Generalization of sports broadcasting through online services
It is no longer unfamiliar to watch international sports events and professional sports leagues such as the Olympics and World Cups via PC or smartphone beyond the traditional media TV. In particular, as the video viewing environment on mobile has been stably established, major online operators are rushing to launch sports relay mobile live services. In the United States, Facebook signed a contract to broadcast American professional football (MLS) and American professional baseball (MLB) in March and May 2017, respectively, and is broadcasting the league matches live through Facebook Live. It is also expected to participate in the bid for the Premier League (EPL) broadcasting rights. ¹ Amazon will also gradually provide sports broadcasts starting this year, starting with American Professional Football (NFL) and Men’s Professional Tennis (ATP) this year, through Amazon Prime, a paid membership service that provides content subscriptions such as music and video, as well as express delivery. He said that he plans to expand the area.
The reason why various online operators are competitively concentrating on 스포츠중계 is that sports are powerful media contents called ‘live flowers’. Sports broadcasts have to be watched at the set game time, and the result is unknown, so you have to watch it to the end. It is evaluated as having high value as content that makes. Therefore, major online operators are actively interested in sports broadcasting in order to strengthen their video-first strategy, which is the transition to video-centric services, which are in the spotlight as a future growth engine.
History of sports broadcasting on domestic portal sites
In Korea, interest in professional sports leagues, centered on Korean professional baseball (KBO League), is very high, and online sports broadcasts have been provided mainly through portal sites. Sports broadcasting on domestic portal sites began in earnest in March 2006 when Yahoo Korea exclusively relayed World Baseball Classic (WBC). At that time, attention was focused as the Korean national team achieved good results, and the estimated number of unique visitors to the sports section of Yahoo Korea rose by 30% compared to the previous month, showing a high increase compared to other portal service competitors that did not provide live broadcasting. Since then, online sports broadcasting by portal operators has been revitalized, focusing on international sports events of great public interest, such as Daum 2006 World Cup in Germany and Daum and Naver’s 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
During the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Round of 32 matches, the match between Korea and Russia was broadcast from 7 to 8 am, and online viewing was more active than TV. At that time, as games were played on weekday mornings, that is, during the rush hour for most people, mobile quickly emerged as a major viewing medium. By incorporating time and space, which the existing media could not reach, into the media consumption area, mobile drew interest in not only international sporting events with jet lag, but also sports events that were outside the visible field of view, such as the KBO League on weekday afternoons.
Since then, sports broadcasting have become one of the main contents of the portal site based on the continuous improvement of technology and increased interest in domestic and foreign professional sports leagues. In particular, as mobile video viewing is becoming more common, mobile sports relay to portal sites is one of the most popular live broadcast content that portal operators can provide. It can be said that it is valuable in terms of bringing about an increase in advertising revenue. In addition, it is expected that people who watch sports broadcasts will have an effect of increasing activity throughout the portal site app as they continue to watch the matches of their favorite teams and players and search for related information, rather than just watching a one-time event.
