Ready to switch to Facebook Sports or VEO ?
For years, fans have been following sports in a linear way on their couch with a bag of chips and a beer. The broadcaster decided what was seen on television and the viewer had to accept it. But now there are numerous ways to break this pattern. Non-traditional media are on the verge of disrupting the market.
FROM SECOND TO FIRST SCREEN
Second screen applications were introduced years ago, but since then the second screen has become the first screen. If you have kids you surely recognise this. Kids don’t watch old fashion television anymore. They decide themselves when & what to see and the device they are using is probably not the 65” black non-swipeable box you were proud of buying a couple of years ago.
Companies like Facebook, Amazon, Google and Netflix are competing with traditional broadcasters for the rights of the English Premier League, WWE, NFL and other ‘television rights’. Few wouldn’t have laughed at you years ago if you would suggest a webshop, a social network and a search engine would have billions spare to fight the likes of Sky and Eurosport.
LET’S STREAM
The UK broadcasting rights to Premier League football were won by Sky Sports and BT. They paid £4.464 billion, but only accounts for five of the seven available packages. Package F (featuring 20 matches from one bank holiday programme and one midweek fixture programme) and package G (20 matches from two midweek fixture programmes) are still up for grabs, with neither BT, nor Sky, planning a bid. This leaves the door open for the likes of Amazon, Facebook or perhaps even Netflix to snap up some of the live action.
Facebook launched an unsuccessful bid of 500 million euro for the digital rights Indian Premier League cricket last year. But not all attempts were a failure. Spanish La Liga will now stream one game a week via the Silicon Valley-based social network. Ligue 1 is understood to be negotiating a similar deal while Mexico’s Liga MX, a huge area of interest for the US market, has also signed up.
Amazon Prime will exclusively stream 37 top men’s tennis tournaments from 2019 to its subscribers in UK and Ireland after it won the ATP broadcast rights from Sky Sports. Amazon also owns Twitch, the largest streaming service in esports and gaming.
“We are looking to attract a new generation of fans who really are demanding a greater flexibility to be able to decide the time and place they tune in to watch their favorite content,” said ATP Executive Chairman Chris Kermode.
FACEBOOK MEANS BUSINESS
Significant moves are especially expected from Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t look like the average sportsman, but he sure is a clever business man. After making half the world addicted to the opinions and life of their friends he is looking to gather even more personal information from his users. He already knows which sports club we like, simply because we all like telling him so. TV and streaming rights are just a next step to lock users in on their favourite platform. Facebook was a social network in the early years, now it’s also a news center, video platform, marketing network and so on.
“The one that’s coming for sports is Facebook. … We don’t know which country they’ll go after or what they’ll do.” Rupert Murdoch
Early 2018 the company hired Peter Hutton, CEO Eurosport, to lead its negotiating team for live-streaming sports deals, sources confirmed to Variety. He’s expected to join Facebook after the conclusion of the Winter Olympics. Hutton is a veteran in the sports right world. He co-ran a sports rights agency (MP & Silva) which helps selling media rights to clubs & leagues ranging from Belgian Jupiler Pro League to Miami Heat and German Bundesliga. At Eurosport, he expanded the company’s live streaming service to 52 markets. In short: this is a man who knows how to negotiate for rights and drive streaming access.
NO CAMERAMAN NEEDED
There is also a revolution going on in the field of video coverage. The high cost of sending a full camera crew means 99% of football matches are never recorded. Static camera streams are being replaced by operator-less video gear using neural networks and computer vision. Danish startup Veo are launching its platform in autumn 2018.
By encasing two 4K cameras in a 3D-printed box on a four metre tripod just outside the pitch’s halfway line, Veo provides a panoramic view. It’s lightweight and water-resistant. However, the real magic lies in its patent-pending AI video system. Veo automatically detects where the ball is and digitally pans and zooms. This gives the appearance of a camera that’s moving with the action, despite the entire match being filmed with a static camera and no manual intervention. Low-cost coverage opens more possibilities for broadcasters, but also for clubs and federations to engage their fans. Check out some examples at beta.veo.co .
“By automating video production and thereby significantly reducing the cost per recording, we can benefit talent development and potentially create a new revenue stream for amateur clubs by including sponsors’ logos in the video.” Henrik Teisbæk - VEO
MARK & FRIENDS EXPLORE THE WORLD AND BEYOND
The current bids from tech giants have to be seen as an exploration of new markets. They can afford, as rights become available, to invest in and understand how that content performs on their platforms. But don’t be surprised if you are obliged to have a Facebook account to watch sports events in the near future.
If a tech company can send a rocket to Mars, streaming a Premier League match to a worldwide audience is a walk in the park.
