Events that are streamed live over the Internet are growing in popularity among Internet homes, especially live sports, according to a study released by Parks Associates.

The report, “Livestreaming: The Next Hot Video Market,” reveals that more than 40% of US Internet households have streamed content in the past three months. More than three out of five families (61%) were watching a streaming sports event.

The study also found that consumers who livestream spend half their online video time watching live events.

“Traditionally, live sports programming has done well,” said Parks Contributing Analyst Eric Sorensen, Sr.

However, “pre- and post-event programming doesn’t perform nearly as well in terms of ratings as the actual event,” he told TechNewsWorld. “These facts apply to both linear television and live streaming platforms.”

“Games are popular because they survive and matter little when viewed afterward,” said Michael Pachter, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

“You don’t care about a baseball game that ends 12 – 2 or about a football game that ends 49 – 14, and there’s no point in watching a replay,” he told TechNewsWorld told. “Some one-off wins may be worth it if records are broken – Brady’s 500th touchdown or a no-hitter in baseball – but they are largely worth little when viewed after the fact.”

eyeball chase

Sorensen pointed out that live sports programming is migrating to online platforms as more rights become available.

“Many streaming providers continue to outbid each other for coveted sports media rights,” he said. “Sports consumers don’t want to miss ‘water cooler’ moments with their favorite sports teams.”

Professional sports leagues don’t want fans to miss those moments. “Leagues want to be where their audience is and these days, that’s online,” said Michael Goodman, director of digital media strategy at global research, advisory and analytics firm Strategy Analytics.

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“Streaming is giving them additional revenue streams,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Amazon is paying a huge amount for Thursday Night Football. Streaming is also raising rights fees as there are new competitors for them.”

Michael Inoue, a principal analyst at ABI Research, said sports has always been the biggest driver for livestreaming due to the nature of programming, audience size and market potential.

“One issue with live streaming was latency,” he told TechNewsWorld. “OTT [over-the-top] In the past the services lagged far behind live broadcasting. A typical live broadcast is six to eight seconds behind a live event, while livestreaming is 30 to 45 seconds or more behind.”

“We are now seeing more live streaming hitting the same broadcast level – all 10 seconds, so this, too, is making this type of programming more equitable with traditional broadcast channels,” he said.

edge on netflix

Inouye observes that live sports streaming is on the rise as more viewers cut the pay TV cord. “Securing distribution rights is the biggest hurdle, but more and more streaming is often part of new deals and negotiations and as direct to consumer continues to grow, we will see more content through streaming channels,” He continued.

“The strong growth in video advertising in the streaming markets is also a key driver for bringing sports and other live streaming content to a wider audience,” he said. “It’s still not there at traditional broadcast levels, but it’s seen as a major complementary channel, at least now.”

Neil Macker, an equity analyst at Morningstar, said some online platforms see livestreaming as an edge in the market. “Live streaming is something that companies competing with Netflix are adding to the package to differentiate themselves, not only here in the States, but internationally as well,” he told TechNewsWorld.

Those moves by its competitors cannot be ignored for long by Netflix, which is reportedly considering a livestreaming strategy.

“Streaming is getting more attention from Netflix because it’s having a harder time competing against companies with huge reserves of intellectual property like Disney and Warner Bros. This could be a way to diversify a little bit,” said principal analyst at Reticle Research Ross Rubin said. , a consumer technology consulting firm in New York City.

“It’s also interesting, given the recent discussion of Netflix opening up an advertising tier, that live events — news and sports in particular — usually have ads associated with them,” he told TechNewsWorld.

“It is questionable, however, how much investment livestreaming will receive when Netflix wants to cut budgets and be more financially conservative,” he said.

a momentous occasion

Sorensen noted that Hulu along with Live TV, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ are the major providers that now offer live streaming services that are challenging Netflix’s leadership position in the OTT ecosystem.

He added that offering live streaming content is not only an opportunity for Netflix to gain new subscribers, but also to retain existing ones. “Sixty-four percent of Netflix subscribers currently live stream content on other services,” he explained. “By livestreaming, Netflix can maintain longer engagements with its service.”

“This is especially important in light of Netflix’s recent earnings call that they will lose millions of subscribers in 2022,” he said. “There are many opportunities for a service like Netflix to provide eGaming, esports, and red-carpet premiere events as livestreaming entertainment, in addition to sports and news.”

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“As people venture away from their homes, Netflix appears to be suffering from higher spending and lower viewership due to increased competition and behavioral changes.” Added Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, a technology advisory firm in Hayward, Calif.

“Livestreaming popular events could help the company strengthen its fortunes,” he told TechNewsWorld.

not for netflix

Pachter insisted that Netflix would fail miserably at livestreaming.

“Live streaming is by appointment, and Netflix is ​​on-demand,” he explained. “Its customers will never associate it with events that are watched live, and I think they’ll give up on the idea after working with it and failing.”

“Netflix is ​​holding onto the straw. Its brand is not built around livestreaming,” said Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Research in San Jose, Calif.

“I think many of the mistakes Netflix is ​​making are self-inflicted wounds,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Livestreaming won’t help them get out of their quagmire.”

“The amount of content that the average consumer has is way too high, but Netflix is ​​acting like 2010, not 2022,” he said. “The amount of content available to users is exponentially higher than it was 10 to 12 years ago, when Netflix didn’t have much competition.”

“Now they have a lot of competition,” he continued. “They’re not going to be able to get themselves out of that situation.”