MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1436922
streaming service, ESPN+, DAZN and Fubo have entered the U.S. market to stream soccer and lacrosse. Bellator events and other services are entering into national streaming agreements with country teams. The dominant viewing option for the next few years will be cable and large-screen TVs. Sinclair, the second largest U.S. cable service provider, has purchased 21 regional sports networks to meet national and local viewer demands. While broadcast and pay TV remain key sources for live sports, OTT streaming is becoming an increasingly important viewing option for people. CBS, ESPN, Fox, MLB.TV and others are adding complimentary streaming services to reach the broadest range of individuals to round out their distribution packages. Sports have always been the core of pay TV bundles and now they are becoming a major focus for NBC’s Peacock, ViacomCBS’ Paramount+ and Amazon Prime Video as well as other streaming offerings. The key question is how much damage can sports do to the pay TV bundle – channels and customers – if they move major events/activities to VOD services? Especially their own services. The major hurdle is the internet’s ability to consistently deliver high-quality video streams to 25 – 50M+ viewers. It’s a challenge that Akami and other CDNs are focused on meeting. In the meantime, large and small sports own large libraries of content that they are looking to use to strengthen their relationship with fans and to monetize with content distributors and social media. Franchise and organization executives are intent on engaging with fans every day of the year to grow their businesses. Every major media company has a cable network that is going to be more vulnerable as the streaming industry improves. As the parent company focuses on growing the streaming service’s subscriber base and profitability, they will be reallocating content with the broadest potential viewing market. Tough decisions will be made on what the future holds for the distribution options. Being Social As with every segment of business and industry, social media has grown in importance in reaching and strengthening the connection between players, teams, leagues, broadcasters and advertisers. The integral role of social media in sports is hard to ignore. In fact, it’s difficult to find an athlete who isn’t socially engaged with fans.