What the 2024 “Summer of Sports” Teaches Us About the Future of Streaming

The summer of 2024 has presented sports programming that rivals any other year in history. Whether it’s the Copa America finals, Tour de France, NBA finals, two golf majors, ICC World T20, Wimbledon, U.S. Open, an array of F1 Grand Prix’s, or the recently finished Paris Olympics and Paralympics – if you like sports, June to August has been a real treat! And so far, I’ve managed to list these events without mentioning the recent UEFA European Football Championship, which concluded in July and had an estimated global cumulative audience of 5 billion viewers. In short, live sports appeal immensely to audiences worldwide, particularly in a year like this.

In previous eras, mass sporting events such as soccer leagues and the roughly 3 billion Olympics viewers depended on satellite and terrestrial TV-centric broadcast distribution. Today, however, Internet and IP have almost taken over, not just for content contribution but increasingly as the last mile to the viewer. This shift is largely due to the rise of streaming. According to data from Nielsen, a media analyst firm, around 40% of total TV consumption is streamed, compared to 50% of satellite and terrestrial TV. Streaming offers convenience such as smart mobile device compatibility, the potential for 1080p and even 4K content, as well as pause and rewind functionalities that are not always available with legacy cable-satellite and TV alternatives.

Read the full article on Streaming Media.