According to the latest Gauge Report by Nielsen Media Research, streaming is continuing to widen its marginal share of consumers, marking further steps of innovation in the marketplace. Overall, the viewing platform was responsible for 37.7% of total television viewership in June, the largest share it has garnered in the history of the reports. Moreover, the share of viewership attained by linear television outlets – broadcast and cable – is just over 50% and has dropped by 12% in the last two years.
In the last month alone, broadcast television usage declined by 6.6%, perhaps because of the lack of marquee sporting events following the conclusion of the National Basketball Association’s postseason play. In fact, the end of the postseason resulted in a 38% decline in sports viewing on cable television, as most live sports programs are on broadcast television. As a result, sports viewership on broadcast television rose by 31.7%; however, the total usage of the platform is down 5.6% year over year. Nonetheless, the findings accentuate the importance of direct-to-consumer broadcast platforms, free ad-supported television providers and streaming rights.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. was unwilling to concede to Diamond Sports Group’s demand of lowering rights fees and granting the company the coveted media rights to strengthen its own OTT streaming service. Presumably as a result, the company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy and has been selectively rejecting contracts, leading the league to take over local broadcasts for the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.
The evolution of sports media in terms of its digital footprint and streaming functionalities have led non-traditional sports networks to explore making a bid for a share of the National Basketball Association’s media rights. League commissioner Adam Silver has conveyed the importance of modernizing the consumption experience and is looking for ways to monetize moments and implement streaming into the fold. Apple recently unveiled its first spatial computer, Vision Pro, and could make a bid for the NBA utilizing this and other emerging technologies to redefine the game experience.
After all, Apple inked a 10-year media rights contract with Major League Soccer, worth a reported $2.5 billion. The technology company neglected to report viewership over the first several months, but the entire sentiment of the deal may be changing with Lionel Messi signing with Inter Miami. As one of the greatest athletes in the history of the sport, Messi could be receiving a share of the revenue from new subscribers, ostensibly implying that he is the impetus for them choosing to sign up. Apple TV+ is also the home of Friday Night Baseball, which is reportedly paying $85 million per year to exclusively broadcast a weekly major-league doubleheader. The agreement between the company and the league is for seven years.
Before the MLS deal was closed, Amazon Prime Video took over Thursday Night Football broadcasts and introduced an established commentary team of Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit and Kaylee Hartung. The broadcast property is adding the first “Black Friday” game in the league’s history this year in a matchup between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets. Moreover, the property was recently given the ability to use flex scheduling between Week 13 and Week 17 as the National Football League enters a new media rights contract.
Regional sports networks are also launching their own direct-to-consumer packages, including YES Network, MSG Networks and NESN among others. ESPN is also reportedly in the midst of “Project Flagship,” which will culminate with the long-awaited launch of its own direct-to-consumer service, perhaps when the number of cable subscribers dwindle as cord cutting permeates the media landscape. For reference, ESPN currently reaches about 74 million households through cable multichannel video programming distributors while ESPN+ has amassed over 25 million subscribers and counting.
The new Netflix documentary series, Quarterback, was recently renewed for a second season and is also the home of the Untold series, which will feature episodes on Jake Paul, Johnny Manziel and other athletes this summer. Nielsen Media Research found that Netflix was responsible for 8.2% of all streaming consumption, placing it second behind YouTube (8.8%).
Additionally, Max (1.4% of streaming consumption) will include Hard Knocks, which has a training camp edition of the show featuring the New York Jets set to release on Aug. 8 on HBO. It will be available for streaming after the episode premieres on the cable television channel, enthralling football fans around the world as anticipation for the regular season builds.
