If you’re a sports fan, summer 2024 was a good one. It featured the Euros and Copa América football competitions, the Olympics, two cycling grand tours (the third one is happening now,) and test cricket. There was also the Open golf (although the weather was not very seasonal,) and Wimbledon. The regular summer seasons for some US sports were in full flow too. It all meant that sport dominated the media, pushing reality shows and much else out of the spotlight.
One of the big winners was NBC. It announced 23.5 billion minutes of Paris 2024 were streamed thanks to its Peacock service. The platform has been considered somewhat second-tier, but it got gold at the Olympics. NBC-owned USA Network also performed well. Mark Lazarus, Chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group, was clearly happy:
The Games marked a groundbreaking moment for Peacock, which delivered a flawless user experience and cutting-edge innovation while shattering all-time Olympics streaming records. USA Network went around-the-clock and ranked #1 in cable sports and entertainment [for the Olympics fortnight].
Here in the UK, having the rights to everything from Paris helped Discovery+ become the fastest-growing streaming service in the country, per the Guardian. The BBC and ITV drew in a collective 24.2 million viewers for the England vs Spain Euro 2024 final.
Sport Streaming is the Only Game in Town
Of course, what matters to all these services is that customers stay, not churn out. Having something to draw them is a good start though. It all just underlines that sport is worth the investment for streamers and linear broadcasters alike. It’s not a startling revelation but, as Rich Greenfield of LightShed Partners told CNBC:
You’re shifting from entertainment to sports… NBC is telling you straight up, the future is sports.
Greenfield also rightly pointed out that NBC has bought an NBA rights package.
It is not true that platforms no longer want to invest in high-quality entertainment programming. They clearly do. But if they have the chance to spend the budget on a drama series or live sport, Hollywood might not be the clear winner any more. Indeed, we know that Netflix is happily to put out mass-market content as opposed to higher-end work and is increasingly interested in sport.
Fans will become increasingly frustrated as the viewing environment gets ever more fractured. Networks will become increasingly worried as streamers take the prime products or push up the cost of the rights. Yet the reality is that live sport is the only media game in town and this summer showed us why.
About the Author
1 thought on “A Massive Summer of Sports Streaming”