Sports Matters Academy | Know Your Rights

The first sessions of industry educational initiative Sports Matters Academy covered the sports media rights business, and featured speakers from Meta, Football Marketing Asia, SPOTV, World Table Tennis, Eleven Sports and beIN Sports.

Sports Matters Academy is a free educational content series, produced by industry events organiser Branded, and with SportBusiness acting as one of the main partners. It is aimed at those contemplating a career in the sports industry, or seeking to advance an existing career. Through discussions with experienced industry experts, the content equips viewers with an understanding of important industry sub-sectors and gives insights into how to develop their careers.

Know Your Rights session 1 (video above)

SportBusiness Asia-Pacific editor Kevin McCullagh moderated the first session of the first module, on February 24, 2022. He was joined by:

  • Andrew Guy, EVP business affairs and general counsel at Football Marketing Asia
  • Rubin Zhong, chief content strategy officer at pan-Apac sports broadcaster SPOTV
  • Joyee Biswas, head of media partnerships in Apac at Meta

Topics covered include:

8:05 – What are ‘media rights’, and why are they so significant?

14:15 – The buy-side – How broadcasters and other rights-buyers evaluate and participate in the media rights market

26:43 – Evolution of the media rights industry, from the emergence of cable-TV through to the social media giants

34:40 – Andrew Guy – How I got into the sports media rights business, and what makes it a compelling sector to work in

38:20 – Rubin Zhong – How I got into the sports media rights business, and what makes it a compelling sector to work in

43:27 – Joyee Biswas – How I got into the sports media rights business, and what makes it a compelling sector to work in

46:35 – Questions from the audience, including common pitfalls in the media rights business, and the top media rights properties in Asia-Pacific

 

Know Your Rights session 2

Branded founder and CEO Jasper Donat moderated the second session of the first module, on February 24, 2022. He was joined by:

  • Melissa Soobratty, senior media director at World Table Tennis
  • Chris Tan, director, content, at beIN Sports Asia-Pacific
  • Nick Wilkinson, managing director, Asia-Pacific, at Eleven Sports

Topics covered include:

4:03 – Q&A with Nick Wilkinson: What do you do…and what do you tell your family that you do?! What are media rights and why are they so significant? What sort of personal attributes and qualities are useful in the media rights business?

15:40 – Q&A with Melissa Soobratty: What do you tell a first date what you do for a living?! What is World Table Tennis and what’s coming up for the organisation? How do you, as a rights seller, define ‘value’? How important is the media rights income stream vs other streams?

24:50 – Q&A with Chris Tan: What do your family think you do for a living?! What is bein Sports? How do you decide what rights to buy? What is the hottest Asian sports rights property?

35:35 – How is the sports media rights business changing, with particular reference to the growth of streaming?

47:24 – Potential for Asia-based sports properties to grow outside of Asia.

51:44 – What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve ever been given?