Streaming – Sports Broadcasting’s Inevitable Digital Future / TEC Tackles

Streaming – the act of delivering broadcast content to connected devices over the internet – has revolutionized how we watch, produce and deliver programming. The days of gathering around a TV to watch linear telecasts are drifting into the past. Ever improving streaming technologies have created a digital shift in consumption habits, allowing us to watch content when we want, on the device we want…just as long as it’s online!

Last summer, the US saw digital broadcasts overtake linear television for the first time. Although indicative of the cord-cutting trend that is seeing viewers move away from cable and satellite services, this stat comes from a relatively quiet time in the US Sports calendar, highlighting the importance of sports to linear TV. The US broadcast market in particular is dominated by sports, with sports programming accounting for 44 of the top 50 telecasts in 2023.

Live sports may well be the last bastion for linear broadcasting, but increasingly broadcasters and rights holders are turning to streaming solutions due to the flexibility it offers fans and the revenue/data capture opportunities it creates. Using the internet to deliver content democratises the broadcast process and, in sports, this has led to new market entrants like FuboTV and DAZN plus rights holders adopting their own direct to consumer service, allowing them to generate new revenue streams and enrich their fan data –  something that could prove vital against a backdrop of fallings values for non-premium broadcast rights.

Media incumbents initially developed streaming options to support their primary linear channels but now some, like ESPN are considering fully pivoting their offering to digital.  With increased competition comes fragmentation, meaning fans have to fork out for more channels if they are to get all the sports they want. No one has yet established a “Netflix of Sport”, but news from the US of a combined streaming service aggregating coverage from ESPN, FOX and Warner Bros Discovery is a move in that direction. For all the talk of anti-competition, this unified platform will simplify sports consumption for fans in the US and this joint-venture approach could point the way towards streaming’s future development.

So if streaming is sports broadcasting’s inevitable digital future, what are the key components of delivering a successful streaming service and what are the technologies that have made them possible?  Any successful service needs to meet – or exceed – its user’s expectations, and in the context of streaming, those expectations are based on the content they can watch, the quality of the stream and how they access it.

We’ve already addressed the enduring allure of live sports but, with premium rights at a…er, well….premium,  broadcasters have seen success with other formats that meet the varying demands of the modern fan. Streaming platforms serve snackable clips and highlight packages for fans on the go. They deliver binge-able docuseries that quench fans’ thirst for behind-the-scenes storytelling. They even create entirely new sporting concepts that marry sport, entertainment and influence as we’ve seen with The Netflix Cup and Gerard Pique’s King’s League.

Whatever fans are looking to watch, the minimum expectation of any streaming service – and perhaps THE most important requirement – is the ability to provide stable, buffer-free streams with little to no latency across any connected device. The ability to meet this expectation is what made streaming a viable alternative to linear broadcasting and has been driven by a variety of innovations centred on enhancing the quality of the stream.

For example, cloud transcoding, the process of converting a video file into additional formats entirely in the cloud,  ensures content can be delivered in optimal quality across various devices and internet speeds. In addition, adaptive bitrate streaming ensures a smooth and uninterrupted sports-watching experience by dynamically adjusting the quality of the video, in real time, based on the viewer’s present network stability.

The speed and reliability of streams have also been boosted by geographically distributed networks of servers known as content delivery networks (CDNs). By caching content in local servers positioned close to the end user, CDNs help to reduce hosting bandwidth, increase speed and website performance and prevent service interruptions, whilst also improving data security.

With so much sports content available to be consumed, at high quality, via a variety of devices, the final crucial considerations are around access; how to make sure fans who have the right to access the content, can access it in the way they want, via an exchange that is acceptable to fans, and which meets the business objectives of the broadcaster and/or rights holder.

Streaming solutions – whether stand alone or integrated into existing digital platforms – need to have a robust content management system that enables content to be categorised and delivered via an intuitive user interface; one that can personalise the user experience based on their preferences and viewing habits.

Broadcasters and rights holders must also be mindful of the security around their streams. Encryption technologies and authentication processes are used to protect both the distribution of and access to sports rights, to ensure content is only seen in territories it is meant to be seen, by people who have the required access to see it.

The final component is the monetization model. Whether provided via subscription, on a pay-per-view basis or free-to-air via an ad-funded approach – or even, for rights holders, in exchange for rich fan data – content has a value that fans a prepared to pay. The key is understanding what this value is building it into a business strategy that either ensures the necessary revenue generation – either directly or through advertisers and sponsors – while still meeting fan expectations around stream quality, content and accessibility.

Streaming has come a long way in a short space of time, with user adoption and the variety of service offerings rapidly accelerated by improvements in technology. Issues around fragmentation, competition and rights models remain but we’re excited to see how streaming technologies will continue to evolve and how the market’s main players – be they broadcasters, right holders, technology companies or other new market entrants – can take advantage. Read more on the whitepaper below.

Read our previous TEC Tackles blog post here.