Strategic Intelligence: Media Piracy in Sport 2024

An analysis of the Media Piracy in Sport sector provides a detailed, et easy to follow overview of the media piracy in sport sector, including a look at the key leaders of the media piracy in sport value chain.

Sport can now be accessed in several ways. The rise of streaming platforms and increased use of the internet has opened up different ways for sports fans to watch their favourite teams compete other than through traditional cable. Many now watch matches online, and younger viewers often skew towards a multi-screen setup to follow multiple games at the same time.
Competition between broadcasters has led to problems. While the increased number of ways to watch sports is a benefit to fans, issues have been caused by media rights being split between multiple platforms, most of which require a subscription fee of some sort. Added together the combined cost of these platforms has become increasingly more expensive for fans, with complaints about the prices often falling on deaf ears. The ever-increasing value of these various media rights has made the situation much worse and will continue to do so in the coming years.
Many fans turn to illegal streaming to combat the cost issues. As a result of increasing prices, many sports fans have begun illegal viewing sports events, with many finding links online to watch live events at no cost. While some of these providers have faced legal issues and the risk of being shut down, the enormous demand means that those who are determined to find a way to view for free will continue to do so. This means that broadcasters are missing out on potentially millions in subscription fees, which is something that is of obvious concern to these platforms.
The complex ecosystem of piracy is tough to stop. Pirate streams of sporting events are not difficult to find on the internet and shutting these down has proved to be an impossible take for sports leagues. While legal action has been successfully brought against several illegal streamers, many are still fully operational. When one stream gets taken down, more pop up in its place. While the answer to combating piracy likely lies through increased legislation, concerns have been raised over how much freedom these laws would restrict online. In 2023, The European Commission decided not to make an EU-wide law to curb online piracy of sports and other live events for the time being, instead placed the burden on EU member states and national authorities to combat the issue. Due to this, broadcasters and live events organizers will continue to face challenges in blocking illegal streams of live sporting events.
Streaming is the future, and is must be made more affordable. Viewing habits among sports fans have changed in recent decades, thanks to younger demographics. Younger fans largely watch sports online, but the lack of affordability and legal streaming options in some countries contributes to piracy. Legal options need to be made available in all countries, and existing option should be made cheaper, with surveys indicating that many who illegally stream would not do so if there was an affordable alternative. However, this would impact revenues generated by broadcasters and sports league, would be unwilling to potentially lose money. There would also be a wider effect on the media rights market, with the value of rights potentially dropping as a result.

Scope

• This report provides an overview of media piracy in sport sector, including the key leaders, a look at some of key trends, an analysis of the industry in terms of market size and growth forecasts, and also a in-depth analysis of the media piracy in sport value chain and its key players.

Reasons to Buy

• For those wanting an in-depth analysis of the media piracy in sport sector, in the sense of both business and popularity.