A fierce bidding war is underway for the rights to stream and broadcast cricket for the next five years.
The price is expected to reach A$1 billion, almost double the previous deal. Media companies are facing stiff competition because increasing viewer numbers are luring social media websites and other platforms into the race to host this content.
The price for rights keeps going up even though the Nine Network is losing money on its cricket coverage and Seven’s CEO Tim Worner has stated recent price increases for sports rights “are not sustainable”.
The Big Bash League, which is also broadcast internationally, is a huge driver behind the new rights deal. The new players interested in the streaming rights include telecommunications companies like Optus and Telstra, social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter) and Cricket Australia itself, which has its own website and app. This is on top of the traditional broadcasters like Nine and Ten.
Sport is key for broadcasters as they can attract advertisers with the promise of viewers who are watching live. Social media platforms and other websites want to lure viewers onto their platforms to discuss the games. Streaming platforms and telcos are trying to appeal to customers with access to exclusive content.
(AAP Image/David Mariuz)
Other sporting codes have recently been through this bidding process, and the deals they have struck hint at what is to come for Cricket Australia.
The AFL media rights, which started last season and run through to 2022, were sold for A$2.5 billion. This is more than double the previous A$1.2 billion agreement.
The value of the NRL broadcast rights, starting this year, also increased substantially from A$1 billion to A$1.8 billion.
But the AFL deal also faced a backlash from fans after it restricted Telstra to streaming just a 7-inch video of live coverage – larger screens are filled with black space. This is true even for those who buy the A$89 subscription to the AFL Live app.
Fox Sports streams live full HD video as part of the deal.
New players are driving up the cost
One of the major drivers of the price of sports rights is the increase and uptake of streaming. Broadcasters want the rights to televise and stream the games, while tech companies, telcos and others are more interested in the streaming rights.
The number of people streaming the cricket has doubled in the past year, according to one Cricket Australia executive, and paid subscriptions have increased by 30%.
Last year’s women’s Big Bash League was streamed across cricket.com.au, Facebook and the Cricket Australia app, reaching 1.5 million people. This season, 47 of the matches were streamed on Mamamia, a lifestyle website aimed at women.
Social media platforms want live sport to attract large crowds that will then use the platform to discuss the event. Twitter has a deal to stream Major League Baseball games (and formerly had one with the National Football League).
Twitter has also previously streamed the Melbourne Cup. Last year Facebook unsuccessfully bid US$600 million for the rights to stream Indian Premier League cricket.
(AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has described sport as “anchor content”. In other words, it will encourage people to watch more video on Facebook.
In addition to social platforms, Telstra and Optus have been competing with each other by offering exclusive content. Telstra holds AFL and NRL streaming rights, and also has a TV service, giving customers access to various content including sport.
Optus is an official partner of Cricket Australia, allowing its customers to stream cricket without incurring data charges. Optus also has exclusive broadcast rights to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
And after all that, we get to the traditional broadcasters. Ten, now owned by US network CBS, will be unlikely to walk away from the success it has had with the Big Bash League.
Nine’s CEO, High Marks, has stated that the network also needs to have streaming as part of the sports rights.
We have seen Seven recently undertake a hybrid mode with its coverage of the Olympics and Australian Open tennis. The broadcaster offers a premium paid tier alongside its free streaming. This mode has created tension between free-to-air broadcasters and Foxtel, with requests for the government to remove the anti-siphoning rules that prevent pay TV bidding for particular sports.
Foxtel is currently not involved in broadcasting domestic cricket, but it is likely to be part of new negotiations. The government has awarded Fox Sports a A$30 million grant to support the coverage of women and niche sports. If nothing else, Fox Sports could seek to pick up the rights to women’s cricket, including the Big Bash League, which has had only a small percentage of games broadcast.
(AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Cricket Australia has previously noted that media rights make up as much as 80% of its income. Whatever deal is struck will have a huge impact not just for the professional players, but for the grassroots as well.
Cricket Australia will want to get the most for its rights, but needs to make sure not to impact grassroots participation and attendance. This was one of the side effects in the United Kingdom when pay TV providers secured exclusive rights to broadcast the cricket.
Marc C-Scott, Lecturer in Screen Media, Victoria University
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Perhaps a BBL franchise will refuse to release a high profile player to play an international match?
Johnny Dalmas
Guest
Yes, the BBL today still has the feel of a Tournament, rather than a League. Teams come together with limited pre-seasons and just, basically, play for a month and then everyone moves on. But if the broadcasters started to offer much more money for BBL than Tests and ODIs, would that change? Would the standard improve because our best cricketers were forced to play the BBL season and the BBL clubs were given the opportunity to have a proper pre-season to hone skills and tactics? Would more broadcasting money mean greater salary cap and more international players (a BBL club is allowed 2 internationals? An IPL club is allowed 8) I'm not saying I want this to happen. I prefer long form cricket myself. But I also know its not really about people like me: a middle aged man who comments on sports blogs! Its about kids and families and the 'casual' fan. They are the ones who can greatly increase revenue. The strongest elite sports are the ones with the best leagues. Think EPL and the European soccer leagues, the American NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball. And here: the AFL and NRL. These are the leagues that drive those sports to high popularity amongst the masses and, therefore, lots of revenue. Compare that to Rugby Union. How the Super 15 league interacts with the international scene is a mess. And rugby as a sport suffers. Who can make sense of a rugby season anymore? Only a die-hard fan. I think there will be a tipping point in broadcasting revenue from Test/ODIs and BBL. And when that happens perhaps Cricket Australia will look to a future more like the EPL soccer than Super 15 rugby.
Nick Symonds
Guest
You have to keep in mind that the BBL is limited by how much it can grow it's audience. The talent on display with dropped catches is pretty bad at times and adding new teams will only worsen this. Likewise increasing the number of times that the current teams play each other could really start to get stale. Unless the BBL has 16-18 teams like the NRL or AFL or lengthens the season by making the same teams play each other more times then there will be a ceiling on the number of fixtures and therefore potential audience growth.
Johnny Dalmas
Guest
I think there is a lot of potential in the BBL, but I don't think broadcasters or many fans will like the idea of it being the "lesser" form of cricket, especially come finals time. If a broadcaster pays a lot in TV rights they are going to want the best players and all the attention on the BBL. Sometime in the future I think we will have some kind of controversy over a BBL finalist losing their best players to "meaningless" International ODIs/T20s. Then Cricket Australia will need to make decisions about the BBL vs International cricket
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Two more "poor" rated test pitches at the MCG in the next five years, and there wont be a Boxing Day test at the MCG anyway. The new pitch rating system would result in the ground being suspended from test rotation for 12 months. CA priority is International cricket over domestic, with Test format the flagship end product, according to the CEO. However, the popularity and money making of the BBL won't be ignored and may even be further promoted to milk the most from the cash cow that is 20/20.
mrrexdog
Roar Guru
It’s the school holidays though, I think families with young kids would be more likely to go to a 4pm game because 7:30pm is probably too late.
Tommo
Guest
Only place for sport is on TV not on some 10in x 8 in screen where the signal in unreliable.
Johnny Dalmas
Guest
So currently the BBL is worth $20 million a year. Tests & ODIs are $80 million. According to an ABC article, BBL could treble and Tests/ODIs could stay the same or even go down a little (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-19/cricket-broadcast-rights-are-up-for-grabs/9273274). Hmm what happens when BBL is worth more than Test & ODIs? Will BBL dominate the summer scheduling? Will a broadcaster offer a huge truckload of cash for BBL ... but only if all the top line players are available for their BBL club first and there is no pesky international cricket interfering with BBL scheduling. Perhaps 1st class and Tests get shoehorned into, say, the period before Christmas and we end up with all BBL after Christmas? Perhaps we end up with only a 3 test summer but each BBL club playing 14 H&A games with a best of 3 finals series (like basketball)? What would happen if Boxing Day became a bunch of marque BBL games across Australia instead of a test match in Melbourne (only). Would having big Boxing Day BBL crowds in, say, Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne be worth more than only having one big crowd in Melbourne for the Boxing Day test? Perhaps it won't happen in this round of the broadcasting agreement, but broadcasting money might make such a future inevitable.
Brian
Guest
Why on earth is the government giving Foxtel $30m to broadcast womens sport? Where's a Federal ICAC on that? For $30m you could give each girl say 4-17 yo playing sport in Australia $100 off her fees.
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
Because 4pm isn't prime time. It's not a slot with much value to broadcasters, and the crowds would be rubbish on a working day.
Joe B
Guest
Will the NBN be capable of running streaming services? Telcos have been slammed by the watchdogs for falsely advertising speeds they don't deliver, and some have even dropped the price of their services. Cricket viewers might wish to hold back on forking out for live streaming services until they understand the quality of NBN service they get to their household. Mobile streaming is separate to this.
Tom English
Roar Guru
I tend to wonder who even wants the Tests? Ch 9 have already signalled their intent to bid for BBL, and 10 aren't interested in the longer form.
mrrexdog
Roar Guru
If CA wants to play more games during the season they need to play more double headers so the tournament doesn’t get stretched out to much. During the week why not have a 4pm game and a 7:30pm game. Let Foxtel show the 4pm game, and 10 can have the 7:30pm game, if they do this they’ve still got 1 game on fta each day
Paul
Guest
the good thing about this issue is the timing. CA has a lot of time to find out just how serious streaming will be in the future when Australia is not playing an Ashes series, how strong is the BBL brand, will women's cricket continue to interest a lot of viewers, etc. The other issue that was discussed last week, which should be included in the rights package, is to have technology that can be used to definitively decide on catches, run outs, etc. This may mean more cameras or a different type of technology, but CA should get this as part of the deal, which ever mob wins the contract.
peeeko
Guest
Hi Marc, its going to happen with regards to streaming and probably sooner than i imagine. Do you have stats on how many aussies stream compared to USA? a lot of people still seem to watch the reality junk that is on FTA?
Marc C-Scott
Roar Guru
Hi Peeko, i mention that (with a link) at the top of the article, but have also written about that earlier - https://theconversation.com/chasing-the-audience-is-it-over-and-out-for-cricket-on-free-to-air-tv-76792 Cheers Marc
peeko
Guest
i recently read an expert report claimed that Channel 9 pays too much for cricket. I doubt that streaming will get cricket to anywhere near 1 billion
Kevin
Guest
My concern for the big bash is that if it goes to fox..in any part , there will be a huge drop off in veiwership If fox did gain the rights, I can't see any new subscibers joining soley for the big bash, so they would have to heavily " sell" during the broadcast. And load up with advertising..