In a recent estimate it was noted that about 51% of the OTT content-spending was accredited to sports rights. In India the biggest impact of this phenomenon is experienced during the IPL season. Several broadcasters and OTT platforms are racing against each other to acquire the broadcasting rights because it significantly peaks their viewership for the season. The English Premier League and National Boxing League amongst the international sports content and Calcutta Football League amongst the local sports content have also been adding to this index.
During the Paris Olympic Games, the viewership of Jio Cinema peaked after acquiring rights to broadcast the games. Both in the global and the national front sports content market seems to be an ever expanding area. It is Disney+Hotstar and Jio Cinema’s broadcasting of ICC cricket matches and IPL that boosts their viewership during the season to a great extent. However, how useful it is if audiences only gather around the sporting season but leave afterwards?
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The significant challenge with OTT platforms that are streaming sports content remains the need to transform temporary sports viewership to all time membership. For that, the only saving grace is promising content. OTT platforms can offer innumerable formats of entertaining content to its viewers. One time acquisition of viewers should not be the aim because amidst rampant consumption the viewers have also become aware of the critical value of content. Otherwise, they are smart enough to download the OTT apps when they want to watch the sports of their choice and delete it later!
