Blog: ECB

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

Six Nations Behind a Paywall: Can Rugby Afford to Bench Free-To-Air?

Alistair Taylor

6 Mar 2020

business model

consumption habits

cricket

Six Nations organisers are reportedly considering awarding the exclusive distribution rights for its annual competition to pay-TV operator Sky, in an unprecedented £300 ($384) million deal. Organisers have said they ‘would not rule anything out’ as the Rugby Paper reported the championship would go behind a paywall on Sky .

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Take Five (the big five stories and data you need to know) August 5th 2019

Mark Mulligan

5 Aug 2019

cricket

ECB

Facebook

Spotify - steady sailing, for now: Spotify hit 108 million subscribers in Q2 2019 – which is exactly what we predicted. Spotify continues to grow in line with the wider market, maintaining market share.

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Is YouTube MLB’s Answer to Tap into Younger Audience?

Alistair Taylor

29 Jul 2019

baseball

cable consumption

Channel 4

On July 18 th , Google-owned YouTube livestreamed the first of its exclusive Major League Baseball (MLB) matches, acquired through a partnership announced with the MLB at the end of April 2019 . YouTube’s first exclusive live game distribution deal with the MLB covers 13 games during the second half of the MLB’s 2019 regular season.

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Is Pay-TV killing off Niche Sports?

Alistair Taylor

4 Jul 2019

Awareness

BBC

BBC One

With both the ICC Cricket World Cup and FIFA Women’s World Cup approaching their climaxes, the stark difference in audience engagement raises the question, is pay-TV killing off niche sports? Deciding the medium through which to distribute live sports has never been more crucial.

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