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In July this year, the NBA announced a blockbuster new media rights deal worth $76bn over 11 years. As part of that deal, Amazon will pay the NBA $1.8bn per year to screen a selection of live games in the US and internationally. It's just another example of the way streaming platforms are pushing into live sport globally. Amazon has other deals to show the UEFA Champions League, the NFL, and the French Open tennis tournament.
Apple TV+ carries Major League Baseball matches in the US, and has global rights to Major League Soccer. Last year YouTube began showing NFL matches through a seven-year contract worth $14bn. And earlier this year Netflix announced it would be screening live WWE wrestling for $500mn a year from 2025.
Until recently, streamers had often avoided live sports, largely due to the high costs of rights and technical challenges involved. But the technology has improved to the point where former sticking points, such as picture quality and time lag, are now acceptable to many fans. And while expensive, live sports are a powerful way of targeting multiple demographic segments and driving new subscriptions. Ad revenues are also becoming an increasingly important component of streamers' income. And few things can attract advertisers like live sporting events.
For the sports leagues, streamers have a global reach that is particularly attractive. Netflix alone has more than 270mn subscribers worldwide. But traditional broadcasters are fighting back.
Earlier this year, Fox, Disney, and Warner Bros announced the launch of a new streaming platform, Venu Sports. Although the venture is tied up in the legal challenge, alleging it is anticompetitive. Those three companies own 55 per cent of US sports rights. Meanwhile, in the UK, Sky Sports launched a new streaming service this summer to run alongside its traditional broadcast platform.
Another challenge for streamers is that their interest in sports rights has helped drive up prices. For example, between 2019 and 2024, the value of the US sports rights market grew by 54 per cent, compared to an overall TV industry revenue growth of just 15 per cent. While streamers' spending on sports rights has soared recently, that explosive growth may ease off in the coming years, not least because many of the major sports rights deals still have years to run before renewal. But despite that, we may have reached a tipping point in the way viewers consume live sports.
