Tech companies race for NFL streaming rights as OTT complements linear TV

Sport is seasonal and, in theory, each one should have its own downtime. Despite this, no sport ever seems to stop.

Even though the NFL season is over, with this year’s climax in Minneapolis at Super Bowl LII, the attention turns to next year. And whilst we know that the main US rights to the live broadcast of American football are tied up among traditional broadcasters until 2022, Thursday Night Football – which has been simulcast on Twitter and Amazon in recent years – is again being offered out to live-streamers who are said to be interested in acquiring the rights.

As reported by Bloomberg, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are all exploring bids to make the Thursday night slot feel at home on their platforms. As in previous years, this won’t be a case of exclusive live rights to the first games of the NFL weekend, but rather a chance for the league to bring its product to an audience it believes is cutting its cords and getting comfortable on digital-only platforms instead.

According to Bloomberg’s sources, the league “is looking for a technology company to offer an interactive stream with social-media commentary and statistics that entice kids raised on video games and Snapchat.” And so the upshot of the NFL’s strategy seems to be an effort to showcase its games in a different way in order to bring in this new audience, rather than looking for tech companies to attempt to outbid the traditional broadcast partners or at least drive up the price.

Rather than simply moving the feast from linear TV to an OTT platform, this seems to be about creating something it thinks a younger audience will love – integration of social media, stats, and other distractions viewers tend to look for on their second screens during the game anyway. Whether or not that will actually appeal to a younger demographic remains to be seen, but the strategy does seem to make sense from another point of view.

Although Amazon – who held the rights to the Thursday night slot last season – saw fairly healthy viewing figures given that they were simply simulcasting what was already on TV, they still paled in comparison to the linear channels, which command by far the bigger audience and perhaps an even more engaged one, filled with viewers who are perhaps more captive during ad breaks which is clearly an important factor for advertisers. As a result, TV is hardly dead just yet, even in the face of the increasing popularity of digitally-native platforms, but perhaps American football needs to deal with that ageing audience, too.

In the UK, the strategy will clearly be different, and the interest is mostly coming from a younger, more digitally-engaged audience in any case. But the rise of OTT platforms into the mainstream of US sporting rights is interesting, and the fact it’s being used to present content in a different way to TV broadcasters is something which might catch on.

It’s been a difficult season for the NFL, having to deal with plenty of extra-curricular issues from falling viewing figures to a changing media landscape and social tensions manifesting themselves within the coverage of the league itself. But its ability to get technology companies so interested in acquiring the rights to simply simulcast games and present the coverage in a new way shows the power live sport still has when it comes to attracting broadcasters.

About author

Chris McMullan
Chris McMullan 831 posts

Chris is a sports journalist and editor of Digital Sport - follow him on Twitter @CJMcMullan_

You might also like

SPORTEL 2021: Day One Recap

This year’s prestigious SPORTEL convention kicked off in sunny Monaco today, welcoming a host of familiar faces as well as plenty of new ones. Doors opened at 8:30am with businesses

Six Founding Riders Set To Bring The Vision Of The UCI Track Champions League To Life

Olympic Champions, UCI World Champions and World Record holders join the new track cycling competition debuting in November 2021 The UCI Track Champions League is delighted to announce that six

Sports related spending to soar this summer as pre-pandemic life resumes

New insights from eBay Ads UK reveal the potential for brands to engage with an excited but nervous nation as sports events get back on track  As pubs and indoor