Live Sports on Streaming Bring Changes for Advertisers: EMarketer

Live sports, once a “pillar of pay TV,” have become the “next big thing in streaming,” blogged eMarketer analyst Sara Lebow Monday, saying 84 million of the 160.2 million live sports viewers in the U.S. this year will be digital. EMarketer analyst Paul Verna said growth in sports viewership is coming from adoption of digital platforms vs. pay TV. Lebow noted Amazon’s “$1 billion-a-year Thursday Night Football bet appears to be paying off,” citing a CNBC report saying the tech company had a record number of signups for a three-hour period before kickoff of its debut broadcast Sept. 13. Verizon announced Friday NFL Plus will be offered on the Verizon Plus Play subscription management platform, and Apple inked a $50 million deal for the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show, Lebow noted. Exclusive NFL rights have the potential for extended game revenue via alternate broadcasts that give viewers a more personalized feel, she said, referencing Amazon’s alternate streams and NFL Slimetime on Nickelodeon. But exclusive streaming rights mean changes for advertisers, Lebow said. Amazon doesn’t have beer or alcohol ads on the Thursday games, she said, but NFL games "are some of the biggest expenditures for beer brands: Dry Thursdays could change that.” NFL games are now a major attraction for streaming services, which can score payoffs in advertising and new subscribers, "but costs are high and the landscape’s still shifting, so each deal is a gamble."