THE BIG TURN-OFF
TV rights deals are sky high... but viewers are switching off
SPoRT’S relationship with television is changing. This has been a year of record-breaking rights deals and crowning glories from as near as Leicester and as far as Rio — but viewers are switching off.
TV figures for 2016 show decline all around. Sky Sports’ viewing numbers for english Premier League matches have dropped by a whopping 19 per cent.
And Sportsmail can reveal that BT Sport have failed to break the one-million-viewer landmark for any live game shown in 2016 on their paid channels.
it is not just the subscription channels who have seen a dip. Two years ago, there was an average viewing audience of 13.9million for england’s World Cup opener of 2014 against italy.
nothing came close to matching that this year, despite the olympics and european Championship. The euro 2016 final between Portugal and France was the most-watched sports event, drawing an average of 12.3m viewers on BBC1, while Andy Murray’s Wimbledon triumph pulled in 9.2m.
Match of the Day rarely ranks in the BBC’s weekly top ten shows in terms of audiences, with consumers looking to mobile phone and online content instead.
‘We’re seeing an evolution of consumer trends,’ video analyst Tim Mulligan of research service MiDiA told Sportsmail. ‘There is an acceleration towards digital video content — people have cut the cord on TV. ‘There’s a re-evaluation of where value lies. Figures for Sky Sports show that the pay-TV model doesn’t work any more. users are going online now.’ Sky and BT paid over £5billion between them for the Premier League TV rights — starting from this season — and the dip has been alarming. industry insiders suggest Sky’s falling numbers may be even more extreme than the 19 per cent drop previously reported. Both the Premier League broadcasters have invested in online output — not reflected in the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board figures mentioned here — with highlights on Twitter and channels broadcast through their websites and, for BT, YouTube. Football continues to dominate sports viewing but it has not been dragging in viewers like it did in previous years. illegal online live streams, still hugely difficult to police, are another influence. Statistics from google indicate more people in the uK than ever before are searching for Premier League streams. Does this mean Premier League millions will dwindle as current TV deals run out? not quite. Sky — having already made huge cuts to justify their Premier League spend — and BT will not necessarily be the game’s main sources of income. Last month the Chinese Premier League deal increased 12-fold — and other world markets remain keen.
‘Sport is arguably approaching a golden age — it’s becoming bigger and more potentially rewarding,’ said Mulligan.
‘until now, the sports model has focused on monetising developed markets. But look at the rise of emerging markets. There’s huge demand in those markets.
‘China has a real hunger to engage with premium content sport but hasn’t been able to do it until now. emerging markets have leapfrogged the consumer experience in the west.
‘in Kenya, they’ve gone straight to mobile as their default entertainment destination. it’s logical for these numbers to be declining for Sky and BT.’