OTT platforms play a key role in sports market growth

According to The Business Research Company’s research report on the sports market, rising penetration of mobile, tablet and other electronics and the emergence of affordable internet in developing countries are expected to drive the sports market in the forecast period. Increased sales of internet accessible electronic devices such as smartphones and tablets lead to an increase in online viewership of sports content. For example, Hotstar, a video streaming platform of Star India, is the official broadcaster of the Indian Premier League (IPL), has a majority of mobile device-based users, and registered growth of 74% in viewership during 2019 compared to 2018. The same trend is expected to further rise in future IPL seasons, driving the revenues of the sports market. Similarly in 2016, Discovery Communications (the owner of Eurosport) partnered with streaming specialist BAMTech to integrate premier content to deliver it to more users and their devices across Europe. BAMTech also has long-term deals with sports organizations such as the Olympic Games and the National Hockey League (NHL).

The global sports market size reached a value of nearly $388.3 billion in 2020, having increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.4% since 2015. The market declined from $458.8 billion in 2019 to $388.3 billion in 2020 at a rate of -15.4%. The decline is mainly due to lockdown and social distancing norms imposed by various countries and economic slowdown across countries owing to the COVID-19 outbreak and the measures to contain it. The sports market size is expected to reach $599.9 billion by 2025, and $826.0 billion by 2030.

Major competitors in the sports market are Maruhan, Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, Manchester United Football Club, Futbol Club Barcelona. Other competitors in the sports market include Los Angeles Dodgers LLC, Life Time Fitness Inc., International Speedway Corporation, Washington Redskins, Pittsburgh Steelers.

Sports-focused restaurants, pubs and bars are increasingly adopting OTT platforms to be relevant in the sports market trends. It is also an opportunity for them to differentiate themselves from the competition and offer diverse content for their clients. In the UK, pubs mainly used Sky and BT for sports event coverage, but now providers including Amazon Prime and Premier Sports Eurosport and Facebook are also available in the OTT market. Premier Sports is a Netflix-like streaming experience for sports events offering personalization and per-household ad targeting (or, more specifically, per-pub targeting).

The sports market is segmented by type into spectator sports and participatory sports; by revenue source into tickets, media rights, sponsorships, merchandising and consumer products; by geography into North America, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, South America, Middle East and Africa.

The largest segment by type is the participatory sports market, followed by spectator sports. The media rights segment was the most lucrative in the sports market segmentation based on revenue source. By geography, North America was the largest segment followed by Asia Pacific.

North America is the largest region in the global sports market, accounting for 35.0% of the total sports market share in 2020. It was followed by Asia Pacific, Western Europe, and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the sports market will be South America and the Middle East, where growth will be at CAGRs of 12.1% and 11.3% respectively. These will be followed by Eastern Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Sports Market Global Report 2022: Market Size, Trends, And Global Forecast 2022 – 2026 is one of a series of new reports from The Business Research Company that provide sports market overviews, sports market analyze and forecast market size and growth for the whole market, sports market segments and geographies, sports market trends, sports market drivers, sports market restraints, sports market leading competitors’ revenues, profiles and market shares in over 1,000 industry reports, covering over 2,500 market segments and 60 geographies.

The report also gives in-depth analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the market. The reports draw on 150,000 datasets, extensive secondary research, and exclusive insights from interviews with industry leaders. A highly experienced and expert team of analysts and modelers provides market analysis and forecasts. The reports identify top countries and segments for opportunities and strategies based on market trends and leading competitors’ approaches. GlobeNewswire