The transition from linear TV to streaming is applauded by consumers, who want more viewing choices. Streaming enables viewers to watch any and everything, including niche sports like bowling, frisbee, and paddleboarding.

This article will explore the current live sports streaming trends and the key enabling technologies that are empowering outstanding live sports streaming experiences.

Interactivity, personalisation, and low latency are trending for live sports streaming

One of the top live sports streaming trends is the move from linear scheduling towards a live events interface where viewers can select whatever match is on, enabling more choice. In addition, there is a strong desire in the industry to reduce the latency of live sports streaming. Service providers want to match the five second latency of broadcast delivery. Lower latency means viewers can see the action happen in close to real-time, making the streaming experience much more enjoyable. While streaming standards and video platforms support low latency, it can take time for service providers to adopt new systems and redevelop their applications.

The viewer experience is also becoming more interactive. There is a trend towards sports data enabling more interactive streaming experiences. Data can be synchronised with video: for example, stats following a horse on the racing field. Advertising is also changing, with new options such as double-box displays where viewers can continue to watch the game while an ad is being displayed. This creates new ad inventory for video service providers and is less disruptive for fans, improving the streaming experience.

The number of FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) channels in the U.S. has increased 81% in the last year, according to Whip Media. A growing number of sports leagues are setting up their own streaming service to serve markets where they were previously unable to sell media rights, or to engage directly with fans with exclusive content they own outside of their media rights contracts. In some cases, it’s an opportunity for leagues to develop their sport in foreign markets. Sports leagues are creating their own linear streaming channels to distribute content to FAST platforms to boost monetisation.

Latest live sports streaming innovations

One of the biggest challenges when streaming live sports is scaling the service for high volumes of consumers. A premium sports event can attract millions of fans. Service providers need to be able to scale on-the-fly to meet the demand.

The cloud enables video service providers to scale quickly and assure an exceptional quality of experience for a fluctuating number of viewers. Bally’s Interactive, the digital arm of one of the world’s leading entertainment providers, is an excellent example of a content provider delivering next-gen live sports streaming experiences via the cloud. Bally’s is leveraging the cloud to simplify all stages of media processing and delivery, including playout, branding, media processing, streaming and more.

Video compression is another technology that is key for live sports streaming. Through advanced video compression technology, video service providers can reduce bandwidth to keep delivery costs down while maintaining outstanding video quality.

In addition, server-side ad insertion (SSAI) technology is a necessity to deliver targeted advertising, whether it’s to complement a subscription-based model or support an entirely new service. Using an SSAI SaaS that is fully cloud-based, service providers can deliver targeted addressable advertising to millions of concurrent viewers for live sports streaming. By choosing a targeted ad solution with manifest manipulation capabilities, service providers can also deliver different variants to users in real-time based on delivery rights.

Furthermore, working closely with content management and application vendors is critical to delivering the most innovative streaming experience to sports fans.

Conclusion

The live sports streaming market is growing and evolving. To deliver an exceptional-quality, low-latency, interactive streaming experience, video service providers must stay ahead of the latest technology innovations. Service providers must be able to stream live sports reliably and at scale with pristine quality up to UHD HDR, with low latency and targeted advertising, for millions of concurrent viewers.

Ironically, this lack of sport coincided with a massive rise in media consumption and exceptional demand for entertaining and informative content. Locked down consumers quite literally provided a captive audience, hungry for amusement and distraction. As a result, the media consumption habits of sports fans changed, with viewers accessing content across multiple platforms and devices, at different moments in the day and for different periods of time than they did before. And new types of content have been flourishing.

The good news is that – at last – live sport is returning. Golf, snooker, and football have resumed, although with strict social distancing guidelines and empty stadiums, the live experience is now a very different one. But the demand from fans is obvious. When the German Bundesliga returned in May, we saw a 400-500% increase in views for the first match, while South Korea’s K League reached eight million views in May, with its top five markets being Vietnam, Thailand, Egypt, the UK and the U.S.

So how has this changing sporting landscape shaped the content fans have been consuming? Are new, more interactive formats and changing patterns of viewing likely to have a lasting impact, and how will football content in particular evolve over the coming months?

The three stages of lockdown content

With a lack of live content, we found that content available from clubs and in demand from publishers and fans, followed three linear stages:

Activating the archives

Sporting bodies have at their disposal huge archives of video footage from training sessions, interviews, matches and events; often used as supporting content for live matches. This footage took centre stage and has been deployed to great effect in stand-alone format or as compilation videos on associated websites and social media channels.

Publishers and broadcasters have seen the value of this footage in keeping fans emotionally engaged with sports and maintaining audience levels. Publishers have relied more heavily on archive video content to complement their editorial articles, linking this content to relevant dates in the sporting calendar. For example, featuring a ‘best FA Cup goals’ compilation when the FA Cup final would have been taking place allowed football fans to reminisce about previous years, and share reactions with other supporters through the publisher site or on social media.

Experimenting with content during isolation and beyond

To help satisfy the need for newer content, individual stars and sports bodies have been creating their own ‘lockdown’ narratives. Fitness has been a key theme, with sports personalities from Tyson Fury to Cristiano Ronaldo filming their home workouts. Some of the best-performing video content has seen high profile figures opening up other, normally unseen areas of their lives, whether it be sharing cooking tips, volunteering, or surprise video calls to fans.

Both sporting personalities and fans also gravitated towards esports in the absence of live events, while sporting bodies have even created virtual events to replace live fixtures. Formula 1 introduced the F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix series, for example, played using the official F1 2019 PC video game and featuring current drivers, former drivers and celebrities.

Broadcasters and publishers have also taken advantage of these virtual events, with live streaming, highlights packages, reports, and reactions. A virtual Grand National attracted five million viewers on the live screening alone, while the ePremier League invitationals, featuring top footballers playing FIFA 20, were broadcast live on Sky Sports and covered on the BBC website.

Preparing for life after lockdown

As footballers prepared for the resumption of some competitions, content turned to training sessions, Covid-19 testing, and debates about the best steps for a safe return. This gave fans access to some aspects of the game they don’t always see and also allowed for more creativity in content and formats. They could watch drone footage of their team training while social distancing, or hear players and managers speak at length about their preparations or feelings about football’s return, for example.

What next for sports content?

The resumption of live sport within strict social distancing guidelines has created its own set of challenges both for sporting bodies and the media, relating to press conferences, interviews, filming and access to stadia. And how can fans be made to feel part of the process?

There are already examples of how this might work in practice in European football. For example, fans have been allowed to have cardboard cut-outs of themselves in their stadium seats, or screens have been erected so supporters can be in the stadium in a virtual sense via Zoom. Broadcasters have been adapting to the new schedule of matches, with selected Premier League games to be screened free-to-air on the BBC, Sky and Amazon.

But it is likely that media owners and clubs will continue to explore alternative ways to keep fans involved. They could go down the hi-tech route, using VR and AR for more immersive match highlights, for example. And the popularity of longer form behind-the-scenes content during lockdown could well continue after restrictions are lifted. In a recent interview, Drew Crisp, Liverpool FC’s SVP of Digital Media and Marketing, spoke about the importance of having a genuine emotional connection with fans, and how brands could work with clubs and players to deliver this – something that goes beyond match footage and highlights, and creates new content opportunities.

Fans are hungry for sports content, whether that’s live matches, players’ fitness videos, coverage of sports simulations, or previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage. The creative use of content during difficult times has shown the possibilities for fan entertainment are endless with new and existing video footage. This creativity will continue to play a role in keeping fans engaged as live sport comes back, but also as an important complement to matches, races and events in the future.