MUMBAI: Media rights could mellow in the sports genre according to the Ficci EY Report
ƒ Mergers have reduced the number of potential sport bidders, while a focus on profitability has resulted in a more cautious investment climate in the digital segment
ƒ Unless new bidders come in – particularly in the digital media space – we expect that sports rights will rationalise in their subsequent cycles in certain cases; paid subscription growth will be a key determinant of rights values
Shoulder content will increase in the sports genre according to the Ficci EY Report.
ƒ More and more sports “heroes” are being created, whose social media posts are avidly followed by their fans
ƒ The time for content related to the sportsperson is here, and we will see more of such shoulder content being created across platforms and media, including film, episodic and short video
More sports, more fans
ƒ As the width of interest increases, the report expects to see more sports gaining scale and distribution, particularly on free TV and OTT platforms
ƒ A set of 8 to 10 “niche” sports will see the build-up of communities with relatively small, but very loyal, fans
ƒ Sports community management will be one of the more important skills over the next three to five years, with linkages to news, commerce, social activities, merchandising and brands
Interactivity will expand to non-cricket sports
ƒ While cricket has been the key driver for interactivity and gamification, stable audience
bases for kabaddi, wrestling, football, tennis, etc could lead to the next wave in gamification around these sports
CTV will drive consumption changes
ƒ As CTV consumption continues to grow, the additional features and viewing options that the medium provides will result in a very high degree of experimentation
ƒ We can expect to see more live interactions, camera angles, expert opinion feeds, language
feeds and watch and play together features as CTV viewership takes centre stage
ƒ CTV features could also drive TVOD or premium subscription packages
Sports will drive subscriptions
ƒ The national-event nature of sports will be a key driver of subscription growth, and we could expect to see more sports content being placed behind paywalls, in order to fund the high sports rights values
ƒ Innovations in pricing, such as sports packs, season packs or even game packs, will be the focus of innovation in the near future
Fractional ownership of teams will commence
ƒ All teams acquire loyal fan bases; we can expect to see teams being owned, over time, by their fans
ƒ Fan ownership of teams can cement loyalty, and build community and commerce, which enables extremely high levels of monetization
Addressable advertising will scale
ƒ Given the rates that leading sports properties command, we expect that allowing brands to deliver hyper-targetted ads using 1P data will be key to grow ad revenues
ƒ In addition, hyper-targetting can open up opportunities for the million SME advertisers to participate in sports content, and create offers for fans of local and national tournaments
Growth of illegal betting apps
ƒThe report expects fantasy sports and esports to continue growing strongly, expanding both in depth and reach across more sports, as fan bases fuel the gaming ecosystem and vice versa
ƒ However, the proliferation of offshore illegal betting platforms remains a key security and financial concern, as well as reduces the tax collections for the government
Talent innovation
India’s Olympic bid will bring focus
ƒ India’s preparations for a future Olympic bid underscore its commitment to sports development, with a focus on institutional capacity building, sports science, nutrition, medicine, psychology, and rehabilitation
ƒ While cricket remains dominant, other sports— football, kabaddi, badminton, wrestling, and table tennis—continue to gain traction
ƒ Olympic success is also expected to accelerate interest in athletics and many individual sports, further diversifying India’s sporting ecosystem
Demand for skilled sports professionals will rise
ƒ Growing demand for skilled sports professionals is driving the establishment of specialized sports universities at both state and central levels such as Jio, Symbiosis and IISM
ƒ These institutions are expanding career opportunities beyond athletes to include sports
management, science, medicine, and psychology
