News
March 25, 2020

How the Coronavirus Will Shape the Future of Live Sports and Entertainment

The impact of the COVID-19 virus on the global sports and entertainment industry is and will be profound.

By Mike Schabel

The impact of the COVID-19 virus on the global sports and entertainment industry is and will be profound. The businesses related to live content: sports leagues and their athletes; recording artists, their management organizations and promoters; plus broadcast networks, content distributors (OTT and bundled offerings), sponsors, advertisers, venues, merchandise retailers, and location services have all been disrupted in ways that have tested the very best disaster recovery plans. And yet, these services are so very important to the fabric and well-being of communities. This industry produces heroes, idols, Olympians, philanthropists, role models, and icons. These heroes serve to focus our competitive and athletic vicarious passions, not to mention our sense of community. When we are all feeling isolated, as we are all drafted into the war against COVID-19, it is the community which sees us through. Unfortunately, the entire sports and entertainment industry has been drafted into the same war that we are all fighting and has attempted to silence what we all want and need most: our heroes.

For reasons altogether different from our current situation, Kiswe has commercialized a cloud-based live broadcast production platform where the video, the talent, the crew, and the processing are all done remotely. Given the current situation, our tool is proving to be quite useful and timely. My mind was blown many times over in the past week as I witnessed the creative ingenuity with which our industry partners leveraged our tool to build new content to support their communities. We’ve brought together athletes to relive and retell the most important games of their storied careers. We’ve made new athlete- and idol-driven content that aired on prime-time TV. We continued to bring at-home fans digitally into a live event. And eSports? Front and center! This is all being done with the leagues, networks, and talent that we all know and love. In my view, the sports and entertainment industries have accelerated their digital roadmaps by one to three years. Concepts that were viewed as impossible are now essential since what was viewed as essential is currently possible.

The real question is - what happens when the war against COVID-19 is over, and we transition to a new normal? Will the roadmaps for personalized, interactive, and social video get pushed back out again? Are they here to stay? Will some hybrid of traditional and digital media emerge? Will the media industry chain consolidate or be reinforced? Who will emerge stronger and who will transition to the archives? I have my predictions - but what are yours?

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