Alistair Taylor

Return of the fan: COVID-19 thwarts fan pilot sporting events amid regional spikes in cases

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

6 Aug 2020

Just when sports fans thought it was safe to go back into the water, COVID reared its ugly head once more. UK fan pilot sporting events were all set to start allowing fans back into arenas and attend live…

TwitchSports: Amazon throws sports into the starting line-up

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

29 Jul 2020

Amazon-owned Twitch is no newcomer to sports. However, in a deliberate move to double down, Amazon has conceded that it needs to improve the discoverability of live sporting events for its platform users…

DAZN’s belated UK launch: Can it avoid Eleven Sports’ 'mistake’?

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

24 Jul 2020

DAZN, the anointed ‘Netflix of Sport’, has announced plans to resume launching its services globally via a beta service covering boxing bouts In July and August, for users who have registered their…

Reach for the win: BT Sport to air UEFA Champions League final on YouTube

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

23 Jul 2020

UK pay-TV incumbent BT Sport has announced it will air this year’s (COVID-delayed) UEFA Champions League (UCL) final free-to-air (FTA) on Google-owned YouTube. YouTube’s head of sport in EMEA, Tomos…

NBCUniversal hopes to draw level with Premier League move

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

15 Jul 2020

With Comcast’s NBCUniversal-owned Peacock launching today (July 15th), sports fans will be excited ahead of NBCU’s repositioning of its English Premier League (EPL) rights, giving paying subscribers…

Sports Consumption
Measuring COVID-19’s Impact

Report by Alistair Taylor

10 Jul 2020

The 20,000 Foot View: With the pandemic-enforced postponement of live sports creating an entertainment void for sports fans, understanding COVID-19’s impact on overall sports consumption and where audiences…

FuboTV adds key sporting rights to portfolio following Disney deal

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

2 Jul 2020

FuboTV, the US over-the-top (OTT) internet-delivered TV service launched back in January 2015 as a soccer-centric proposition. In that time it has established itself as a niche distributor of live streams…

Innovation via Free-to-air Highlights Missed Opportunity to date for the EPL

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

24 Jun 2020

Following live sports’ hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the English Premier League (EPL) saw two of the top three most-watched matches in league history occur last weekend. The previous record…

Recovery Economics
Outlook for Music, Games, Video & Sports

Report by Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin and Alistair Taylor

19 Jun 2020

MIDiA analysts present in this webinar report how the entertainment industries can plan not to simply bounce back, but to rebuild their value propositions and supply chains to adjust to the realities of…

Bain Capital Fashions Itself Goal-Scoring Opportunity with Tabled Serie A Offer

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

16 Jun 2020

Italian football league Serie A is attracting suitors for an equity share, following a €3 billion ($3.4 billion) ‘tentative offer’ made by Bain Capital for 25% of the league. This opened up competition…

Premier League Acknowledges Priorities Have Changed During Lockdown

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

11 Jun 2020

The English Premier League (EPL) is set to return to screens next Wednesday, over three months since the last fixture graced our screens. Considering the pandemic enforced-postponement has deprived sports…

To be Silent is to be Complicit – On Which Side of History Will the NFL be Remembered?

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

3 Jun 2020

Yesterday, social media went silent as it observed #BlackOutTuesday. Following George Floyd’s killing by a Minneapolis police officer, athletes and teams have all spoken up in solidarity, demanding justice…

Move Over Mickey, The NBA is Set to Become Disney World’s Star Attraction

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

27 May 2020

COVID-19 forced sports leagues to think outside the box for restarting live sports. The UFC wanted to rent a private island, the NRL to ferry players to and from games, and the WWE performed to empty arenas.…

Bundesliga Offers Reality Check for What to Expect of Sport Post-COVID-19

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

21 May 2020

Football (via the Bundesliga) finally returned to screens last weekend, not only serving starved sports fans with content during lockdown, but more importantly demonstrated what we can expect live football…

Recovery Economics
Post-Lockdown Innovation

Report by Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Alistair Taylor and Keith Jopling

20 May 2020

The 20,000 Foot View: COVID-19 social distancing measures caused unprecedented dislocation to the entertainment economy. With a recession now a question of ‘how bad’ rather than ‘if’, entertainment…

The Last Dance – ESPN Raining Threes

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

18 May 2020

With the pandemic-enforced postponement of live sports creating an entertainment void for sports fans, US broadcaster ESPN played its trump card to capitalise on the thirst for stimulating content during…

‘You’re Not Singing Anymore’ - English Premier League Set to Lose Over $1 Billion

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

7 May 2020

The English Premier League (EPL) is faced with the very real possibility that it will have to play out the entirety of the 2020/2021 soccer season behind closed doors, starving teams of more than $1 billion…

Collapsing Maul: Sport Facing Global Rights Re-valuations

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

4 May 2020

The English Gallagher Premiership Rugby provides another case study that demonstrates just how significant COVID-19’s impact on rights holders is likely to be moving forward, as it faces a substantial…

COVID-19
Impact on Entertainment Demand and Behaviours

Report by Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Alistair Taylor, Keith Jopling and Hanna Kahlert

24 Apr 2020

Free Report

The 20,000 Foot View: COVID-19 is having a clear and direct impact on the entertainment and media industries, driven by investor uncertainty – resulting in plummeting share prices – and restrictions…

The Battle Down Under

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

23 Apr 2020

With COVID-19 exposing the vulnerability of pureplay sport streaming services, the importance of building out a robust and downturn-proof offering is fundamental to the viability of these currently additive…