sports rights blog by MIDiA Research

Blog: sports rights

Read our latest daily deep-dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the digital entertainment world. Check out your favourite analyst, or search by coverage – games, video, music, audio, media & marketing, or critical developments for all.

YouTube has dismantled the walls between social video and SVOD

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Blog post by Ben Woods

24 Jan 2023

How do you define YouTube in 2023? The Google-owned app has evolved into a complicated media outfit. It stretches beyond social video content and deep into subscription video on demand (SVOD). It is a...

Is global sport now entering into the Colin Kaepernick era?

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Blog post by Tim Mulligan

1 Dec 2022

For soccer fans, the last two weeks have been difficult. The World Cup kicked off on November 20thamid FIFA’s controversial prohibition of players wearing the OneLove armband (designed to protest host...

Why (and how) Apple has now fundamentally disrupted sports

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Blog post by Tim Mulligan

16 Jun 2022

On Tuesday June 14th, Apple announced that it had secured the exclusive 10-year rights to broadcast the fastest growing football league in the world; the MLS. From 2023 through to 2032, live broadcast...

What live in 2021 can learn from live in 1921

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Blog post by Tim Mulligan

16 Apr 2021

sports broadcasting

virtual concerts

Nearly a hundred years ago in July 1921, the entertainment world changed forever thanks to the efforts of David Sarnoff, a Belarusian emigree to the US who headed up the Radio Corporation of America (RCA)....

D-Day for sports has finally arrived (…in Italy)

Cover image for D-Day for sports has finally arrived (…in Italy)

Blog post by Tim Mulligan

29 Mar 2021

Last Friday the sporting world moved one pivotal step closer to a streaming-first future. Sports video subscription service DAZN has now secured the rights to broadcast all Serie A matches for the next...

The billion-dollar content play: Why Amazon is intentionally overpaying for its NFL rights

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Blog post by Tim Mulligan

22 Mar 2021

Last Thursday , the sports ecosystem breathed a collective sigh of relief. The NFL, the world’s most valuable sports league, secured an 11-year broadcast deal worth a staggering $100 billion. This huge...

COVID fallout: BBC no longer considers UK Athletics value for money

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Blog post by Alistair Taylor

19 Aug 2020

COVID-19 exposed live entertainment as a vulnerable asset class , specifically following the pandemic-enforced postponement of live sports . One of the hardest hit during this hiatus and ensuing uncertainty...

TwitchSports: Amazon throws sports into the starting line-up

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Blog post by Alistair Taylor

29 Jul 2020

Amazon-owned Twitch is no newcomer to sports. However, in a deliberate move to double down, Amazon has conceded that it needs to improve the discoverability of live sporting events for its platform users...

Forget Virtual – UFC and NRL going Remote

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Blog post by Alistair Taylor

10 Apr 2020

Associated Press

With fans currently starved of sports entertainment during lockdown, rights holders are jumping out of the gate to be the first to put on live sports to serve any form of quick fix to see a jump in engagement....

Amazon One - Family Christmas Nil

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

18 Dec 2019

addressable audience

AFC Bournemouth

ageing audience

Ever since the English Premier League (EPL) awarded rights to tech major Amazon in June 2018, the excitement for December 2019 and how Amazon’s live stream delivery would pan out has been palpable. The...

Knock On: Rights Holders Cannot Chance Latency?

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Blog post by Alistair Taylor

26 Sep 2019

broadband providers

The IRB Rugby World Cup (RWC) commenced last Friday with hosts Japan producing a fine victory over second-time qualifiers Russia, 30-10. The first RWC to be held in Asia provides Australasian countries...

Could a Recession Change the Tide for Sports Rights Allocation?

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Blog post by Alistair Taylor

24 Sep 2019

additive services

all-encompassing offering

Revenue remains rights holder’s priority qualifier for allocating rights. However, with an impending recession, we are likely nearing an inflection point whereby rights holders may start to look towards...

Tencent Renewal: NBA the Envy of Global Sports Rights Holders?

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

1 Aug 2019

Chinese Basketball Association

custom interactive services

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent have announced a five-year extension of their existing partnership, with Tencent acting as the NBA’s official digital partner...

Is YouTube MLB’s Answer to Tap into Younger Audience?

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Blog post by Alistair Taylor

29 Jul 2019

cable consumption

On July 18 th , Google-owned YouTube livestreamed the first of its exclusive Major League Baseball (MLB) matches, acquired through a partnership announced with the MLB at the end of April 2019 . YouTube’s...

Is Pay-TV killing off Niche Sports?

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Blog post by Alistair Taylor

4 Jul 2019

With both the ICC Cricket World Cup and FIFA Women’s World Cup approaching their climaxes, the stark difference in audience engagement raises the question, is pay-TV killing off niche sports? Deciding...

Heavyweight Battle for Premium Sporting Rights Dependent on Three Factors

Cover image for Heavyweight Battle for Premium Sporting Rights Dependent on Three Factors

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

3 Jun 2019

broadcast rights

The sports rights landscape has changed fundamentally with the emergence of streaming subscription video on demand (SVOD) services. Digital and broadcast rights used to be separate deals entirely, but...

ESPN+ leverages UFC appeal to double subscriber base to 2 million in five months

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

8 Feb 2019

direct-to-consumer

Disney announced in its Q1 earnings call on Tuesday that its sports-centric streaming service ESPN+ had surpassed two million subscribers, doubling its subscriber base in less than five months. Launched...

Eleven Sports Loses Serie A Rights As Partnership With IMG Ends

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

1 Feb 2019

audience acquisition

Eleven Sports, the fledgling sports-centric streaming service has lost the UK and Irish rights for Serie A and Eredivisie, following a strategic decision to ‘amicably’ end its partnership with international...

Why 2021 Could Kill TV, Save Apple and Mark the End of Ads in Broadcast Sports

Blog post by Georgia Meyer

9 Jan 2019

21st Century Fox

2021–22 are the years when the world’s most expensive premium domestic sports rights come up for renewal. In the US the NFL, MLB and NHL broadcast rights will all be up for tender, whilst in the UK...

Sport1 To Drop US-centric Channel in Favour of Esports

Blog post by Alistair Taylor

5 Dec 2018

addressable audience

audience demographics

German broadcaster Sport1 is replacing its US sport focused channel for the very first German-speaking esports channel. Sport1 announced last week that the channel dubbed eSports1 will launch in Germany,...

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