Media
Features
Chris Russo | Key considerations for media companies in sports betting deals
Chris Russo, founder of Fifth Generation Sports, takes a look at what media companies need to think about before making deals with sports betting organizations.
“We will not accept putting our content behind a paywall” | Jamie Lewin, Riot Games
Media rights are the fastest-growing revenue stream in esports – particularly in Asia – but, according to Riot Games’ head of strategic partnerships Jamie Lewin, they’re still a secondary target for game publishers. Kelvin Tan reports.
“We don’t just put logos on things” | Amazon Web Services on its Six Nations sponsorship
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has developed a new suite of fan statistics to activate its sponsorship rights for this year’s Six Nations rugby championship.
Unsuccessful initial tender raises questions over K-League’s domestic media strategy
Pooling media rights to Korea’s K-League with national-team matches was supposed to create a property more valuable than the sum of its parts. John Duerden investigates why it isn’t working yet.
Automated production and user-generated content will help FIH monetise new OTT service
Fifa's former director of marketing and current FIH chief executive Thierry Weil looks back on a year in which the hockey federation launched its own OTT platform and outlines his plans to monetise the new service. Ben Cronin reports.
Mediapro and Pitch to sell US rights to South America’s 2022 World Cup qualifiers
International media rights agencies Mediapro and Pitch International will join forces to sell the exclusive broadcast rights in the United States to South American nation’s qualifying matches for the F…
Sport1 seals Nascar deal with IMG, sublicenses to Motorvision TV
German sports broadcaster Sport1 has acquired rights to the US stock car racing series Nascar for the next three years
Canal Plus posts further subscriber decline in France
Pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus posted another decline in subscriber numbers in France in 2019, although the rate of decrease slowed, according to parent company Vivendi’s year-end results.
Rugby Australia takes ‘whole of rugby’ rights package to market
Rugby Australia has today (Friday) gone to market with its media-rights package for the 2021-2025 period and expects to conclude deals by mid-March
2019 – a year in sport business
Four Inside Track contributors from around the world reflect on what they saw as the key industry developments of 2019 .
Uefa and Team get off to winning Champions League start but caution prevails
Media rights increases for the Uefa Champions League in the UK, US and France have vindicated Team Marketing's decision to start its sales process early in these markets. But the agency won't be getting carried away just yet, writes Frank Dunne.
As global piracy starts to bite, Asian solutions need cooperation and government
Surveys show that public attitudes to content piracy are positive and ingrained in Southeast Asia. Kelvin Tan asks broadcasters and rights-holders what can be done to head off a growing problem.
Sinclair president Ripley: “There’s a real commercial logic” behind buying more RSNs
The Maryland-based owner of local TV stations has rapidly become a major player in the US sports media landscape, and has aggressive goals for more growth.
OTT viewership is increasing steadily, but linear still rules
A greater variety of sports are now available due to OTT offerings but OTT rights fees still fall well short of those paid by linear TV companies. Eric Fisher asks how soon it will be before live streaming makes up the majority of the sports media landscape, if ever.
The Athletic: Friend or Foe?
Jon Tibbs, chairman and founder of JTA considers the impact of The Athletic’s first move outside its US homeland.
After Leoz’s death, South American football is still battling the ghosts of its corrupt past
The death of former Conmebol president Nicolás Leoz has brought South American football one step closer to closing the book on an era of corruption. As global agencies and investment funds are taking advantage of the power vacuum, Callum McCarthy examines the current landscape and asks if and when that book can be closed for good.
Stills life | Photography as important as ever in the digital age
In association with Getty Images
Tom Hill, World Rugby | Dual award of 2015 and 2019 World Cups helped mitigate Japan risks
Tom Hill, chief commercial officer, World Rugby speaks exclusively to SportBusiness about the commercial programme for the 2019 World Cup in Japan
ICC targets younger audiences with digital-first, data-led broadcasting approach
Adam Nelson reports on how the International Cricket Council revamped its broadcast coverage ahead of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, focusing on storytelling to attract new audiences and break digital engagement records
The challenge facing the next Premier League chief executive: media-rights growth has stalled
The search to replace Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, who announced his resignation over a year ago, has proved arduous. Frank Dunne looks at the issues surrounding media-rights growth and the challenges Scudamore's succesor should expect.
Euroleague Basketball’s quest to become the real European super league
Euroleague Basketball's revenue has more than doubled over the past three seasons, and it's now expanding the competition across western Europe, Callum McCarthy delves into how the plan is being put into action.
Free-to-air exposure brings new audiences to cricket, but F1 and Wimbledon still deliver
Sky Sport’s decision to share coverage of the Cricket World Cup with Channel 4 meant an additional 4.8 million are estimated to have watched the Cricket World Cup final. Ben Cronin, global head, Publicis Sport & Entertainment, interprets the viewing figures for a memorable Sunday of sport.
Media beyond football highlights – SDMS London
Highlights of our 'media: the world beyond football' at SDMS London. How are rights owners outside the big money football bubble are developing effective media strategies?
Play Sports Group acquisition allows Discovery and Eurosport to ‘super serve’ cycling fans
Discovery’s acquisition of the Play Sports Group in January this year served further notice of its strategy to focus its energies on cycling. Ben Cronin speaks to Sameer Pabari, SVP, content & business development, Discovery, and Simon Wear, CEO & founder of PSG ahead of the Tour de France.
The Long Read | Potential investors will do well to look closely at the football deals of Endeavor and Wanda Sports
With Endeavor and Wanda Sports both preparing for IPOs, Frank Dunne looks at how the media rights strategies of their respective buying arms, the IMG and Infront agencies, fit into the two groups’ portfolios and explains why potential investors would be advised to look carefully at the small print around some key football deals.
College sports carve out a commercial niche on OTT platforms
The Colonial Athletic Conference’s $4.5m streaming deal with FloSports is helping the conference to build audiences and close the gap on the Power 5. Eric Fisher reports.
Brazilian club football is shown the light, but chooses to remain in the dark
The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A will be the only major football league in the world without international, local-language distribution in 2019. Callum McCarthy looks at why Brazilian club football lags behind its European counterparts.
Digital, direct and driven
The launch of iX.co, a digitally native company which unites the strength of Infront’s digital operations and Omnigon, is designed to offer brands and sports bodies an opportunity to talk to consumers directly and in new ways.