Last year, ESPN broadcast the professional indoor baseball (also translated as lacrosse) playoffs for pay TV users, with an average of only 4,000 viewers watching each game on TV. This year, the National Lacrosse League (NLL) chose to broadcast the game live through the digital social media Twitter, attracting an average of 344,000 viewers per game.
Although the football and baseball leagues have both signed billion-dollar national television broadcast contracts, digital network live broadcast or OTT live broadcast (Over The Top Viewing, which refers to the model of directly providing audio and video services without operators) is the future. A shrewd bet on a trend and the best way to please your loyal audience. For professional baseball and other niche sports, digital live streaming is the only way to go, even if the owners of these teams are billionaires.
Nick Sakiewicz, president of the US Tennis Baseball League, said in an interview: "We have not cooperated with the big TV media. Maybe one day in the future they want to broadcast our games and attract our viewers. We will collaborate, but right now OTT is the best option.”
Until now, niche sports leagues have not had many ways to gain national exposure. Unlike football and baseball, which can attract large audiences, minor leagues have difficulty generating rights revenue and have to pay out of their own pockets to even get their games on the air. Sometimes, only the finals stage is broadcast live on television. But independent digital production companies such as Sportsrocket and Neulion are giving niche sports more affordable ways to reach larger audiences.
Niche sports are moving closer to online live broadcasts. Although it is difficult to threaten traditional TV media such as ESPN, the business models established by these alliances are a window into the future direction of sports broadcasting. In the Internet age, more and more consumers are no longer subscribing to cable TV channels. Companies such as ESPN - the TV media with the largest audience in the United States - are beginning to create digital video services for those who no longer watch TV. Lee Berke, chief executive of
consultancy LHB Sports, Entertainment Msdia, said: "The flexibility of this approach (digital live streaming) now allows many leagues to bring games directly to viewers and earn returns. So why not How about building your own communication network?
Twitter live broadcast of some sports events, social media live broadcast has touched niche sports events
According to Sakowitz, the US Tennis Baseball League with a total of 9 teams did this last year. Yes, they launched NLL TV. This is an ad-supported, subscription-based OTT channel that can be viewed online or on live streaming devices such as Roku set-top boxes and Apple TV.
Brian Bedol, founder and CEO of Sportsrocket, a New York-based company responsible for the NLL's online broadcasts, said: "Small sports leagues have passionate fans who demand quality games, but they don't have the resources. " He believes that OTT services allow less popular sports to reap wealth from a small and difficult to tap audience.
Bedol said: "By working with various customers such as the Arena Football League and DeerHunter TV, Sportsrocket has controlled costs and provided leagues like the NLL with high-quality live broadcasts at the cost of regular TV services. ”
Now the NLL has a new source of revenue: ad sales from weekly Twitter contest broadcasts, and more than 25,000 subscribers paying $34.95 each per year. Chief Marketing Officer Ashley Dabb said that NLL TV's 24-hour broadcast allows NLL to provide more services to advertisers and increase sales and sponsorships.
Dabb said: "More importantly, this gives fans a place to watch our games at any time."
NLL Buffalo Bandits Director of Operations Scott Loffler believes that this is a good match for the small team. This is particularly important for mass sports. The team's owner, Terry Pegula, also owns the National Hockey League (NHL) team Buffalo Sabers and the NFL team Buffalo Bills.
Scott Loeffler said that unlike other professional sports leagues, NLL players mainly play on weekends. Their usual full-time jobs include police, bankers, teachers or electricians, with an average salary of about US$20,000.
The NWHL (National Women's Hockey League), which has only four teams, was created in 2015. The league signed a broadcast agreement with Twitter in June this year. In the 2017-18 season, 19 games will be broadcast online, including All-Star Game and NWHL/Team Russia Summit Series.
According to Alliance President Dani Rylan, the Alliance’s goal is to eventually replace YouTube video distribution with a comprehensive OTT service. The 2017 Women's Hockey League All-Star Game video has only 6,300 views on YouTube. Such changes in
make it urgent for the World Surf League (World Surf League) to go online. WSL was formerly known as the Association of Surfing Professionals. It was renamed in 2015 and had its first live broadcast experience in 2000. Surfing requires suitable weather and wind waves, and traditional television media cannot temporarily change its broadcast schedule.
According to Tim Greenberg, who is in charge of social media for the WSL, while CBS Sports Network broadcasts many major events and ABC also airs weekly highlight competitions, World Surf League competitions are broadcast live on the league's website Or you can watch it for free on the App. At the same time, the World Surf League is also cooperating with Facebook, which will provide it with 800 hours of live broadcast on the social network platform this season.
NeuLion is a production company based in Plainview, New York, whose clients include NBA and NBL. The World Surf League has partnered with them to develop a business model for targeted advertising, allowing sponsors to reach specific audiences.
According to Chris Wagner, executive vice president of NeuLion, NeuLion can customize different advertising services in live broadcast competition for different regions and markets, inserting ads directly into live broadcasts to cleverly avoid ad blocking technology. Sponsors like Corona Beer and Jeep are able to target audiences in specific areas with 30- and 60-second ads, he said.
Wagner said that NeuLion's interactive player allows viewers to slow down the live broadcast or quickly replay it, so viewers will pay attention to the event longer.
Wagner said: "If the audience watches longer, the more ads we can put, the more revenue will be."
Statement: This article was compiled by Lanxiong Sports from Bloomberg, and the original author is Reade Pickert
