How sports content drives OTT growth and faces retention challenges

If anything the Indian Premier League proves that live sports always get eyeballs. Perhaps, this is also why several broadcasters and over-the-top (OTT) platforms have invested in building sports content. “Starting from the English Premier League to Indian Premier League, sports content always attracts huge eyeballs from fans. This is the reason why several OTT platforms show interest in gaining broadcasting rights of these leagues,” Uday Sodhi, founding partner, Kurate Digital Consultant told BrandWagon Online.

According to industry estimates, in 2023, sports rights accounted for about 51% of all OTT content spending. In 2023, OTT platforms like Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, and DAZN accounted for 21% of the value of media rights. Moreover, the global sports market expanded from $486.61 billion in 2022 to $512.14 billion in 2023, with a 5.2% CAGR, according to the Global Institute of Sports Business. As mobile device and internet penetration increases, global OTT sports content consumption has skyrocketed. With the streaming market for sports content expected to exceed $93 billion by 2030, OTT has the potential to significantly boost the bottom line of any sports content owner, the report stated.

Back at home, at one time, Disney+Hotstar gathered a large number of users thanks to the media rights of the IPL. Today, Jio Cinema is riding the same wave. However, the question remains, Does sports content play a key role in retaining users, or it is just a tool for user acquisition? As per industry experts, it completely depends on the nature of the platform. “It varies on how platforms have built their identity. If an OTT platform is built around sports, then definitely sports would play the biggest retention driver. But for an OTT like Hoichoi, which is primarily built around fiction content like movies, original shows, and franchisee characters new seasons of shows primarily to retain more users,” Soumya Mukherjee, COO, Hoichoi said.

Apart from highly popular tournaments like IPL, English Premier League (EPL) and National Basketball League (NBL), platforms have been streaming local leagues also. Recently, ZEE5, an Indian video streaming platform announced its partnership with the Calcutta Football League, a historic football competition organised by Indian Football Association. As per claims by the company, this collaboration was aimed at captivating audiences, especially supporters of two of India’s oldest football clubs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. However, for industry experts, the real challenge lies in how platforms funnel sports fans to loyal ones. “Sports content is good for one-time acquisition of a new customer or users who want to sample a platform. But sport is not an everyday phenomenon, it comes once in a while. At the time of the event, consumers download the platform and use it. These people are sports fans and therefore become regular users whenever the event is on. The challenge is converting them to regular users. Then, roles of original content and TV shows become important,” Sodhi added. Financial Express