The Sports Rights Bubble Reaching The Tipping Point

Tim Mulligan

January 2018

The broadcasting of live sport has been a key part of TV’s appeal and underpins the pay-TV ecosystem. However, a combination of entrenched cord-cutting and an ageing audience means that revenues are now moving out of synch with inflating domestic sports rights costs. In 2016, return on investment (ROI) for the top ten largest TV sports broadcasters declined by on 2014 as the newly increased domestic sports rights costs kicked in. Sports rights investment by US, UK and Canadian domestic broadcasters is now moving from Euphoria into Profit Taking (as per the five stages of an economic bubble) as the smart money start to plan for exit from their pay-TV dependency.

Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Century Fox, ABC, Amazon, Amazon Prime Video, BT, CBS, Facebook, Fox Sports, NBA, NBCUniversal, NFC, NFL, The Walt Disney Company, Rogers Communications, Sky Plc, Turner Entertainment Networks, Twitch, Twitter

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