OTT and Sports… Game, Set match?
One of the areas where live sport may fall short is that fans may ‘churn’ when their favourite events are on a break.
This means that in order to retain audiences, long term, sports brands need to look at adding entertaining and informative content in addition to their live event offering.
Creating an experience for the audience is crucial and the avenues that OTT offers in order to create such experiences are plenty. The ‘second screen’ adds a form of engagement and interaction that will keep audiences coming back for more.
Keeping an audience long term, through using an OTT platform, also gives sports brands the ability to easily manage content and increase revenue streams through a subscription-based model.
According to Global News Wire, the OTT services market is expected to hit $86.80 billion by 2026, due to developments being made to internet connections globally.
Sports brands can also get valuable insights from the user data that streaming video through OTT channels offers. The OTT space gives analytics like what the audience likes, time spent watching, what ad audiences might be interested in etc. This data then helps sports teams to really personalise their offering and suggest content to subscribers that they actually want to watch.
With the number of cable TV cancellations in America, expected to have reached 55.1 million at the end of 2021, it is clear that OTT platforms are on the rise, with Pay-TV subscriptions on the decline, the only drawcard still being that live content remains on Pay-TV platforms.
Combining a live streaming service, with interesting content such as highlights, interviews and behind the scenes footage with a subscription service, will give fans everything they need all in one place. OTT will continue to grow in the years to come as the way that audiences consume content changes. Viewers want more, but the ‘more’ really needs to be the good, engaging, interesting content that makes them feel part of a community.
It is clear that the OTT space gives sports brands a range of opportunities. This space will continue to see forward-thinking sports brands growing and capitalising on the opportunities they are offered, while those who don't adopt and adapt, will sadly be left behind.