Albert Fong’s Post

Is the streaming service coming up from ESPN, FOX, and WarnerBros/Discovery a game changer or just a repackaged cable bundle? In my latest op-ed for Sports Business Journal, I delve into the new bundle to explore the implications of three titans of sports entertainment joining forces. With the trio controlling a whopping 85% of US sports rights, their platform has the potential to provide an innovative experience for both consumers and advertisers alike. And, with all that first-party data under one roof, the platform could provide a curated sports viewing experience unlike anything fans have seen before. Moreover, advertisers will be able to reach consumers with better personalized ads. Is this the future of sports streaming? Read the full op-ed here and tell me what you think: https://bit.ly/4cCxzSr #streaming #advertising #sports

The strategic alliance between ESPN, Fox Corporation, and Warner Bros. Discovery to launch a sports streaming platform announced this week has the potential to shift the way sports fans watch their favorite games, by creating a one-stop-shop for live sporting events and original programming - all available via a new app (name and price TBD).    Through consolidation of their content libraries and sports programming under one streaming umbrella, HBO Max, Hulu, and Disney Streaming+ subscribers will gain access to the service as part of a ‘bundle.’ It offers a “skinnier” alternative to the bloated cable bundles - an offering specifically tailored for sports fans. This not only further accelerates the decline of the traditional cable subscription, it also represents another big step towards the idea of ‘Cable 2.0’ - the recreation of the original cable model, now on digital. Additionally, this presents a unique and rare opportunity for these companies to do something different on a technological level, perhaps resulting in greater innovations in streaming quality and personalized content recommendations, enhancing the overall user experience. This deal will lead to a significant boost in subscriptions and revenue for the companies, as consumers will find the bundled offering more valuable than subscribing to each provider’s individual services. It's noteworthy that this announcement aligns closely with Disney's first quarter earnings release. Despite exceeding expectations, the earnings reflect the impact of the accelerated shift away from traditional cable, underscoring the evolving dynamics of media consumption. Disney has been struggling to find ways to pivot from legacy media and find new strategies to boost subscriptions.     What do you think? Is this the final straw for consumers to move completely to streaming to access live sports? Is this the final nail in the coffin for cable? Sports was one of the last remaining reasons for consumers to keep paying the cable bill.   #LITrendingTopics #SportsStreaming #Cable #CordCutting     https://lnkd.in/gQ6DDNY3  

SPORTS STREAMING SUPERSIZES Deal to Reshape Sports & Media Landscape. This marks a milestone in the growth of the streaming industry and could accelerate consumers’ shift away from cable TV, according to The Wall Street Journal. As pay television’s decline accelerates because of cord-cutting, companies such as ESPN, Warner and Fox are seeing the writing on the wall and shifting their bets to the streaming world, as the creation of the new venture shows, the Journal said. For Disney, the partnership with other networks adds to an array of strategic options the company has explored for ESPN. Disney is still looking for a potential strategic partner or investor and will maintain a plan to offer a stand-alone ESPN streaming app for those who don’t want the all-in-one bundle from the three companies, people close to the situation said. The as-yet-unnamed service will be offered directly to consumers, who would be able to stream all of these companies’ sports content, the companies said in a statement, following a report in the Journal about the new venture. Each of the companies will have one-third ownership of the new service, which is expected to launch in the fall. The companies didn’t announce pricing. https://lnkd.in/eb-EabJi

The bundle is well and truly back! Big news overnight for the US sports market, and another major indicator of the on-going challenges facing all the streaming companies around customer acquisition and retention. Reality is people are reducing the number of personal subscriptions they have, and want more of what they want to watch in one place, so this seems like a really smart move - be interesting to see how this change in strategy plays out across the wider industry.

Jokes aside about cable bundling and unbundling, I think this is awesome. 🏀🏈⚽️ The announcement of Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery coming together to launch a unified sports app is a game-changer. When I was an intern at WBD (then Turner Sports, and now, TNT Sports), I vividly remember engaging in discussions and brainstorming sessions about the future of sports media. We speculated about how technology would shape the way fans consume their favorite games and events, with a focus on the downstream effects of streaming. I posed the question of the possibility of creating customizable packages tailored to individual consumer preferences, like a sports "super package" of sorts. Fast forward to yesterday, and we're witnessing this vision come to life. With the convergence of Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery's vast array of linear sports products into a single app, fans will have unprecedented access to a diverse range of content in the era of cord-cutting. An idea in the past decade+'s media landscape that has always intrigued me is the ability to pick and choose specific media products, such as sports, to curate a personalized package. With this new sports app, I believe we're inching closer to that reality. Imagine being able to customize your sports content, selecting only the teams, leagues, and events that matter most to you. Fascinating prospect if this is the road we go down. As much as this excites me, the questions buzzing around in my head are too loud to ignore. Will this new venture stick to linear content? Will its user experience be focused on connected devices, or is there room for a mobile, or even AR/VR experience? What will the relationship with digital and social content be like? Will and can this new app fold in features that are unique to standalone mobile and league apps, like Bleacher Report, the NBA app, March Madness Live, etc.? As we embrace this exciting era in sports media, I'm eager to see how this collaboration continues to push boundaries and redefine the fan experience. Kudos to Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery for leading the charge into the future. Here's to a thrilling journey ahead for sports enthusiasts worldwide!

Appreciated Shripal Shah ´s insights here " This collaboration is more than just a new streaming service; it's a strategic evolution in the sports media ecosystem. It reflects a deep understanding of market demands and a visionary approach to meeting them. By combining their strengths, ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery are not just responding to the trend of cord-cutting; they are setting the stage for the future of sports broadcasting."

I probably have hundreds of additional questions about this release, but here we go off the top of my head. -What happens to ESPN, its no secret Disney has been trying to get rid of it? -Is a standalone ESPN App going to release or is that dead? -What happens to the Max Sports add on tier, ESPN+ and Fox Sports apps. -Does is make sense for them all to exist standalone, if they are all included in this service? -Can this new service negotiate rights fees? -Sports rights are expensive, and assuming this can now negotiate rights fees, it will free up some money on the books for the legacy companies, which they have to like. -That said, sports rights are expensive and I'm fascinated to see what kind of price point they are looking at. -What about Amz, Apple, NBCU and Paramount and the rights that they own, it feels like a miss to not include them, though I am sure they were approached. -What about all the regional sports networks? -Do customers really want another streaming service. -The streaming industry is going to consolidate, is this the start or is it adding another service for people to subscribe to? -Can cable survive this? A lot of people get the cable bundle just for sports. Its going to interesting to see where this goes and while there are more questions than answers at the moment, but I am excited to follow along.

I saw this just now: "Venu Sports, the upcoming standalone streaming service being built through a joint venture to be established by ESPN, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, FOX and Warner Bros. Discovery, will be available at a launch price of $42.99 per month for the service" I don't know if they got any advice on how to set the subscription price - but this is the wrong price. Why? 1. Sports fans are not price sensitive and would pay almost anything for access to their favorite sports and/or teams. 2. There are psychological price points called Price Walls. Between these Price Wall, demand (sales volume) does not change with price. There is a likely Price Wall at $50, so the a price of $49.97 would most likely generate the same sales volume as the price of $42.99. Venu Sports has decided to leave $6.96 on the table for every subscriber. 3. They need a tiered offering with access to certain sports or games or teams at a premium that could be $99.97. If someone at Venu Sports reads this, I suggest to contact me so we can get this straighten out.

NBCUniversal's Peacock "plans to add its regional sports channels to Peacock as soon as early 2025, according to people familiar with the plans. The four NBC Sports networks that will be added have local broadcast rights in Boston, Philadelphia and across Northern California, including to games for high-profile teams such as the Phillies of Major League Baseball and the Golden State Warriors and Celtics of the National Basketball Association. The games will continue to be available on television. The company is still completing details of the plan and the rollout could be delayed. One option executives are discussing is to make the channels available as add-ons in the local markets so that fans there can pay extra to stream games." I argued back in June: "if NBCUniversal is willing to pivot Peacock towards sports with over $5 billion in pay-TV economics, then it needs Peacock to be a platform that gets its subscribers addicted to watching their own local and favorite sports teams." This deal is a step in the right direction. However, I added "fans are going to need more from Peacock than just broadcasts." Meaning, Peacock is going to need to look a lot more like The Athletic than a sports streaming service. Fans are going to need more than TV to justify a monthly or annual subscription. All available evidence is that Peacock is not yet on a product development path to deliver that. Moreover, political tensions within NBCUniversal—its NBA deal had created some budget tensions between the NBCUniversal Media Group and BCUniversal Studio Group—will cloud the strategic clarity that Peacock needs for these deals to succeed. [link to June's essay in comments below] https://lnkd.in/eQ5-HHs8

🚀 Major Leap in Sports Streaming: The Game Changer is Here! 🚀 In a groundbreaking move, ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery have announced their collaboration to launch a joint sports streaming platform this fall. This marks a pivotal moment for the industry, offering consumers direct access to a vast array of marquee live sports. Here’s why this is a game-changer: Unprecedented Collaboration: The unity of such media titans underlines a strategic shift towards catering to the evolving consumer demand for sports content. Tailored for Sports Fans: This platform promises a 'skinnier bundle' of linear networks, focusing on quality rather than quantity, delivering exactly what sports enthusiasts crave. Direct Subscription Model: By allowing direct subscriptions through a new app and potential bundling with Disney+, Hulu, and Max, this initiative is set to redefine how we access sports content. A Potential Pricing Paradigm: With a speculated starting point around $45-$50 per month, the pricing strategy seems aimed at making premium sports content more accessible, albeit at a value reflecting its quality and exclusivity. This venture not only signifies a significant moment for Disney and ESPN but heralds a new era for sports broadcasting. It's a bold step forward, addressing the digital transformation of the media landscape and the shifting patterns of content consumption. My Perspective: This collaboration is more than just a new streaming service; it's a strategic evolution in the sports media ecosystem. It reflects a deep understanding of market demands and a visionary approach to meeting them. By combining their strengths, ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery are not just responding to the trend of cord-cutting; they are setting the stage for the future of sports broadcasting. As we anticipate further details, it’s clear that this initiative could potentially reshape the sports media landscape, making premium sports content more accessible and enhancing the viewer experience in unprecedented ways. #SportsStreaming #MediaInnovation #DigitalTransformation #StrategicCollaboration #FutureOfSportsBroadcasting