In his capacity as a Columnist for California Sports Lawyer®, Founder Jeremy Evans has written a column about the production strategy of sports leagues, streamers, studios, and social media platforms to reach new audiences.
You can read the full column below.
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During the 2022 Major League Baseball (MLB) playoffs, broadcaster Fox Sports utilized new camera angles and intensity to demonstrate dramatic moments during the games. Fox and MLB also increased their social media use through their company handles to highlight short form content like highlights. The end result was increased viewership and engagement on television and social media platforms. The increased engagement is also the likely result of the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres advancing in the playoffs—two teams that were underdogs in their respective earlier postseason series.
Disney-owned ESPN took a similar approach, but instead of new camera angles and intensity, the sports broadcaster decided to expand its reach into none Power 5 school campuses to host College GameDay. The result was to highlight schools that might not normally have large amounts of press or viewership. And of course, increased viewership numbers. ESPN clearly helped drive the traffic to the less visited schools and both parties benefited.
Major League Soccer (MLS) and Apple TV+ will utilize a new advertising scheme and partners to raise viewership and revenue. Apple figures that the growth in popularity of the game of soccer will lead to significant viewership numbers. MLS figures that a newer player in the streaming game like Apple might be willing enough to take the plunge. Apple’s new venture comes at a time when it is being challenged by app developers over fee sharing arrangements—Apple sees the value in diversifying its assets and business interests.
Meanwhile, content streamers, studios, and the airline industry are beginning to work more closely together to reach new and existing customers, increase revenue, and learn about consumer habits. You see, flying on a plane leaves customers with fewer distractions so there is more time to watch content. Flying on a plane indeed creates the best captive audience—perfect for advertising and content consumption. The advertising tools used will also be smart; meaning that a passenger’s existing streaming accounts and interests might be tied to their seat and screen on the airplane, which is both fascinating and somewhat distressing from a privacy perspective.
Despite a trillion dollar valuation loss in the most recent quarter, a 12% increase in stock has Amazon pushing ahead for sports rights and is looking to the National Basketball Association (NBA) next. Once consumers realize that streaming is the future of all content consumption and as production and distribution technology increases to a seamless point, there will be no turning back, only forward to the next wave of content consumption. The recent display of production advances is a sample size of what is to be.
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About Jeremy M. Evans:
Jeremy M. Evans is the Chief Entrepreneur Officer, Founder & Managing Attorney at California Sports Lawyer®, representing entertainment, media, and sports clientele in contractual, intellectual property, and dealmaking matters. Evans is an award-winning attorney and industry leader based in Los Angeles and Newport Beach. He can be reached at Jeremy@CSLlegal.com. www.CSLlegal.com.
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