Blog: rights holders

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From destination to departure point: Legacy IP as a gateway

Laura Fisher

24 Feb 2026

Marketing Strategy Engagement Entertainment

Whether it be the 1940 film, the 1995 television series, the 2005 film, or the recently announced 2026 Netflix series – each generation has its own Mr. Darcy. While this pattern endures, the relationship between intellectual property and audience attitudes is changing.

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Watch Together: BT Sport adapts to lockdown, offering synchronised group streaming

Alistair Taylor

4 Feb 2021

BT BT Sport telco

The pandemic-enforced prohibition of fans in attendance at sporting events has weakened the viewing spectacle, forcing rights holders and operators to experiment with the viewing experience. The NHL pioneered the drive for change in terms of the viewing format, vying to create a ‘ made-for-TV ’ ...

Why the NFL is targeting ‘cord-nevers’

Alistair Taylor

14 Jan 2021

Sports Video Covid-19

For decades, rights holders have prioritised (and relied upon) exponentially increasing broadcast revenues as a mechanism for sustainability and growth, a legacy approach that is in dire need of a review with ‘ D-day’ for sporting rights upon us in 2021.

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

Alistair Taylor

12 Nov 2020

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment covid

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.

Verizon Media announces platform to ‘evolve’ live streaming experience

Alistair Taylor

16 Sep 2020

Verizon Verzion Media Verizon Fios

Verizon Media announced a series of new Media Platform improvements in a press release today (16th September), intended to ‘evolve the live streaming experience’. These features are all aimed at increasing fan engagement following COVID-19’s detrimental impact on the overall viewing spectacle ...

Fortnite’s Party Royale provides sports untapped avenue for reaching digital natives

Alistair Taylor

19 Aug 2020

Universal platform Fortnite Epic Games

Burgeoning universal platform Fortnite’s ‘ Party Royale ’ is slowly becoming the gateway for rights holders to reach digitally native audiences. Party Royale, Fortnite’s ‘ experimenta l’ game mode has been a breakthrough for the platform ever since it was released.

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

Alistair Taylor

23 Jul 2020

Video Sports 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...

FuboTV adds key sporting rights to portfolio following Disney deal

Alistair Taylor

2 Jul 2020

Fubo FuboTV 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.

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

Alistair Taylor

21 May 2020

AFL AGF Aarhus ar

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 to look like in the coming months.

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Collapsing Maul: Sport Facing Global Rights Re-valuations

Alistair Taylor

4 May 2020

All Blacks All or Nothing broadcast rights

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 drop in the value of its broadcast rights.

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The Battle Down Under

Alistair Taylor

23 Apr 2020

#playerstogether A-League additive services

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 services.

Play for the World – EA Aims to Fill Void via FIFA Stay and Play Cup

Alistair Taylor

16 Apr 2020

activity gap broadcast Brondby

In 2003, FIFA updated its primary logo to include the words ‘For the Game. For the World.’ Fast forward 17 years and governments around the world are instructing their citizens to stay inside. Now it is almost as if Nike consulted FIFA on its latest marketing campaign ‘Play Inside, Play for th...

Forget Virtual – UFC and NRL going Remote

Alistair Taylor

10 Apr 2020

AP Associated Press broadcaster

With fans currently starved of sports entertainment during lockdown, rights holders are jumping out of the gate to be the first to put on live sports to serve any form of quick fix to see a jump in engagement.

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Self-Isolation: DAZN Concedes to COVID-19

Alistair Taylor

6 Apr 2020

additive services all-encompassing offering asset class

Sports streaming insurgent DAZN has announced last week it plans to inform rights holders of its intent to defer its payments of rights fees for any content not yet delivered (i.e. postponed / cancelled games) during this pandemic-enforced freeze on live sports.

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

Alistair Taylor

2 Apr 2020

all-star broadcasts Bundesliga

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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Olympics Postponement: The Sports Media Landscape of COVID-19

Alistair Taylor

26 Mar 2020

Advertising Revenue broadcasters business model

The global COVID-19 pandemic is increasing pressure on the viability of emerging and legacy media business models, and is already having an unprecedented impact on the sports industry. An unprecedented swathe of cancelled sports events has left rights holders unable to monetise their existing broadc...

DAZN financials highlight difficulty in changing sports viewing for fans

Alistair Taylor

14 May 2019

consumer acquisition DAZN rights acquisitions

DAZN, the sports-centric streaming service which made headlines in 2018 with several high-profile rights acquisitions , and according to documents seen by SportsPro Media , has managed to dramatically reduce its debt burden by 93% in the year up to 2018.

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DAZN stepping up its domestic rights offering – insurgent come enforcer?

Alistair Taylor

17 Jan 2019

DAZN Eleven Sports live sports

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 a...

Is Rugby in a state of crisis?

Alistair Taylor

12 Oct 2018

audience reach Consumer behaviour debt

The value of Rugby has suffered another major blow in what has already been a tumultuous year financially for the sport. The asking price for the Six Nations title sponsorship has plunged 64% to just £6 million ($7.

NFL issues warning to streaming services

Alistair Taylor

6 Sep 2018

domestic sports rights NFL Online video

As rights holders and tech majors continue to experiment with streaming video on demand (SVOD) services as a way to broadcast sports content, questions are being raised about the ability of streaming platforms to reliably deliver high-demand premium sports events to paying sports fans.

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