P(l)aying for big bucks – why TV networks rely on sport
With the Commonwealth Games over, and Channel Nine’s four-decade deal with Cricket Australia coming to an end, IBISWorld’s Nick Tarrant examines the true value of sports broadcasting rights.
Shifting consumer media patterns have caused Australia’s television networks to move away from traditional program staples such as sitcoms, dramas and movies.
Falling ratings and declining advertising returns have caused free-to-air (FTA) networks to adjust their business models.
Reality TV such as Married at First Sight is now favoured over the sitcoms that once dominated Australia’s airwaves
Another outsider providing weak insights on the future of the TV industry based upon regurgitated headlines from the press.
Whilst there is a lot of external analysis of various industries with little basis, this piece seems a pretty sober look at the cost of sporting rights, what percentage of TV revenues and costs they account for, with some relatively unexceptional predictions of future trends.
Being an outsider isn’t necessarily a bad thing, which is why financial analysts don’t have to work in the industries they cover; they can look at the data dispassionately, without being concerned with how things are “meant to be”.
Megan Brownlow’s annual overview of the media industry is widely regarded as being essential reading (and for good reason), and yet I am pretty sure that she doesn’t make TV shows or sell ads for newspapers (or websites, etc…)
For sure criticise the analysis, but making sweeping criticism of any analysis because the individual doing it doesn’t work in an industry seems like a good way of potentially ignoring important and potentially useful information.
+1
European Premiership League…seriously
I remember when sport was just a cheap filler in between the talent and singing shows and the news (and six hours of **ing golf after the “Saturday Morning Fun Pit”. Now it sucks up a quarter of the networks money for about 3% of the content.
Why ? Because all the TV execs are former footballers and private school jocks, not because of its inherent worth.
I wonder how long until analysts start taking notice of esports and competitive gaming? Granted, the productions are in their infancy but the audiences are there and bigger than a lot of traditional sports getting a run on the networks.