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Sports Rights Measuring the ROI for Streaming

Alistair Taylor
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The 20,000 Foot View:  Measuring streaming sports audience engagement is paramount when determining which rights mix consumers are actually willing to pay for. Netflix has shown that in a saturated market, retaining consumer attention can cost twice as much as it did previously to retain the same level of user engagement. The peaking attention economy means that the sports video landscape will not be immune. The correct mix of sporting rights can lead to increased engagement and adoption for SVOD services, but certain rights in international markets do not yield similar returns.

Key Insights

  • Amazon’s investments            increased US TV sports viewer            nine percentage points year-on-year (YoY)                       in            2019
  • ESPN+ successfully            adoption by leveraging domestic UFC            in the US, resulting in            surpassing two million subscribers in            than            months
  • Aggregating Hulu            ESPN+ daily active usage            in            US, Disney’s future bundle ranks            of Amazon Prime Video for                      
  • Sports-centric services            by their nature niche, offering            the fifth-most consumed video content            in the US, down one            in sixth for the UK
  • DAZN US            fell in            2019, declining two            points from            in            2019 to            peak attention takes hold
  • Sports investments            not doing enough to help            close the gap on Netflix            the UK, with subscriptions up            four and            points respectively
  • Subscription penetration            Amazon was            in            2019, compared                       for Netflix
  • Ahead of            UK debut for its English            League (EPL) rights, sports consumers            over index for Amazon engagement;             streaming sports viewers subscribed in           
  • With reach            more important for rights holders,            services need to secure carriage            and sublicensing agreements to stay            the game

Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Amazon, Amazon Prime Video, The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), BamTech, Comcast, DAZN, Disney , Disney+, English Premier League (EPL), Eleven Sports, ESPN, ESPN+, Fox, Hulu, Major League Baseball (MLB), Matchroom Boxing, National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), Netflix, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), US Open, Verizon, Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), Xfinity, Xfinity Flex