How Streaming Services Revolutionized the Sports Industry
How Streaming Services Revolutionized the Sports Industry:
In our modern, often overly exaggerated world, a lot of words that once held a lot of power are losing their meaning due to being misused so often. By definition, the word “revolutionized” means, “to change radically.” It was initially used to describe sweeping political changes, like the Revolutionary War, where something entirely new and unheard-of was the end result, but, over time, it has become used to describe anything that causes a massive change.
There is a perfect example of something that has wholly revolutionized our approach to an aspect of our lives: streaming services.
Streaming services have given us the power of demand. We can watch anything we want on-demand and see more content than ever before. This is especially true within the sports industry, where it was nearly impossible to access older games and matches without purchasing them individually.
It was also hard for those who cannot get to the game to view it if they did not have access to the direct channels the games are played on, creating a frustrating conundrum of not wanting to pay more for channels they will only use for specific sports seasons but also not wanting to miss out on the games they love.
Let’s discuss exactly how streaming services have impacted our lives and worked to entirely revolutionize the sports entertainment industry.
The Power of Technology and Streaming:
With the rise of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and other streaming services, more and more people are dropping their cable altogether and opting to just subscribe to the services they want. This saves money and allows you to customize your viewing to whatever you want without worrying about channels you do not watch or extra services you do not need to be paying for.
In 2015, almost half of people who were interviewed said they’d happily drop cable if they could stream sports! It was the one thing holding them back from cutting ties with their old services and going fully towards streaming their entertainment.
The power of streaming has truly changed how we collectively can access sports and opens doors to tons of new and better experiences in the future. Between YouTube TV, fuboTV, Sling TV, and other services, you can find almost any sport you’d want. Even Hulu has a pretty great set-up for college sports! Streaming has truly brought power to the viewers.
The Impact on the Sports and Cable Industries:
It may seem like streaming could have a negative impact on the sports industry but this could not be further from the truth! In fact, streaming sports has actually cut down on piracy and increased revenues. When the games are offered on affordable streaming services and are more readily available for those who want to watch them, the desire to pirate them or share them illegally goes down, as does the demand for pirated content.
Sports entities are now catering to this, offering their services and additional content. You can now even see behind the scenes footage, game recaps, vintage content, interviews, and more all on exclusive streaming services. This extra content is certainly enticing to viewers and brings in more and more, as well, feeding into the increased revenue that the sports industry is experiencing.
On the flip side, many people are turning away from cable, it seems. With higher price bills and plans that are hard to customize to suit your needs, this comes as little surprise. There has been a decline in the interest in the cable from the general public for years due to the pitfalls of using such services. Some even refer to the service option as “outdated.”
As streaming evolves further, the impact will be more visible. Right now, many services are still in experimental stages and fine-tuning their products to create exactly what consumers are looking for. One thing is for certain, though: streaming services have had a revolutionary impact on the sports industry and how we consume sports content.