News
March 9, 2020

Shifts in Live Streaming, DTC and More Insights From Sportel Miami

The Kiswe team spent a week in Miami meeting with rights holders, distributors and leaders in the sports world during Sportel Miami.

Image Credit: Sportel
Image Credit: Sportel

The Kiswe team spent a week in sunny Miami meeting with pivotal rights holders, distributors and leaders in the sports world during Sportel Miami. As one of the leading events bringing together people across the sports media and technology industries, we were pleased to foster new relationships while seeing some familiar faces. During the conference, we sat down to hear informative sessions that touched on topics ranging from social media and OTT platforms increasing fan engagement, to embracing direct to consumer content distribution. Here are a few key learnings we observed this week:

Coronavirus impacts on live events

With the continued spread of COVID-19 across the world, major sporting events, concerts and conferences have been called off. The Italian government took the drastic measure of banning fans from attending sporting events for a month and SXSW, one of the largest media and tech events, was canceled by the local Austin government. As more events cause people to keep themselves at home, we foresee a rise in live-streamed programming with fans keeping up with games by watching remotely. One way to make fans feel like they are still part of the event is by providing engaging, digital experiences that unlock social and interactive features as our CloudCast platform enables.

Evolution in sports media content deals and distribution

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The international sports media space is constantly shifting due to changing consumer behavior and rapidly progressing technology. Not only does this affect how content is watched, but it also changes how content is created and distributed, as the market becomes more fragmented. Rights holders are now looking to embrace a more direct-to-consumer approach to content to connect directly with fans and gain access to data that will help them stay abreast of the wavering landscape.

Fans have also become creators of content themselves as it has become easier to capture videos from events and share them across social media. For content owners, finding new ways to utilize user-generated content and rights will be crucial.

The rise of emerging media companies in combat sports

While traditional media companies have typically owned top sports broadcasting opportunities, emerging players like DAZN have been able to bypass complex distribution strategies and reach fans directly with OTT platforms. Especially when it comes to combat sports, the subscription packages are much more affordable and strategically integrated with social media to increase fan engagement and sales.

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