Watching your favorite basketball, baseball or football team could get easier for viewers that may not be near a television but have internet access. YouTube recently announced that they are trying to work out deals to stream games live on their website. While being able to broadcast sports in real time is an exciting and interesting opportunity for the company could it really work? The short answer is yes YouTube could broadcast sports. YouTube broadcasted the Indian Premier League cricket tournament on their site last year. “About 50 million viewers tuned into YouTube’s I.P.L. channel, 25 percent more than Google executives said they expected” (Timmons, 2010).
Signing deals to broadcast professional sports is a great opportunity for YouTube. Being able to broadcast live sports could increase website visitors as well as revenues. “The company [YouTube] needs to do more to keep its viewers on the site for longer than the average daily 15 minute session, compared with the multiple hours consumers spend in front of televisions” (Yang, 2011). Attracting more users to YouTube could be the leverage the company has needed to interest advertisers.
While broadcasting live sports would be financially beneficial for YouTube, it could change how professional sports are distributed. “One of the good things about IPL was that it really proved to a lot of sports leagues that broad-scale live-streaming type of exercise is something that’s possible” (Yang, 2011).
Even though YouTube has proved that it is possible for them to stream sporting events and attract advertisers, seven signed up to help sponsor the IPL broadcasts, there is still one major obstacle standing in their way. The obstacle standing in YouTube’s way is ESPN. The company has proved themselves to be “The Worldwide Leader in Sports” since its introduction in the sports world with their flagship show, SportsCenter on September 7, 1979 (ESPN Fact Sheet, 2010). Since 1979, ESPN has changed the sports world and how we view our sports and the news surrounding our favorite teams and players.
ESPN has become more than one sports channel with a show that features the highlights from around the world. ESPN’s offering includes several channels that are tailored to sport fans interests for example, ESPN News, ESPN U and ESPN Classic are three of the six different television channels the company has created. ESPN also offers radio coverage, a website, a magazine and broadband website www.ESPN3.com.
“ESPN3 is a broadband network for live sports programming. ESPN3 broadcasts thousands of live games and events online each year” (Help/Faq, 2010). I believe ESPN3 will provide the greatest challenge for YouTube. Both companies could end up competing for the rights to broadcast a game. If YouTube wants to be successful they will have to create an interactive sports channel that offers sports leagues and users benefits beyond ESPN’s offering.
Live streaming will continue to have a place in the social media world. “Live sports on the Internet have several obvious advantages over television – they can be watched anywhere, including from an office cubicle. And fans can discuss plans with other fans from around the globe through comments and posts” (Timmons, 2010). This will continue to keep social media sites like Facebook and Twitter important in the marketing world.
References
“ESPN Fact Sheet”. (2010, January 10). Accessed on March 14, 2011. Retrieved from <http://espnmediazone3.com/wpmu/>
“Help/Faq” (2010). Accessed on March 14, 2011. Retrieved from <http://espn.go.com/espn3/faq#1>
Timmons, H. “Google Sees a New Role for YouTube: An Outlet for Live Sports” (2010, May 2). Accessed on March 14, 2011. Retrieved from <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/business/media/03cricket.html>
Yang, J. “Google’s YouTube in Talks to Stream NBA, NHL Games Live” (2011, February 23). Accessed on March 14, 2011. Retrieved from <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-22/google-s-youtube-says-it-s-negotiating-to-broadcast-live-nba-nhl-games.html>
