Peacock Goes for Gold

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

23 Jan 2020

ad-free

All or Nothing

AMC

On the 16 th of January , Comcast (owner of NBCUniversal) unveiled further details of its direct to consumer (D2C) proposition, Peacock. Peacock is set to debut on the 15 th of April exclusively for Comcast’s…

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‘If You Ain’t First, You’re Last’: Revenue-Over-Reach Argument Not Refuted for F1

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

9 Jan 2020

audience viewership

average age

BARB

2019 audience figures for Formula One (F1) provide the latest example of a rights holder opting for short-term revenue optimisation over long-term strategic growth, to the detriment of its viewing audience.…

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Can BT Lay the Smackdown on Its Rivals?

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

3 Jan 2020

addressable audience

broadcast

BT

This Saturday at 1am GMT BT will debut its live broadcast for WWE Smackdown, having acquired the exclusive rights from long-term UK broadcaster Sky in June 2019 . This signalled the end of Sky’s tenure…

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Amazon One - Family Christmas Nil

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

18 Dec 2019

addressable audience

AFC Bournemouth

ageing audience

Ever since the English Premier League (EPL) awarded rights to tech major Amazon in June 2018, the excitement for December 2019 and how Amazon’s live stream delivery would pan out has been palpable. The…

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

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

22 Nov 2019

American football

basketball

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…

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Why Apple Wants The Father of Dragons On Board

Blog post by Tim Mulligan

20 Nov 2019

game of thrones

HBO

Online video

The November 1 st  launch of Apple TV+ has thrust the world’s leading personal device company into the increasingly frenetic world of TV. While the TV networks have long battled for supremacy over…

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NFL Adding Music to Its Playbook

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

4 Nov 2019

archived footage

audio content

curated playlists

The NFL continues expanding its reach with the news that it is providing both video and audio content to global streaming services Spotify and Tidal. This follows the NFL’s recently- announced partnerships…

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The NFL and Pizza Hut: Future-Proofing with E-Sports

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

18 Oct 2019

ad responsiveness

addressable audience

advert experimentation

While sharing pizza has already become synonymous with watching sports, e-sports could be about to leverage that same instilled behaviour. Restaurant chain Pizza Hut made history this July when it became…

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Why Short Form Content Resonates with Younger Generations

Blog post by Amanda Stears

2 Oct 2019

China

digital natives

douyin

Digital natives – be they classified as millennials or generation Z – have always had the term “instant gratification” associated with them. This is a reflection of the way technology has shaped…

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Knock On: Rights Holders Cannot Chance Latency?

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

26 Sep 2019

Akamai

broadband providers

broadcaster

The IRB Rugby World Cup (RWC) commenced last Friday with hosts Japan producing a fine victory over second-time qualifiers Russia, 30-10. The first RWC to be held in Asia provides Australasian countries…

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Could a Recession Change the Tide for Sports Rights Allocation?

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

24 Sep 2019

additive services

all-encompassing offering

AppleTV+

Revenue remains rights holder’s priority qualifier for allocating rights. However, with an impending recession, we are likely nearing an inflection point whereby rights holders may start to look towards…

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Streaming in Southeast Asia: Challenges and Opportunities for International Competitors

Blog post by Amanda Stears

10 Sep 2019

apple tv

asia pacific

disney

With a combined population of 371.7 million and a combined GDP of $2.9 trillion, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia represent sizeable and fast-growing markets for streaming services. The largest players…

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Demographic cliff: Is gaming sports’ biggest problem?

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

14 Aug 2019

aging audience

daily active usage

daus

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…

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Not So Galactico; What Went Wrong for La Liga?

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

7 Aug 2019

addressable audience

broadcast deals

carriage partnerships

Joris Evers, La Liga’s head of communications, confirmed last week that the rights holder has withdrawn its tender for broadcast rights to Spanish soccer’s premier league in the UK and Ireland after…

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BBC iPlayer to Lead Catch-up TV

Blog post by Amanda Stears

7 Aug 2019

BBC

BBC iPlayer

Catch Up TV

On 1 August, UK media regulator Ofcom announced that BBC can now extend its catch-up shows’ validity on BBC iPlayer for up to 12 months, as compared to the previous 30-day period. Apart from being able…

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Tencent Renewal: NBA the Envy of Global Sports Rights Holders?

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

1 Aug 2019

CBA

Chinese Basketball Association

custom interactive services

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent have announced a five-year extension of their existing partnership, with Tencent acting as the NBA’s official digital partner…

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Will Content Fragmentation Drive a New Rise of Piracy?

Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

1 Aug 2019

content spend

Innovation

Mobile content

The digital content marketplace largely has peer-to-peer content piracy to thank for the behaviours and dynamics characterising it today. Piracy itself was the forefront of the new era, quickly being overtaken…

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

Blog post by 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…

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Why Sitcoms Are the Leaders in Scripted Shows

Blog post by Amanda Stears

24 Jul 2019

Friends

Media

Online video

On May 2004, 52.5 million Americans tuned in to watch the season finale of Friends. 15 years later, it is still one of the most-watched TV shows in history. When news broke that Friends and The Office…

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Sports and Sponsorships: MLB Seeks Revenue Home Run

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

22 Jul 2019

Innovation

Marketing

Media

Major League Baseball (MLB) could finally allow for sponsorship patches appearing on its teams’ uniforms, the league confirmed to the Sports Business Journal . US sports have historically steered clear…

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