“Sports will be the biggest driver of consumption for online video and advertising, not subscriptions, will generate the lions share of revenue from OSV,” (online sports video), said Screen Digest, an analyst firm, in its Online Sports Video: Rights, Revenues and Forecasts report, released Feb. 20.
The number of OSV streams will grow from 5.2 billion in 2007 to 10.8 billion by 2012. OSV accounted for 35 percent of all streams in the U.S. last year.
OSV includes live online simulcasts, delayed game coverage, highlights, clips, sports news and other sports programming. It is being played by ESPN, Sky Sports, Yahoo!, YouTube and Joost, the report said.
Revenue from OSV in the U.S. will increase from $762 million in 2007 to $2.3 billion in 2012. The revenue comes from advertising and subscriber fees with advertising accounting for 41 percent and subscriber fees 39 percent in 2012. Increasingly, broadcasters are “moving towards offering online propositions as a mix of free value-add to their existing pay-TV sports customers, or free ad supported content to the entire domestic market,” the report said.
The introduction of new forms of TV may change the picture. “With the development of broadband-enabled living room devices which can provide online content direct to the TV set, such as the Playstation 3, the future becomes very uncertain,” the report said. “In this scenario, the consumer will effectively have the clear choice of viewing sports regardless of whether it’s delivered via broadcast TV or the Internet, or if it’s served by a broadcaster or the sports rights holder directly, all on the same living room screen.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More