Life before Social Media Even before the world was hit by the deadly pandemic called coronavirus, traditional media companies were struggling very hard to keep up with the overwhelming sports consumption. In expert opinion, the
Life before Social Media
Even before the world was hit by the deadly pandemic called coronavirus, traditional media companies were struggling very hard to keep up with the overwhelming sports consumption. In expert opinion, the sports leagues that rely on the laid-back traditional media for revenue generation have to find alternatives.
YouTube channels are a great way to monetize content in the experts’ opinions. Twitter shelled out US$ 10million to stream weekly NFL matches all over the world, on its social media.
It was very convenient for the fans all across the globe to catch the action live, in real-time, absolutely free-of-cost by using their twitter account. Perfect win-win! It was one of those baby steps towards live broadcasting sports events. The value for live streaming sports changed and a global tech company like Twitter made significant investments in sporting events to increase their userbase.
With the advent of the coronavirus and games getting postponed, a lot of ad-based media partners for Australian sports suffered losses and struggled to keep pace.
Rebuilding The Australian Sports:
The pandemic situation has led to collateral damages to the Australian sports industry, with players experiencing layoffs, salary deductions, and other adversities. Patrick Sharry, a fellow at UNSW, believes that if a different approach is undertaken based on the rising trends, it will benefit the administrators of sports a lot.
Since the revenue from Australian Sports through traditional ad-based media has dried up at an alarming rate, it is possible to branch out and look for other alternatives. The AFL YouTube channel would be a brilliant way to monetise money, at the same time controlling what content goes where and when.
Change in consumer behaviour:
In today’s times, the ease with which one can distribute content using alternative channels opens doors for a lot of opportunities. Nowadays, we consume content in different ways, and this flexibility allows us to binge-watch any sport at any time.
Sport is a global market, enjoyed by many, and it is easier for games to control the release of their footage. In return, it making difficult for traditional media companies to get investors for advertising. Sharry further expects that the presence of 5G will also boost the online streaming of Sports in Australia, something that was not as easy to indulge in, before. So, does this mean we’re moving to a different era of enjoying sports?
Marne Fechner, CEO, Netball Australia admits on noticing a substantial rise in the fans indulging in Australian sports from their electronic devices. Telstra TV, the biggest broadcaster of NRL, AFL and netball games, agrees to Fechner’s belief.
Final Words:
No matter who is a live-streaming sport in the post-COVID world, fans will always find ways to watch their favourite sport. With a huge gap of 6 months of not visiting the stadiums to watch the game, there is going to be a lot of efforts that need to go in to connect back to the audience, in Sean Callanan’s opinion.
The founder of the sports business, Callanan wants to focus on prioritising ways to connect better with the audience and commercialising the connections. The first obvious step would be to get into joint ventures with high-quality streaming and technology capabilities.