 2021 and 2022 which could inspire further change, but Cupri does not believe that the NFL is going to full pull away from using cable as its primary means of delivery (Kahler). One big change that could change this strategy for the NFL and other professional sports leagues is ESPN’s new, Disney-backed over-the-top streaming service, ESPN+, which is set to launch on April 12. According to Disney CEO Bob Iger, the service will stream over 10,000 hours of live sports each year. It will show games which are not broadcast on ESPN and will include MLB, NHL, and MLS matches as well as grand slam tennis and college sports (Bond). While consumers who pay for ESPN will get the service through authentication, ESPN will also offer separate subscriptions (Bond) which could help the company to draw in cord-cutters and cord-nevers. As Bernstein analyst Bob Junger explains it, “The new ESPN service looks initially positioned as an add-on product for existing pay TV subs, but it's a very slippery slope from there to a true, full-blown network substitute. Disney could pull that switch any time.” (Bond) This could bring in a massive shift in sports broadcasting and could bring about the end of TV, or damage Disney. This will be interesting to watch out for as time goes on. While a time of unpredictability is coming to the world of sports broadcasting, Turner Sports’ Craig Barry has offered some sound predictions in a Business Insider report. One of Barry’s main points is the reliance on a media community versus a fanbase (McAlone). Barry has observed through Turner’s dive into esports that a community drives the conversation and is vocal in providing feedback. To Barry, it is important to cater to the community, rather than a casual, silent fan base (McAlone). This willingness to on community feedback will likely be crucial in determining whether a professional sports league sinks or swims when the Titanic traditional media capsizes. Another short-term change that Barry highlights is a focus on the conversation around sports broadcasts and sports programming to come from social media rather than the other way around. In the past, it was the legacy media and other gatekeepers that drove the conversation. Now, sports media has to cater to what the audience is talking about (McAlone). On top of that, leagues and services that can figure out how best to monetize over-the-top programming will have a massive advantage as just how to do this is still in question. Meanwhile, audience engagement with players will also be a determining factor in distinguishing the sinkers from the swimmers as Barry cites player accessibility and closeness to the audience as the reason for the NBA’s recent success (McAlone).
Works Cited
Bond, Paul. "Can Disney Create a Netflix of Sports?" The Hollywood Reporter 16 Aug. 2017. Web.
Kahler, Kalyn. "How the NFL Is Watched," Sports Illustrated 28 Dec. 2017. Web.
McAlone, Nathan. “The Internet Is Changing Sports TV, as Cable Feels the Heat.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 25 May 2017, www.businessinsider.com/future-of-sports-tv-according-to-turner-sports-exec-craig-barry-2017-5.
Sports media has reached a plateau with the use of traditional forms of media. Audiences are not patiently waiting for their favorite sports games on cable anymore. Most individuals want to watch several games at the same time, or view their favorite sports teams across the globe. Then they run into the problem that their television providers pose. Should they just watch what their television provider gives them options for, or pay more to receive more access to other channels that stream different games and sports? Many sports fans today just find clips online and highlights from games using social media, rather than watching an event live or paying cable fees.
On-demand platforms seem to be what audiences are currently shifting to. I expect within the next 3-5 years that is where the entire audience will look to obtain sports media. ESPN is in the process of changing with its audience, after it lost a significant number of subscribers. ESPN historically has attained most of its money from cable subscribers, and during the past few years they have seen a loss in that category. ESPN+ is a new streaming service that will be direct-to-consumer. It will have a subscription fee of $4.99 per month. For people who have moved to streaming that is a great deal in comparison to cable, if all they watch is sports media. ESPN is making ESPN+ available through ESPN.com and their ESPN app. Kristie Alder from ESPN stated in an article “This direct-to-consumer platform will allow subscribers to access to thousands of additional live sporting events, original content and shows, and on-demand video library” (Alder). Now, ESPN will have a way for their viewers to watch anything that ESPN has the rights to broadcast. In the next few years I can see many loyal fans who are currently on cable switching over to just this subscription based platform, if the main reason they have cable is to watch sporting events. Dylan Gwinn wrote from Breitbart News “...the likelihood that NFL games might soon disappear from their network; and it’s very hard to see why anyone will be watching the network in the next few years” (Gwinn). In his article, Gwinn is talking about how the NFL has been separating its fan base, and the possibility that in the next few years the NFL might not be the most-watched sport that ESPN offers. This would be extremely bad for ESPN, because the NFL is their biggest money maker today even with the recent losses of viewers.
The NFL has tried to reach its audience on a more streaming-based platform in the past few years. Kalyn Kahler in an article from Sports Illustrated stated “For the last three seasons, the league has streamed games on Yahoo, Twitter and Amazon Prime, and recently signed a five-year deal with Verizon that will provide anyone free mobile and tablet streams of in-market games, the playoffs and the Super Bowl via the NFL Mobile app” (Kahler). The use of these services has allowed the NFL to still retain some of its audience. The NFL has seen a decrease in subscribers for many reasons; there have been protests, non-competitive games, and injury concerns, to name a few. While the NFL has gone down in viewers, the NBA has seen a jump in subscribers. ESPN had all their eggs in one basket with the NFL. That worked for a while, but now ESPN needs to put more focus on the NBA as well.
Works Cited Adler, Kristie. "ESPN+ to Launch April 12, Bringing Sports Fans More Live Sports, Exclusive Originals and On-Demand Library – All for $4.99 Per Month," ESPN PR. 2 April 2018. Web.
Gwinn, Dylan. “ESPN Lost 480,000 Subscribers in October.” Breitbart, 31 Oct. 2017.Web.
Kahler, Kalyn. "How the NFL Is Watched," Sports Illustrated 28 Dec. 2017. Web.
One of the biggest industries to always rely on the traditional platform of live television has been sports. In fact, it’s probably the main reason my roommates and myself still in fact have a cable subscription. But with the large shift over the last few years towards a more streaming-based way of living, sports media is reaching its tipping point with its reliance on these traditional platforms.
Audiences (and primarily the younger generations) are becoming accustomed to this convenient way of viewing and so with sports media remaining more traditional, we’ve seen a shift in numbers. As Mashable.com notes, “The Super Bowl is the single biggest American sporting event, but this year its ratings tanked dramatically — except online. Though the NFL playoff final drew seven percent fewer viewers than last year (representing some eight million people), the online audience actually grew by 15 percent.” The NFL has always been seen as one of the tops when looking at sports media. However, they haven’t shied away from their own controversies within the last few years but this on top of the non-stop commercials and inconvenience in viewing for some fans, has led to a huge drop in ratings for them. Recently, the NFL has shown signs of change as they struck deals to stream certain games through such platforms as Yahoo, Twitter, Amazon Prime and most recently, a five-year deal with Verizon. (Kahler) Even speaking from a personal standpoint, often on certain gamedays, my teams won’t be shown in my area. But I know that various streaming platforms can help to fix that (can’t necessarily say if they’re legal or not). My point being that there isn’t a less demand for sports, its that there’s a greater demand for variation how they’re viewed.
I think we’re in the midst of a huge shift in sports entertainment and how it’s viewed, especially with the launch of ESPN’s OTT service. According to Brian Steinberg, “ESPN said it would make available hundreds of hours of professional and college sports, its library of programming and even rugby and cricket matches on its new “ESPN+” streaming service, which it intends to launch April 12 at a price of $4.99 per month.” With ESPN’s recent drops in views, I think this is a very bold move by then as well as Disney. I think by applying the convenience factor to the world of sports entertainment with this streaming service, and especially with a very fair price I’ll add, this is a move that will be successful and also help to establish a new way of viewing sports in the near future.
Kahler, Kalyn. "How the NFL Is Watched," Sports Illustrated 28 Dec. 2017. https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/12/28/tv-ratings-cord-cutters-anthem-protests-redzone-streaming?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=THR%27s%20Today%20in%20Entertainment_now_2017-12-29%2010:02:32_rrahman&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_tie
Steinberg, Brian. “ESPN Says New Streaming Service, ESPN+ Will Launch April 12” Variety. 2 April, 2018. http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/espn-espn-streaming-bamtech-pitaro-1202741311/
CSG International. “Streaming is revolutionizing sports broadcasting from above” Mashable.com. 26 Feb. 2018. https://mashable.com/2018/02/26/sports-broadcasting-streaming/#IMkezySlZqqV
Society and time stops for no one, and this includes sports media. As technology becomes more advanced, there is going to be a power struggle between traditional media and the new form of entertainment. There isn’t a tipping point between sports media and their relationship with traditional media, but it has definitely plateaued.
Cord-cutters and cord-nevers are changing the way the entertainment industry targets its audiences. Any major highlights from a sport can be found on websites like YouTube of are shared on other social media, so big traditional media headlines aren’t as impactful as they used to be. Primetime television as a whole has seen a 10% drop in ratings and the NFL has lost millions of dollars (Roberts, 2017). There is no reason to tune into a three-hour sporting event on television or listening to it on the radio when there is a twenty-minute highlight reel on YouTube.
For as long as sports have been on television, there will always be a major audience for it. The main problem is that the original numbers, the subscribers who had sports networks like ESPN, were wrong. Just because someone pays for a bundle that has ESPN doesn’t mean they are likely to watch it (Boudway & Chafkin, 2017). Now, sports networks and programs are seeing who will be loyal and stay tuned despite having a lot of competition.
Within the next few years, sports media is either going to have to face reality that people now have agency in what they pay for or they can adapt. ESPN under Disney’s umbrella has decided to adapt. Their new direct-to-consumer streaming service will premier dozens of sports and hours of live and programmed content (Adler, 2018). ESPN feels forced to join the quarry of new services in order to retain viewership and other sports media will follow suit based on its success.
Is it possible for a company to jump into a trend too quickly? ESPN is highly watched, but Disney is attempting to create two streaming services and it can look like they are just trying to profit by making others fail, thus losing loyal audiences (Bond, 2017). If ESPN succeeds, other sports media will jump in and create their own services, just increasing competition. Disney will only have the advantage for two years max before everyone else has a comparable service.
Overall, sports media isn’t losing touch with traditional media, it is just starting to plateau. People who are loyal to them are going to remain so, it is the young adults who are on the fence about questionable bundles and lack of customization that drives the innovation that we will be seeing within the next five years.
Adler, K. (2018, April 06). ESPN to Launch April 12, Bringing Sports Fans More Live Sports, Exclusive Originals and On-Demand Library – All for $4.99 Per Month. Retrieved April 10, 2018, from https://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2018/04/espn-to-launch-april-12-bringing-sports-fans-more-live-sports-exclusive-originals-and-on-demand-library-all-for-4-99-per-month/
Bond, P. (2017, August 16). Can Disney Create a Netflix of Sports? Retrieved April 10, 2018, from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/can-disney-create-a-netflix-sports-1029630
Boudway, I., & Chafkin, M. (2017, March 30). ESPN Has Seen the Future of TV and They're Not Really Into It. Retrieved April 10, 2018, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-03-30/espn-has-seen-the-future-of-tv-and-they-re-not-really-into-it
Roberts, D. (2017, December 30). The NFL is not dying, but it may be plateauing. Retrieved April 10, 2018, from https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nfl-not-dying-may-plateauing-161457955.html
I think that sports media has in fact reached a tipping point on legacy or traditional media. A large portion of this is due to the same reasons that news media has reached a tipping point on the same media systems. There is an oversaturation of 24-hour coverage, everybody and their grandmother has an opinion on social media/ podcasts/ blogging sites.
ReplyDeleteI think the largest changes that should be expected to come are the same that have already been happening with other facets of traditional media. There will become a greater reliance upon access to sports media that is constantly updated while at the same time can be time-shifted. People want to watch live sports and updates whenever they can, and this will likely be done through services such as ESPN + (Alder). ESPN + gives sports fans a vast back catalogue of documentaries, live sporting events, and exclusive studio programs. It is essentially ESPN’s version of the WWE network that launched a few years ago. If its cheaper for me to have ESPN +, Netflix, and YouTube for my entertainment why would I stick with traditional cable packages? The answer may be that ESPN + will not have the rights to all games that a fan wants to watch. This is a fair point, but if ESPN gets enough rights to big games then fans may be willing to ditch cable for ESPN + and to find streams of the rest of their games online.
Traditional viewing of the NFL has shrunk greatly in recent memory, and a large reason for this is that fans simply have better things to do with their time than sit through every single commercial that lands on NBC, CBS, and FOX. The NFL is by far the sport with the greatest saturation of commercial breaks, and the league’s rankings compared with competitors shows that there needs to be some sort of shift otherwise they are bound to continue losing ground. The lost ground so far has led to a 10% drop off in American adults who claim that they are fans. (Roberts) I would expect the NFL to shift towards airing more games online with partners alongside of their television deals. The NFL already currently does so with a deal they have with Amazon (previously Twitter had this deal) to air Thursday night games, but I believe it would be in the leagues best interest to expand this beyond 10 Thursday night games each year. (Tepper)
Somewhat tangentially and likely further down the road than 3-5 years but, I think the future of VR and the consumption of sports media will be fascinating to explore in the future. The NBA already offers VR viewing of games for free with partnered VR headsets that are marketed as the closest viewing experience to watching a game courtside there is other than actually being courtside. (Men’s Journal) Whether or not the technology is there yet for the claims to be true, I believe in the future VR viewing of sports will be more commonplace even if it is only to a niche audience.
Men's Journal. (2018). The Highs and Lows of Watching an NBA Game in VR. [online] Available at: https://www.mensjournal.com/gear/the-highs-and-lows-of-watching-an-nba-game-in-vr-w510072/ [Accessed 6 Apr. 2018].
DeleteRoberts, D. (2018). NFL lost fans in past 5 years, while NBA, NHL, pro soccer gained. [online] Yahoo Finance. Available at: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nfl-lost-fans-past-5-years-nba-nhl-pro-soccer-gained-135434674.html?utm_content=buffer6ccb6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer [Accessed 6 Apr. 2018].
Tepper, F. (2018). Amazon will live stream 10 NFL games this season, replacing Twitter. [online] TechCrunch. Available at: https://beta.techcrunch.com/2017/04/04/amazon-will-live-stream-10-nfl-games-this-season-replacing-twitter/?_ga=2.114287623.1062588487.1523054762-654871406.1523054762 [Accessed 6 Apr. 2018].
According to a 2017 Nielsen report, NFL ratings dropped 8% between the 2016 and 2017 football seasons. From 2015-2017, ratings dropped 15% (Kahler).
ReplyDeleteAccording Anthony Crupi from Advertising Age, “The 18-34 demographic is just completely disappearing from TV.” (Kahler) Nielsen’s second quarter 2017 statistics support that, stating that TV consumption among the 18-34 age group is down 37.9% over the last five years. (Kahler)
Somebody better call Bob Dylan, because “The Times They Are A Changin’” in the media world and sports media is finally being forced to adjust.
The NFL has responded to this by testing out a variety of platforms including Yahoo, Twitter, and Amazon Prime. It has also inked a deal with Verizon to stream in-market games, the Super Bowl, and other playoff games on smartphones and tablets through the NFL Mobile App (Kahler).
NFL TV rights deals expire in 2021 and 2022 which could inspire further change, but Cupri does not believe that the NFL is going to full pull away from using cable as its primary means of delivery (Kahler).
One big change that could change this strategy for the NFL and other professional sports leagues is ESPN’s new, Disney-backed over-the-top streaming service, ESPN+, which is set to launch on April 12.
According to Disney CEO Bob Iger, the service will stream over 10,000 hours of live sports each year. It will show games which are not broadcast on ESPN and will include MLB, NHL, and MLS matches as well as grand slam tennis and college sports (Bond). While consumers who pay for ESPN will get the service through authentication, ESPN will also offer separate subscriptions (Bond) which could help the company to draw in cord-cutters and cord-nevers.
As Bernstein analyst Bob Junger explains it, “The new ESPN service looks initially positioned as an add-on product for existing pay TV subs, but it's a very slippery slope from there to a true, full-blown network substitute. Disney could pull that switch any time.” (Bond)
This could bring in a massive shift in sports broadcasting and could bring about the end of TV, or damage Disney. This will be interesting to watch out for as time goes on.
While a time of unpredictability is coming to the world of sports broadcasting, Turner Sports’ Craig Barry has offered some sound predictions in a Business Insider report.
One of Barry’s main points is the reliance on a media community versus a fanbase (McAlone). Barry has observed through Turner’s dive into esports that a community drives the conversation and is vocal in providing feedback. To Barry, it is important to cater to the community, rather than a casual, silent fan base (McAlone). This willingness to on community feedback will likely be crucial in determining whether a professional sports league sinks or swims when the Titanic traditional media capsizes.
Another short-term change that Barry highlights is a focus on the conversation around sports broadcasts and sports programming to come from social media rather than the other way around. In the past, it was the legacy media and other gatekeepers that drove the conversation. Now, sports media has to cater to what the audience is talking about (McAlone).
On top of that, leagues and services that can figure out how best to monetize over-the-top programming will have a massive advantage as just how to do this is still in question. Meanwhile, audience engagement with players will also be a determining factor in distinguishing the sinkers from the swimmers as Barry cites player accessibility and closeness to the audience as the reason for the NBA’s recent success (McAlone).
Works Cited
Bond, Paul. "Can Disney Create a Netflix of Sports?" The Hollywood Reporter 16 Aug. 2017. Web.
Kahler, Kalyn. "How the NFL Is Watched," Sports Illustrated 28 Dec. 2017. Web.
McAlone, Nathan. “The Internet Is Changing Sports TV, as Cable Feels the Heat.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 25 May 2017,
www.businessinsider.com/future-of-sports-tv-according-to-turner-sports-exec-craig-barry-2017-5.
Sports media has reached a plateau with the use of traditional forms of media. Audiences are not patiently waiting for their favorite sports games on cable anymore. Most individuals want to watch several games at the same time, or view their favorite sports teams across the globe. Then they run into the problem that their television providers pose. Should they just watch what their television provider gives them options for, or pay more to receive more access to other channels that stream different games and sports? Many sports fans today just find clips online and highlights from games using social media, rather than watching an event live or paying cable fees.
ReplyDeleteOn-demand platforms seem to be what audiences are currently shifting to. I expect within the next 3-5 years that is where the entire audience will look to obtain sports media. ESPN is in the process of changing with its audience, after it lost a significant number of subscribers. ESPN historically has attained most of its money from cable subscribers, and during the past few years they have seen a loss in that category. ESPN+ is a new streaming service that will be direct-to-consumer. It will have a subscription fee of $4.99 per month. For people who have moved to streaming that is a great deal in comparison to cable, if all they watch is sports media. ESPN is making ESPN+ available through ESPN.com and their ESPN app. Kristie Alder from ESPN stated in an article “This direct-to-consumer platform will allow subscribers to access to thousands of additional live sporting events, original content and shows, and on-demand video library” (Alder). Now, ESPN will have a way for their viewers to watch anything that ESPN has the rights to broadcast. In the next few years I can see many loyal fans who are currently on cable switching over to just this subscription based platform, if the main reason they have cable is to watch sporting events. Dylan Gwinn wrote from Breitbart News “...the likelihood that NFL games might soon disappear from their network; and it’s very hard to see why anyone will be watching the network in the next few years” (Gwinn). In his article, Gwinn is talking about how the NFL has been separating its fan base, and the possibility that in the next few years the NFL might not be the most-watched sport that ESPN offers. This would be extremely bad for ESPN, because the NFL is their biggest money maker today even with the recent losses of viewers.
The NFL has tried to reach its audience on a more streaming-based platform in the past few years. Kalyn Kahler in an article from Sports Illustrated stated “For the last three seasons, the league has streamed games on Yahoo, Twitter and Amazon Prime, and recently signed a five-year deal with Verizon that will provide anyone free mobile and tablet streams of in-market games, the playoffs and the Super Bowl via the NFL Mobile app” (Kahler). The use of these services has allowed the NFL to still retain some of its audience. The NFL has seen a decrease in subscribers for many reasons; there have been protests, non-competitive games, and injury concerns, to name a few. While the NFL has gone down in viewers, the NBA has seen a jump in subscribers. ESPN had all their eggs in one basket with the NFL. That worked for a while, but now ESPN needs to put more focus on the NBA as well.
Works Cited
DeleteAdler, Kristie. "ESPN+ to Launch April 12, Bringing Sports Fans More Live Sports, Exclusive Originals and On-Demand Library – All for $4.99 Per Month," ESPN PR. 2 April 2018. Web.
Gwinn, Dylan. “ESPN Lost 480,000 Subscribers in October.” Breitbart, 31 Oct. 2017.Web.
Kahler, Kalyn. "How the NFL Is Watched," Sports Illustrated 28 Dec. 2017. Web.
One of the biggest industries to always rely on the traditional platform of live television has been sports. In fact, it’s probably the main reason my roommates and myself still in fact have a cable subscription. But with the large shift over the last few years towards a more streaming-based way of living, sports media is reaching its tipping point with its reliance on these traditional platforms.
ReplyDeleteAudiences (and primarily the younger generations) are becoming accustomed to this convenient way of viewing and so with sports media remaining more traditional, we’ve seen a shift in numbers. As Mashable.com notes, “The Super Bowl is the single biggest American sporting event, but this year its ratings tanked dramatically — except online. Though the NFL playoff final drew seven percent fewer viewers than last year (representing some eight million people), the online audience actually grew by 15 percent.” The NFL has always been seen as one of the tops when looking at sports media. However, they haven’t shied away from their own controversies within the last few years but this on top of the non-stop commercials and inconvenience in viewing for some fans, has led to a huge drop in ratings for them. Recently, the NFL has shown signs of change as they struck deals to stream certain games through such platforms as Yahoo, Twitter, Amazon Prime and most recently, a five-year deal with Verizon. (Kahler) Even speaking from a personal standpoint, often on certain gamedays, my teams won’t be shown in my area. But I know that various streaming platforms can help to fix that (can’t necessarily say if they’re legal or not). My point being that there isn’t a less demand for sports, its that there’s a greater demand for variation how they’re viewed.
I think we’re in the midst of a huge shift in sports entertainment and how it’s viewed, especially with the launch of ESPN’s OTT service. According to Brian Steinberg, “ESPN said it would make available hundreds of hours of professional and college sports, its library of programming and even rugby and cricket matches on its new “ESPN+” streaming service, which it intends to launch April 12 at a price of $4.99 per month.” With ESPN’s recent drops in views, I think this is a very bold move by then as well as Disney. I think by applying the convenience factor to the world of sports entertainment with this streaming service, and especially with a very fair price I’ll add, this is a move that will be successful and also help to establish a new way of viewing sports in the near future.
Kahler, Kalyn. "How the NFL Is Watched," Sports Illustrated 28 Dec. 2017.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/12/28/tv-ratings-cord-cutters-anthem-protests-redzone-streaming?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=THR%27s%20Today%20in%20Entertainment_now_2017-12-29%2010:02:32_rrahman&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_tie
Steinberg, Brian. “ESPN Says New Streaming Service, ESPN+ Will Launch April 12” Variety. 2 April, 2018.
http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/espn-espn-streaming-bamtech-pitaro-1202741311/
CSG International. “Streaming is revolutionizing sports broadcasting from above” Mashable.com. 26 Feb. 2018.
https://mashable.com/2018/02/26/sports-broadcasting-streaming/#IMkezySlZqqV
Society and time stops for no one, and this includes sports media. As technology becomes more advanced, there is going to be a power struggle between traditional media and the new form of entertainment. There isn’t a tipping point between sports media and their relationship with traditional media, but it has definitely plateaued.
ReplyDeleteCord-cutters and cord-nevers are changing the way the entertainment industry targets its audiences. Any major highlights from a sport can be found on websites like YouTube of are shared on other social media, so big traditional media headlines aren’t as impactful as they used to be. Primetime television as a whole has seen a 10% drop in ratings and the NFL has lost millions of dollars (Roberts, 2017). There is no reason to tune into a three-hour sporting event on television or listening to it on the radio when there is a twenty-minute highlight reel on YouTube.
For as long as sports have been on television, there will always be a major audience for it. The main problem is that the original numbers, the subscribers who had sports networks like ESPN, were wrong. Just because someone pays for a bundle that has ESPN doesn’t mean they are likely to watch it (Boudway & Chafkin, 2017). Now, sports networks and programs are seeing who will be loyal and stay tuned despite having a lot of competition.
Within the next few years, sports media is either going to have to face reality that people now have agency in what they pay for or they can adapt. ESPN under Disney’s umbrella has decided to adapt. Their new direct-to-consumer streaming service will premier dozens of sports and hours of live and programmed content (Adler, 2018). ESPN feels forced to join the quarry of new services in order to retain viewership and other sports media will follow suit based on its success.
Is it possible for a company to jump into a trend too quickly? ESPN is highly watched, but Disney is attempting to create two streaming services and it can look like they are just trying to profit by making others fail, thus losing loyal audiences (Bond, 2017). If ESPN succeeds, other sports media will jump in and create their own services, just increasing competition. Disney will only have the advantage for two years max before everyone else has a comparable service.
Overall, sports media isn’t losing touch with traditional media, it is just starting to plateau. People who are loyal to them are going to remain so, it is the young adults who are on the fence about questionable bundles and lack of customization that drives the innovation that we will be seeing within the next five years.
Works Cited:
DeleteAdler, K. (2018, April 06). ESPN to Launch April 12, Bringing Sports Fans More Live Sports, Exclusive Originals and On-Demand Library – All for $4.99 Per Month. Retrieved April 10, 2018, from https://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2018/04/espn-to-launch-april-12-bringing-sports-fans-more-live-sports-exclusive-originals-and-on-demand-library-all-for-4-99-per-month/
Bond, P. (2017, August 16). Can Disney Create a Netflix of Sports? Retrieved April 10, 2018, from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/can-disney-create-a-netflix-sports-1029630
Boudway, I., & Chafkin, M. (2017, March 30). ESPN Has Seen the Future of TV and They're Not Really Into It. Retrieved April 10, 2018, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-03-30/espn-has-seen-the-future-of-tv-and-they-re-not-really-into-it
Roberts, D. (2017, December 30). The NFL is not dying, but it may be plateauing. Retrieved April 10, 2018, from https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nfl-not-dying-may-plateauing-161457955.html