Welcome to the blog of Dr. Lisa Burns' Media Studies senior capstone class (3:30 pm section) at Quinnipiac University. If you're looking for the latest on media industry trends and insightful media analysis, you've come to the right place!
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Sports & Celebrity Blog 9, Question 3 (April 10th)
Has sports media reached a tipping point
in its reliance on traditional/legacy media? What changes, if any, do you
expect to see over the next 3 – 5 years?Limit: 8 responses
Over the past several years sports broadcasting and its dependence on the traditional style of consuming content on television has been further and further revealed. With that being said, many have speculated that televised sports have reached a tipping point in that reliance. For example, the NFL, normally America’s most popular sport on television had down ratings for the first time in decades this past season. Now despite many outside factors that are effecting the NFL, one main spot to point towards regarding the down ratings is towards millennial cord cutting and the new age of consuming sports and other media content. “The biggest challenge facing live football is simple cord-cutting. Sports fans are increasingly able to find highlights and replay clips online, on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, so they feel less of a need to pay for cable to watch live games. This trend is hurting ESPN and Fox Sports 1 as well, not to mention viewership of other sports, too, like Nascar racing” (Roberts). However, before this new trend in sports content consumption, televised sports have barely changed in recently memory. “Save for the advent of a few innovations — such as high-definition video, the ability to use very small cameras, projecting first-down markers, constant on-screen score boxes and enhanced slow motion — sports coverage on TV has changed relatively little over recent decades” (Rosenthal). Now, this new age of media content and the newly popular non-traditional way to consume that content, on smart phones, streaming, Apple TVs, and much more, has forced media companies and sports leagues themselves to adapt on the fly. For example, “NBC has experimented this season with increased reliance on this shot, rather than traditional sideline views, during its Thursday prime-time NFL Network simulcasts, offering a different way to see plays develop and defenses respond. As video games have become a way for some fans to engage with and grow more attached to the sport, this familiar view makes sense” (Rosenthal). In addition to working with streaming services, sports leagues are working on multiple on-line feeds and different feeds for the same game on television with a more tailored fan experience pending on the teams involved in the game. Even mighty ESPN has had to adapt to this ever changing sports media consumption climate. “ESPN [recently announced] it would make available hundreds of hours of professional and college sports, its library of programming and even rugby and cricket matches on its new “ESPN+” streaming service, which it intends to launch April 12 at a price of $4.99 per month” (Steinberg). An array of sports will be offered on ESPN+ giving more and more fans an opportunity to consume different teams and games on a nightly basis. “ESPN said it would offer an ESPN+ MLB game each day, seven days per week, throughout the MLB regular season; a daily NHL game throughout the hockey season starting with the 2018-2019 season; a year-round schedule of Top Rank Boxing matches, beginning with the April 21 Amir Khan vs. Phil Lo Greco bout in Liverpool, England; more than 250 Major League Soccer games, along with exclusive local-market games from the Chicago Fire; more than 100 days of coverage from PGA Tour events; and hundreds of tennis matches from Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open”. (Steinberg). Now with that being said, I believe we will see more and more of a trend in more sports channels and companies following ESPN’s footsteps with ESPN+ to keep up with the worldwide leader in sports. Additionally, more and more partnerships with streaming on Amazon or Facebook, and tailored streams to specific fan bases will be prevalent as time goes on as well.
Roberts, Daniel. “The NFL Is Not Dying, but It May Be Plateauing.” Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo!, 30 Dec. 2017, finance.yahoo.com/news/nfl-not-dying-may-plateauing-161457955.html.
Rosenthal, Phil. “Fans Who Are Game Will Shape the Future of Their TV and Digital Sports.” Chicagotribune.com, 25 Dec. 2017, www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/ct-spt-future-tv-sports-live-streaming-nfl-nba-gamers-20171221-story.html.
Steinberg, Brian. “ESPN Says New Streaming Service, 'ESPN ' Will Launch April 12.” Variety, 2 Apr. 2018, variety.com/2018/tv/news/espn-espn-streaming-bamtech-pitaro-1202741311/.
Over the past several years sports broadcasting and its dependence on the traditional style of consuming content on television has been further and further revealed. With that being said, many have speculated that televised sports have reached a tipping point in that reliance. For example, the NFL, normally America’s most popular sport on television had down ratings for the first time in decades this past season. Now despite many outside factors that are effecting the NFL, one main spot to point towards regarding the down ratings is towards millennial cord cutting and the new age of consuming sports and other media content. “The biggest challenge facing live football is simple cord-cutting. Sports fans are increasingly able to find highlights and replay clips online, on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, so they feel less of a need to pay for cable to watch live games. This trend is hurting ESPN and Fox Sports 1 as well, not to mention viewership of other sports, too, like Nascar racing” (Roberts).
ReplyDeleteHowever, before this new trend in sports content consumption, televised sports have barely changed in recently memory. “Save for the advent of a few innovations — such as high-definition video, the ability to use very small cameras, projecting first-down markers, constant on-screen score boxes and enhanced slow motion — sports coverage on TV has changed relatively little over recent decades” (Rosenthal). Now, this new age of media content and the newly popular non-traditional way to consume that content, on smart phones, streaming, Apple TVs, and much more, has forced media companies and sports leagues themselves to adapt on the fly. For example, “NBC has experimented this season with increased reliance on this shot, rather than traditional sideline views, during its Thursday prime-time NFL Network simulcasts, offering a different way to see plays develop and defenses respond. As video games have become a way for some fans to engage with and grow more attached to the sport, this familiar view makes sense” (Rosenthal). In addition to working with streaming services, sports leagues are working on multiple on-line feeds and different feeds for the same game on television with a more tailored fan experience pending on the teams involved in the game.
Even mighty ESPN has had to adapt to this ever changing sports media consumption climate. “ESPN [recently announced] it would make available hundreds of hours of professional and college sports, its library of programming and even rugby and cricket matches on its new “ESPN+” streaming service, which it intends to launch April 12 at a price of $4.99 per month” (Steinberg). An array of sports will be offered on ESPN+ giving more and more fans an opportunity to consume different teams and games on a nightly basis. “ESPN said it would offer an ESPN+ MLB game each day, seven days per week, throughout the MLB regular season; a daily NHL game throughout the hockey season starting with the 2018-2019 season; a year-round schedule of Top Rank Boxing matches, beginning with the April 21 Amir Khan vs. Phil Lo Greco bout in Liverpool, England; more than 250 Major League Soccer games, along with exclusive local-market games from the Chicago Fire; more than 100 days of coverage from PGA Tour events; and hundreds of tennis matches from Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open”. (Steinberg).
Now with that being said, I believe we will see more and more of a trend in more sports channels and companies following ESPN’s footsteps with ESPN+ to keep up with the worldwide leader in sports. Additionally, more and more partnerships with streaming on Amazon or Facebook, and tailored streams to specific fan bases will be prevalent as time goes on as well.
Works Cited
DeleteRoberts, Daniel. “The NFL Is Not Dying, but It May Be Plateauing.” Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo!, 30 Dec. 2017, finance.yahoo.com/news/nfl-not-dying-may-plateauing-161457955.html.
Rosenthal, Phil. “Fans Who Are Game Will Shape the Future of Their TV and Digital
Sports.” Chicagotribune.com, 25 Dec. 2017, www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/ct-spt-future-tv-sports-live-streaming-nfl-nba-gamers-20171221-story.html.
Steinberg, Brian. “ESPN Says New Streaming Service, 'ESPN ' Will Launch April 12.” Variety,
2 Apr. 2018, variety.com/2018/tv/news/espn-espn-streaming-bamtech-pitaro-1202741311/.