Blog: MLB

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.

Line change for the NHL: COVID-enforced innovation arrives as ‘D-Day’ commences

Cover image for Line change for the NHL: COVID-enforced innovation arrives as ‘D-Day’ commences

Alistair Taylor

7 Jan 2021

Sporting rights

With 2021 commencing, the start of ‘ D-day’ or ‘ Year 0’ for sporting rights is upon us, as the major domestic sports rights start coming up for renewal. Nowhere is ‘D-day’ for sporting rights more important than for the NHL, with 2021 shaping up to be the most significant year in the league’s 103-year history.

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DAZN launches globally with advent calendar offering of boxing contests

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Alistair Taylor

3 Dec 2020

subscription video on demand

DAZN’s global roll out is finally here , following an announcement to launch worldwide (including the UK) back in March. The pandemic-enforced postponement and cancellation of live sports scuppered its original plans to coincide its launch with Canelo Alvarez’s world title fight in May.

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DraftKings is making its own strategic bet on the rise of the US sports betting market

Cover image for DraftKings is making its own strategic bet on the rise of the US sports betting market

Alistair Taylor

19 Nov 2020

betting company

US-based sports betting company DraftKings’ stock value has grown 11% following a strong third-quarter performance in which its revenues increased 98% year on year (YoY) to reach $132.8 million, up from $67 million in Q3 2019.

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WWE Q3 Earnings – An innovative digital strategy helps WWE overcome COVID-19 disruption

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Alistair Taylor

12 Nov 2020

World Wrestling Entertainment

WWE’s Q3 2020 results provide a fascinating insight into how a live event-focused entertainment business has successfully navigated a global pandemic. In its financials for the quarter , WWE saw a 19% revenue increase year-on-year (YoY), with Q3 2020 revenue at $221.

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Why the sports broadcast model is now under threat

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Alistair Taylor

6 Nov 2020

Sinclair Broadcast Group

sports broadcast

The Sinclair Broadcast Group reported its Q3 2020 results earlier this week, which highlighted the detrimental impact sporting investments had on its balance sheet. A 37% year-on-year (YoY) increase in consolidated revenue (to $1.

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DAZN financials: Growth reliant on premium domestic rights

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Alistair Taylor

14 Sep 2020

DAZN’s 2018 financials highlighted the difficulty of encouraging a transition to consume live sports digitally with its existing portfolio of rights. DAZN has not yet released its 2019 financials, but MIDiA has constructed a robust and accurate subscriber and revenue model for the sport-centric streaming service which will be published in full as part of our DAZN Financials and Subscriber Deep Dive report.

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

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Alistair Taylor

23 Jul 2020

Media & Marketing

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 Grace confirmed the move with SportsPro Media :“BT Sport have been amazing partners for YouTube and we’re very privileged to be working with them.

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FuboTV adds key sporting rights to portfolio following Disney deal

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Alistair Taylor

2 Jul 2020

Sporting rights

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 of MLS and LatAm soccer matches to US, Canadian and Spanish audiences.

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The Show Must Go On – NFL Throws Screen Pass at COVID-19 with NFL Draft

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Alistair Taylor

2 Apr 2020

The NFL’s commissioner Roger Goodell announced to all 32 teams in a memo on March 26th that the NFL draft will go ahead as scheduled from the 23 rd to 25 th of April, despite growing pressures resulting from COVID-19 to postpone the event.

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Tale of the Tape: UFC or Bundle Driving ESPN+ Adoption?

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Alistair Taylor

11 Feb 2020

Walt Disney’s pureplay sports streaming service ESPN+, which launched back in April 2018, has surpassed 7.6 million paid subscribers, Disney’s chief executive Bog Iger reported during last week’s earnings call .

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BT Sport’s Key Ingredient for Competing in an Increasingly Saturated Landscape

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Alistair Taylor

22 Nov 2019

American football

broadcast audience

The strategic dilemma as to whether rights holders should seek revenue over reach when allocating domestic rights is inevitably impacted by how dependent services are on premium rights for securing subscriber revenue.

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Disney+ Recovers From Initial Blunder to Surpass 10 Million Sign Ups on Debut!

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Alistair Taylor

14 Nov 2019

21st Century Fox

all-encompassing offering

AppleTV+. Market saturation

Disney claims unexpected traffic on its newly-launched service was at fault for the buffering and technical issues of Disney+’s launch Tuesday . The issues highlight just how difficult it is transitioning from a media company to a tech player, with technical glitches an enormous issue for digital-native subscribers.

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Demographic cliff: Is gaming sports’ biggest problem?

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Alistair Taylor

14 Aug 2019

daily active usage

Is the peaking attention economy the underlying cause for the decline in sports consumption from the younger demographic, or is it the mediums through which rights holders are distributing sports content ? MIDiA argues… both.

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

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Alistair Taylor

29 Jul 2019

cable consumption

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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Why the UFC Wants to Replicate the Yao Ming effect

Alistair Taylor

25 Jun 2019

audience culture

The NBA is the third highest grossing league globally, generating $7.4 billion in 2017, behind domestic rivals MLB and NFL. Whereas the MLB and NFL have largely struggled to entice a truly global following, the NBA have become synonymous with Chinese sports fans, and offers a template for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to grow its international fanbase.

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Battle of the Docuseries: Who Mirrored Who?

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Alistair Taylor

13 Jun 2019

addressable audience

Leeds United are set to become the latest soccer club to feature in an original documentary series, with tech major Amazon securing a deal for a behind-the-scenes look at Argentinian manager Marcelo Bielsa’s dramatic first season in charge of the English Championship side, according to the Daily Mail .

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Fox News to ‘New Fox’: What is Left After Disney Deal

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Alistair Taylor

1 Apr 2019

On the 20th March 2019 , The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of Rupert Murdoch’s 21 st Century Fox became official. What did Disney acquire? The $71.3 billion merger significantly strengthens Disney’s value proposition as a service, solidifying its position as the world’s largest media conglomerate.

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ESPN+ leverages UFC appeal to double subscriber base to 2 million in five months

Alistair Taylor

8 Feb 2019

direct-to-consumer

Disney announced in its Q1 earnings call on Tuesday that its sports-centric streaming service ESPN+ had surpassed two million subscribers, doubling its subscriber base in less than five months. Launched in April 2018 , Disney revealed in September 2018 that it had taken less than five months to surpass one million subscribers .

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Eleven Sports Loses Serie A Rights As Partnership With IMG Ends

Alistair Taylor

1 Feb 2019

audience acquisition

Eleven Sports, the fledgling sports-centric streaming service has lost the UK and Irish rights for Serie A and Eredivisie, following a strategic decision to ‘amicably’ end its partnership with international rights agency, IMG .

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DAZN Stepping Up Its Domestic Rights Offering – Insurgent come Enforcer?

Alistair Taylor

17 Jan 2019

Having grown its portfolio for premium international and domestic sporting rights, DAZN is now starting to graduate from a disruptor into an established part of the landscape. Emphasised by its latest plan, aiming to snap up domestic Bundesliga rights in Germany for 2021–2025 (provided the terms are economically viable for the SVOD service), and thus significantly upgrade its German market value proposition.

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