Executive Round Up: Is There Room For Sports to Break Into the Ad-Supported Streaming Environment?
We asked executives in our industry if there is room for sports to break into the ad-supported streaming environment. Here’s what they had to say.
Jason Cohen
Co-Founder, CEO
MyBundle.TV
“While major sports leagues need the large affiliate revenue that comes from MVPD or DTC subscriptions to maintain (or grow) revenues, I see three ways for sports content to grow on FASTs:
1. A library of games that can compete for attention with other content found on FASTs, already used for filler on current sports cable networks
2. Smaller niche sports with low production costs
3. ‘News’ apps looking for more distribution (i.e. CBS Sports HQ)”
Pamela Duckworth
Head of Fubo Sports Network and Original Programming
fuboTV
“There is tremendous demand for ad-supported sports content and we’ve seen it firsthand. Viewership of fuboTV’s free-to-consumer network, Fubo Sports Network, has increased nearly 120% over the last year. We’ve seen success across live events like Shawne Merriman’s ‘Lights Out Xtreme Fighting’ and original programming that highlights the voice of the athlete with stars like Terrell Owens, Gilbert Arenas and Julie Stewart-Binks. Fans have an appetite for a wide array of sports content and that’s where ad-supported platforms like ours stand out.”
Jason Gurwin
CEO
Streamable
“Major sports rights will remain in the cable bundle or via a subscription service for some time. However, ad-supported streaming services provide a good opportunity to bring viewership to niche sports, alternative feeds or additional reach to coverage that is available over-the-air. Not every game has to be behind a paywall, there is certainly room and benefit for consumers and distributors to offer some sports content for free.”