An Expanding Market

As anticipated, the evolution in the distribution of sports content is traveling at a significant pace: this is also evidenced by some strategic partnerships which, in recent months, have seen platforms such as Amazon, Twitter and Facebook as protagonists alongside sports organizations such as the NBA and NFL. In fact, there are currently more than 50 live streaming agreements concluded by Twitter for 400 events including sport, news, politics and entertainment.

Amazon, for its part, is instead the protagonist of an agreement with the NFL that is part of a strategic plan aimed at making Amazon Prime the reference OTT platform for live 해외축구 중계사이트 events. A partnership that has seen about 50 million dollars flow into the coffers of the NFL, to which are added the 30 million dollars that the Jeff Bozos giant has guaranteed to the league as advertising space on its channels. Recently, Amazon overtook Sky in the race to buy the rights to the ATP World Tour in the United Kingdom, for a total of 50 million pounds for five years.

Among the various OTT platforms, Facebook is also very active, which in 2017 broadcast twenty-two Major League Soccer matches for the first time. However, with a recent agreement, Zuckerberg’s company has secured the rights for the free and ad-free broadcast of Spanish La Liga matches in India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan until 2022. Facebook also broadcasts 32 matches of the UEFA Champions League and some matches of the Copa Libertadores in Latin America, live and exclusively, and in Italy it recently acquired the Peroni TOP12, the domestic rugby championship.

The LaLiga case

A very significant example has recently come from Spain. Last March, in fact, La Liga presented LaLigaSportsTV, the first streaming service of a European league. The platform, which cost about 9 million euros, does not just provide highlights and extra sports services on the top Spanish football league, but also gives all fans the opportunity to follow other national sports. LaLiga, in fact, has decided to make an economic and visibility contribution to the entire national sports scene, agreeing with the various Federations to broadcast the individual events live. Through the OTT platform – whose app is available for smartphones, tablets and Samsung Smart TVs – it will be possible to follow the live broadcasts of basketball, badminton, boxing, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, handball, water polo, roller hockey, billiards, superbike, table tennis, triathlon, esports.

The far-sighted policy of Federal President Javier Tebas is aimed at:

• Launch the first OTT platform of a European football league (despite the fact that no live rights have been acquired);
• Networking, giving visibility to minor sports realities;

Help the various federations to discover the potential of the OTT world, to get to know their audience and target, using that information for advertising and commercial purposes.