Sports Channels in India (Current & Upcoming) - Broadcast Rights, General Discussion, News & Updates

[The Lonelier Island]

You seem to know everything. So tell us how many users would a premium sports platform need to acquire and stream an event like Fifa World Cup ad-free?

People paid to stream 2014 and 2018 World Cup without ads on Sony Liv. There were literally zero ads.

 

[sathishbabu4u]

Hope Sony blackout first 2 days of aus vs sa and after Ind - ban Test match, from 3rd day onwards Ten 5 will start telecast of aus sa Test match

 

[dino29]

And I am correct. If you watched football you would know how ads are placed during a match. Not inbetween broadcast. But other means like title sponsors, led banner ads, pre-show ads etc.

Buddy we r talking about revenue model for broadcasters / OTT platforms which acquire right of such sporting events. LED Billboards around boundary of the ground r put by hosts of the event and revenue is earned by them. Pre/Post shows do get few advertisers but same gets very less revenue, more so ad slot rates for such shows is not quite high as compared what is earned thru ad slots put inbetween the match or before its start/end which attract more brands. Title Sponsors / Co Sponsors etc. again contribute little bit to the revenue but subscription money and ads played during match (including L shaped ads or ads sometimes placed on ground of match thru computer graphics) play key role for broadcasters/OTT platforms to generate revenue & build a sustainable financial model for its sports properties.

Viacom18 may still not be able to recover much from huge cost which has been incurred in acquiring rights of key sports events including FIFA World Cup 2022....it will look to attract more viewers and gradually over the long run try to achieve some balance in sports business financial model. Having said that still many premium sports properties will still remain loss making for them and same would be offset by high revenue generating sports events.

All in all it is not possible for broadcasters /OTT platforms to provide all content ad free on premium niche channels which cost high or premium plans on OTT platforms as doing so is not a financially viable option. Broadcasters / OTT platforms have different strategy on pricing/ad revenue model for popular and niche content...popular content has less focus on ARPU as thru high volume numbers more ad revenue is generated while for niche content subscription revenue plays key role and volumes r less thus ways r looked to maximise ad revenue too and offset losses by absorbing the same in profits generated by popular mass viewed content.

Sports business is a highly cost incurring venture for broadcasters / OTT platforms and monetizing /earning profit takes a very long time. Even if tomorrow FIFA World Cup 2022 is watched by as many people which tune into India Cricket or IPL still ad free streaming for premium plans on OTT platforms is extremely unlikely as cost of acquiring rights will significantly increase and again ways will be looked at to maximise revenue. This is why u don't see IPL or India Cricket matches not being provided for free on Disney+Hotstar but much of hindi/regional GEC content is made available without the need to subscribe to any OTT plan (all such movies r made available for free after few months of their release on the OTT platform).

 

[dino29]

People paid to stream 2014 and 2018 World Cup without ads on Sony Liv. There were literally zero ads.

This does not mean Sony would have earned any profit thru this strategy, it is just to attract viewers and absorb initial losses to build traction for the OTT platform

 

[The Lonelier Island]

This does not mean Sony would have earned any profit thru this strategy, it is just to attract viewers and absorb initial losses to build traction for the OTT platform

Or maybe Sony just isn't dumb enough to think that they could air ads inbetween a football match. Because it makes no sense.

 

[dino29]

Or maybe Sony just isn't dumb enough to think that they could air ads inbetween a football match. Because it makes no sense.

Or maybe they wanted to build a strong base of subscribers for sports on Sony Liv hence avoided ads to create a sort of attraction value . Also advertisers not showing interest to buy ad slots on Sony Liv for this event could also b a possible reason for stream being ad free.

There are various factors upon which broadcasters look before deciding the revenue strategy, also changing broadcast landscape plays a key role in it. In 2018 OTT had lot fewer audience than what it has now

 

[piinku1]

Hope Sony blackout first 2 days of aus vs sa and after Ind - ban Test match, from 3rd day onwards Ten 5 will start telecast of aus sa Test match

I think they are intentionally black outing AUS home matches after losing rights.

 

[The Lonelier Island]

Or maybe they wanted to build a strong base of subscribers for sports on Sony Liv hence avoided ads to create a sort of attraction value . Also advertisers not showing interest to buy ad slots on Sony Liv for this event could also b a possible reason for stream being ad free.

There are various factors upon which broadcasters look before deciding the revenue strategy, also changing broadcast landscape plays a key role in it. In 2018 OTT had lot fewer audience than what it has now

Tell me how could anyone watch football with ads inbetween. You will miss run-up and shots. This is not cricket or athletics.

 

[dino29]

Tell me how could anyone watch football with ads inbetween. You will miss run-up and shots. This is not cricket or athletics.

Not inbetween but wherever it is possible to insert ads be in normal ads, banner ads,,on field graphic ads etc.

Buddy... It is quite complex for any broadcaster to cater to all audience and air all types of content across linear or digital keeping subscription cost affordable and maximizing ad revenue for each segment. I feel in current scenario we r still getting access to lot of content at very affordable pricing. All what is needed is for broadcasters to keep a-la-carte channel rates insync with bouquet pricing on linear platform so as to give consumers choice to opt for their favorite content rather than discounting bouquet and pushing it to viewers.

If i like just movies and sports content i should have option to opt for required packs at affordable price on linear and digital platforms rather than unnecessarily choosing a plan which offers all channels

 

[mithu]

What is use of sony ten sd version channel. They can easily telecast all match in sd and hd separately.