While established OTT providers such as Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ have stolen the headlines for the OTT revolution that we have seen over the past couple of years, the potential for sports coverage and content delivery to be transformed thanks to over-the-top platforms is enormous.
It’s not just movies and television that are attracting customers away from traditional TV channels with almost 39% of viewers now watching live sports events via streaming services.
Recently, we have seen Amazon Prime land a $11 billion per season contract for the rights to the Thursday Night NFL. This deal with the National Football League (NFL) is a landmark moment for sports coverage on OTT platforms as it is the first time the NFL has agreed to a package offering exclusively all-digital streaming.
Similarly, the Serie A recently penned a three-year deal with multi-subscription broadcaster DAZN for the rights to Italian football’s top flight. This marks a shift away from terrestrial television provider Sky Italia who previously held the rights and illustrates the growing influence of OTT platforms in the world of sports broadcasting.
However, it’s not just the world’s largest sports leagues that can benefit from over-the-top solutions with sporting federations and leagues of all sizes now being able to benefit from what OTT has to offer. Whether you’re the local football team, a semi-professional league or a national sports federation, there is an OTT solution that is right for you.
The ability to have a specialised streaming platform tailored to your team is no longer the reserve of the biggest sports leagues in the world and is instead a real option for all. OTT offers a wealth of new possibilities to help interact with fans and offer a more personal and engaging viewer-experience than ever before. Whether it’s through in-game analytics, highlights of recent matches or a catalogue of interviews and exclusive content, new OTT platforms open up a host of new ways to engage with audiences and fan bases around the world.
Modern audiences demand diversified content from their favourite teams and leagues with fans craving ever greater insight into the sports that they watch. OTT offers the perfect platform to satisfy these requirements with the ability to offer long and short-form video on demand (VOD) alongside the live streamed events that they are used to. The future of sports entertainment is exciting and filled with possibilities to satisfy the ever-growing appetite for in-depth, personalised content, all of which is possible thanks to the capabilities of OTT platforms.
