Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Why Content Discovery Is (Still) a Challenge for Sports, and Smart Speakers Are a Threat to Pay TV

19/03/2018

Why Content Discovery Is (Still) a Challenge for Sports, and Smart Speakers Are a Threat to Pay TV New TiVo study finds some user frustrations persist in the current sports-media ecosystem By Troy Dreier, Contributor, Streaming & Digital

Monday, March 19, 2018 - 11:11 am

Print This Story

Story Highlights

With social networks and minor cable channels buying the rights to sports broadcasts, finding a game can be frustrating - but just how frustrating? Thanks to the Q4 2017 Online Video and Pay TV Trends Report created by TiVo, we have an answer: 5.5% of adults in the U.S. and Canada are always frustrated when searching for a favorite team or event. What's more, 29.4% are sometimes frustrated. The report notes that these numbers haven't changed much year over year, so maybe the same 35% just doesn't know how to Google.

Discoverability is a serious issue, of course, and, with only 49% saying they never have trouble finding games, it shows that both broadcasters and online networks need to do a better job helping fans find content - especially since online platforms are only going to increase their investment in the coming years.

According to TiVo's survey results, it appears Amazon and Facebook are taking the lead from a viewership standpoint, says Chris Ambrozic, senior director, analytics and product, TiVo subsidiary Digitalsmiths, whose team wrote the analyses in the report. Facebook is also investing in original reality-show content with various sports figures, which TiVo believes can help build awareness to their offerings. While our report covers North America, it's worth noting [that] both Amazon and Facebook have bid on international sports content, such as cricket and soccer. This proves they are aggressively trying to reach global viewership of their streaming offerings for sports.

According to the report, only 28.2% of respondents have ever streamed sports to a desktop or mobile device. Breaking that down, 11.5% have streamed from Facebook, 8.9% from Amazon, and 8.6% from NFL.com. The next most popular sites, in order, were NBA.com, Twitter, MLB.com, NHL.com, and MLSsoccer.com.

There's no electronic program grid for online sports and no easy way to see what's coming up in the near future. As a result, online networks are likely to use unconventional methods to promote their offerings.

Marketing is going to be key for these companies, and TiVo believes it's imperative to market the clear benefit of their services/offerings to gain viewership, Ambrozic says. Amazon took an interesting stance in Q3/Q4 of 2017 by leveraging their existing, and large, Prime subscriber base to promote their Thursday Night Football offerings on the outside of their shipping boxes. Facebook could also have a sizable audience to market its streaming offerings to once their reality sports shows air, especially since they are sports fans who are currently watching a TV show about a prominent sports figure.

TiVo's report is aimed at traditional pay-TV services and sees online streaming not as a natural evolution of how people enjoy TV but as a threat to existing companies. It points out that the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor match in August was one of the first big fights that fans could purchase directly online, rather than going through a pay-TV provider, and that Facebook is spending big on sports licensing. This could damage broadcasters' investment in sports by siphoning off fans and lowering ad revenues, the report says. It could also entice some fans to cut the cord in favor or lower online options.

Is OTT stealing viewers from pay TV?, the report asks. It's an odd questions when pay-TV companies are creating steaming services, and broadcasters have shown a willingness to embrace sports streaming, such as with NBC's live Olympic offerings.

Digitalsmiths' Chris Ambrozic: Both broadcast networks and pay-TV providers should be concerned about the data [that] smart-speaker manufacturers can gather from users who check sports scores on their devices.

Yes, broadcast networks are adapting to these viewing habits for sure, but now they are no longer competing strictly against a few other networks for the rights to air sporting events, Ambrozic explains. With more and more streaming providers entering the sports-broadcast industry, this could only drive up the price of the content.

Streaming options aren't the only thing TiVo sees as a threat to pay TV. It alleges that smart speakers are a gateway to streaming sports, as if sports streaming were a nasty habit fans could catch from Alexa. Respondents who watch four or more hours of sports per day are 191% more likely to check sports scores via a smart speaker, the report says, compared with respondents who watch zero to two hours per day. When people check scores, the report reasons, they're showing that they're fans of certain teams or sports and giving online companies a way to market to their interests.

Both broadcast networks and pay-TV providers should be concerned about the data [that] smart-speaker manufacturers can gather from users who check sports scores on their devices, Ambrozic says. This data can be leveraged to deliver targeted marketing to these users. For example, if an Amazon Echo device is asked for the score of the New England Patriots game, Amazon now knows that this household is likely interested in not just football but the New England Patriots specifically. With this insight, it would make sense for targeted ads promoting Amazon's Thursday Night Football stream to be delivered to this household.

And that's another threat to the pay-TV subscriber base. But whether readers see this as a hazard or an opportunity depends on whether they're coming from the pay-TV or OTT world.
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2018/03/19/why-discovery-is-still-a-challe...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

06/10/2025

France Tlvisions Wins Prestigious 2025 EBU Technology & Innovation Award in Groundbreaking Collaboration with Dalet

France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...

04/09/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment and Dalet Win Prestigious 2025 NAB Show Project of the Year Award

Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...

30/08/2025

FCC Slightly Raises Regulatory Fees for TV Stations

WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...

29/08/2025

Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight against Modern Slavery

Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...

29/08/2025

Call for entries is now open for the 19th Annual South African Film & Television Awards (SAFTAs19)

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...

29/08/2025

L3Harris Launches Counter-Unmanned Systems Initiative

L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...

29/08/2025

The CW Network Extends Pac-12 Deal Through 2030-31 Season

BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...

29/08/2025

Global FAST Channel Count Continues to Spike

NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...

29/08/2025

Harmonic Unveils New Capabilities for Its Live Sports Streaming Solution

SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...

29/08/2025

Youtube TV, Fox Settle Differences, Renew Carriage Agreement

NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...

29/08/2025

Lightware MTR integration brings advanced flexibility and...

Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...

29/08/2025

Frequency Launches Studio Live - a Unified Platform to Br...

Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...

29/08/2025

Scality Day 2025 Celebrating 10 years of global innovatio...

In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...

29/08/2025

Disguise Drives New Immersive Racing Experience - F1 Box

Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+ Technology solu...

29/08/2025

Disguise Supports Fellow Entertainment Tech Leaders at IB...

Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show Disguise, the industry-leading tech...

29/08/2025

Accedo to Highlight Compose AI-Agent Enhanced Orchestration Layer

STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...

29/08/2025

Cineverse Launches Streaming Apps for In-Vehicle Video Streaming

LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...

29/08/2025

Gray Media to Simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL Games

DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...

29/08/2025

Comcast NBCU and Amazon Ink New Distribution Agreements

NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...

29/08/2025

RED Digital Cinema To Highlight Cine-Broadcast Module At IBC2025

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...

29/08/2025

Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and Highlighting Ukraine's Investment Case

29 Aug 2025 Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...

29/08/2025

Sky Sports to show more NFL games than ever as part of new rights agreement

More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025 Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...

29/08/2025

'RIV4LRIES': The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino Only on Netflix October 1

Back to All News RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...

29/08/2025

Steps ahead: RT to air inspiring documentary on 12-year-old Irish dance star

Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...

29/08/2025

TODAY WITH DAVID MCCULLAGH TO AIR ON RT RADIO 1 WEEKDAYS AT 10AM

RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...

28/08/2025

Meet the 2025 Sundance Institute Documentary Edit Residency Artists

By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...

28/08/2025

Watch These 9 Sundance Institute-Supported Documentaries That Spotlight Workers' Rights

Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...

28/08/2025

Motivational Corridos: The New Sound of Resilience in Msica Mexicana

Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...

28/08/2025

Corridos Motivadores: El Nuevo Sonido de la Resiliencia en Mxico

Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...

28/08/2025

Verano Forever Brings Myke Towers, Bele, Elena Rose, and More to Miami for an Unforgettable Latin Summer Celebration

Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...

28/08/2025

Poland Selects L3Harris Electronic Warfare System for F-16 Fleet

L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....

28/08/2025

AgileTV consolidates its technological leadership with the development of Lowi TV in Spain

Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...

28/08/2025

Craft Interview: Ken Wilkinson, Audio Engineer

Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...

28/08/2025

Fubo to Launch Fubo Sports Skinny Bundle for $56 Per Month

NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....

28/08/2025

Telestream to Launch 'Global Ingest Workflow at IBC2025

NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...

28/08/2025

Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Education

Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...

28/08/2025

TAG Strengthens Regional Presence with Appointment of Oli...

TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...

28/08/2025

DHD to Demonstrate AI-Based Voice Enhancement at IBC 2025

AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...

28/08/2025

Telefonica Servicios Audiovisuales Hit the Back of the Ne...

Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...

28/08/2025

Optical Media Anchors LiveU IQ into its On site Productio...

To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...

28/08/2025

WNED Adopts Calrec Type R console to weather any storm an...

Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...

28/08/2025

Cleeng unveils first ever free D2C subscription platform...

Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...

28/08/2025

Zixi and OKAST Partner to Power Scalable Global FAST Chan...

Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...

28/08/2025

Nixer to unveil CV1 AoIP monitoring tool to address evolv...

Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering Nixer Pro Au...

28/08/2025

Cinegy Announces Strategic Partnership with One Touch Pro...

Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...

28/08/2025

Telestream Global Ingest Workflow Powered by Vantage Open...

Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...

28/08/2025

Telenor partners with Broadpeak for multi-country content...

Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...

28/08/2025

24 Frames Digital goes live with Synamedia Quortex Play f...

Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...

28/08/2025

VisualOn at IBC 2025 - Whats Next in AI Powered Video Str...

Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...