SME #2: What you missed at Sportspro OTT Summit - 2022
Streaming Made Easy #2
Welcome back to Streaming Made Easy. This week, it’s a Sports Edition as I spent the week in Madrid for the Sportspro OTT Summit.
Today at a glance:
Thought: My 3 key takeaways from this year’s summit
Streamer snapshot: Tennis Channel or how to cater to the tennis super fans
Content recommendation: "Toutes musclées" a docu-series about women in sports
💡 Thought:
For those who are not familiar with this industry event, it’s organised by Sportspromedia.com, a media launched in 2008 to connect and inspire the business world of sport (over 5.5m views annually).
Over the course of 3 days, 1000+ industry executives gather in Madrid to discuss the latest trends in OTT & Sports. They also celebrate the best companies and services operating in the space with the OTT Awards.
It was my 2nd edition and here are my 3 key takeaways from this year’s summit:
D2C & Smart TV
3 years ago, I first attended the event to secure distribution partnerships with sports applications for an OTT streaming platform. At the time, I was asked on multiple occasions:
Why should we launch a D2C business? If we were to do it, wouldn't it affect our media rights' sales?
Why should I launch on the big screen when I can reach my fan base with a mobile first strategy?
Fast forward to today, the value of a direct-to-competition value proposition, combined with a Smart TV strategy, no longer needs to be proven. The sports industry has seriously accelerated in the space.
My take is that the pandemic and the lack of in stadium experience has pushed sports organisations to embrace OTT. Clubs and leagues were in need of keeping a connection with their audience and D2C services do just that.
Now, a lot has happened since then and some D2C services have already experienced the struggle of growing a profitable D2C operation. Golf TV will not longer exist as a standalone proposition and the content will be integrated within the wider Warner Bros Discovery D2C service. What does that tell us?
Sure it’s a cost-cutting move by WBD but it also means that the service didn’t find a big enough audience to build a sustainable streaming business, unlike GCN (Global Cycling Network) which will remain as a standalone offering.
This also signals that unlike what is often preached, not every sport (niche or not) will be successful in D2C. It’s hard to grow a paying subscriber base at scale. Ask Netflix and other general entertainment streaming businesses.
Now that’s a great segway into why sports organisations should therefore embrace AVOD & FAST.
FAST: hot topic?
Sportspro invited me to deliver a 20' masterclass on my favourite topic: FAST! The session was meant to be educational and hopefully inspirational:
I did a bit of scene setting, what is FAST? what it is not?
Why you should care?
How do you get started?
Sports have indeed been slow at tackling FAST. Sports FAST channels only represent 7% of the US FAST channel line up : 115 channels out of 1517 channels (according to VIP+ Channel Count - Summer 2022). Sports is definitely the most resilient genre in traditional linear TV so I get it, why start a FAST channel now.
Except sports organisations need to anticipate the SVOD glass ceiling. SVOD stacking has its limits: for example, in Germany, to watch all German and international fixtures, you need 6 subscriptions at 105€ / month. Add to that 50€ of movie and entertainment SVOD subcriptions, households spend already 150€ a month on streaming alone.
It will therefore be harder and harder to make it into the “must have” streaming services. That’s where FAST comes in, you can:
Create a richer experience in your app,
Expand your reach by syndicating your channel,
Showcase your library in a new way,
Target casual sports viewers or feed even more your super fans etc.
During the event, both DAZN and NHL made FAST announcements. “DAZN FAST” launched on German VMPVD Waipu while NHL lands on The Roku Channel. Expect more announcements like these in 2023!
I could say that FAST was a hot topic but it could be just me so I actually asked around. Attendance was great at the masterclass but also at the panel moderated by my fellow consultant, Stéphanie Meyer.
I then spent two days talking to so many different companies from content owners, brands and technology companies asking me about FAST. It wasn’t the hottest topic but it sure was a big topic.
Innovative conference formats:
As executives, we go to 5-8 industry events a year plus all the webinars brought by stay at home restrictions. To me, events must bring innovative formats (on top of stellar speakers and topics) and Sportspro did just that this year with:
“This house believes”: An Oxford-style debate whereby you make a statement and then you argue for the motion (if you are proposition) or against (if you are opposition). 3 topics were covered:
Teams debated and then the audience voted at the end. It was so lively, great arguments on each side, some cheap shots thrown and a bit of bad faith, great recipe!
“2023 bold predictions”: It's a scary but fun exercise to make predictions about our business. Amongst our predictions: Netflix partering with DAZN for a lean entry into sports; Viaplay becoming the EU market leader in sports streaming etc.
See you in a year's time to see if we've fallen short or not with our predictions!
📺 Streamer snapshot: Tennis Channel
Tennis Channel is a US Pay TV channel owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group (61M subscribers in 2019). In 2020, they launched a D2C streaming service in Germany/Austria/Switzerland and the service is now live in the UK, the Netherlands with more European markets in the pipes. It’s a SVOD service with live events, archive content, instructional videos, documentaries (including their own originals) and much more.
I wanted to feature them as they represent the perfect example of a multi-faceted strategy to super-serve tennis fans: Pay TV in their home market, D2C streaming in international markets, a FAST channel called “T2” to reach casual fans and cord cutters.
To check them out 👉 www.tennischannel.com
🎬 Content recommendation: “Toutes musclées”
A docu-series (4x15’) about women in sports which doesn’t sugarcoat it. We still have a long way to go when it comes to giving women in sports the attention they deserve.
I found it fascinating to understand what women had (and still have) to put up with, what they were allowed to do or not, how they clawed their way into international competitions.
For inspiration and to learn a thing or not 👉 “Toutes musclées” on Arte.tv
That’s it folks. I hope you found this interesting and if you did, please don’t hesitate to tell your colleagues, bosses, friends & families about it.
Enjoy your weekend and see you next Friday for another edition of Streaming Made Easy!
At night, I write Streaming Made Easy and post each working day on Linkedin.
By day, I run The Local Act, a streaming video consultancy.
Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
If you’re looking to understand FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV), I'd recommend starting with a 4-week Discovery Program (Book a call to discuss).
Then, go further with a dedicated "How to get into FAST" Program where I fast-track the launch of your FAST Channel Business (Book a call to discuss).
Last but not least, work with me 1:1 to grow your streaming video business in Europe (new market entries, distribution expansion etc.).