Sports and the Future of Streaming Television: A Study of the Value Sports Content Adds to Streaming Services

Date

2023-03

Authors

Naseralla, Sidney

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Abstract

As Americans have increasingly started using streaming services as their primary hosts for entertainment, the services have started acquiring content that differentiates themselves from their competitors. Sports have become a common option for services, but the high price to acquire broadcasting rights makes it a risky bet. This study determines how offering more sports content changes consumers’ perspectives on streaming services and how much value sports content generates. The study comes to these conclusions by creating a case study for four major streaming services. The study found streaming services marketing sports as central to their content libraries or offering sports that fans desire attract new subscribers, maintain current ones, and can raise prices without losing subscribers. The sports that did this most consistently were the media juggernauts and the smaller sports with passionate fanbases. Meanwhile, leagues that lacked their own hardcore fanbases provided little to their host services beyond filler for users to watch in between more interesting sports. The results of this study provide valuable information for both the academic and professional worlds. For academia, this study serves as an early launching pad for further study into the topic and creates a basic framework for future studies to utilize when forming their research methodologies. For the professional world, this study provides a set of loose guidelines for companies to use when deciding which sports leagues and events are likely to earn a fair return on investment and which should be approached with caution.

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Keywords

sports, streaming, streaming services, Peacock, Paramount, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney Plus, MBA, TV

Citation

Naseralla, S. (2023). Sports and the future of streaming television: A study of the value sports content adds to streaming services (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.

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