Sports and broadcasters must innovate and use technology such as gaming platforms to adapt to viewer habits changes, a conference heard.
The changes were most pronounced among younger generations, speakers told about 1,000 people from 20 countries at the SportsNXT sports thought leadership summit held in Melbourne from 12-14 March 2025.
James Rushton, Co-Founder of DAZN, the sports streaming giant that bought subscription television service Foxtel for A$3.4 billion in December, said traditional broadcasters needed to innovate to get the attention of younger viewers.
Retaining younger fans
He said gaming platforms like Minecraft and Roblox were the new frontier in sports rights or sports engagement because of the attention deficit of younger people.
Unlike previous generations who watched hours of live sport each week, younger fans were more likely to subscribe to sports ‘influencers’.
“I think if you are a traditional linear, free-to-air broadcaster and that’s all you are, then I think your days are numbered,” Rushton told the conference.
Founder & CEO of investment firm Tanarra Capital and former senior sports administrator John Wylie said innovation was critical for sports if they wanted to increase broadcasting revenue.
“We are in the golden age of a rise in media rights, and that not only in traditional formats but obviously through the rise of streaming services,” said Wylie, a former Chairman of Melbourne Cricket Ground Trust and Australian Sports Commission and a shareholder in sports and entertainment technology investor AO Ventures.
“The opportunity is there to grow broadcast revenues…but sports do need to innovate and continue to try and change their product just like any business does.”
National Basketball Association (NBA) Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum said younger people watch sports on their phones.
“Our cell phones now are television devices. For people on the go and for the younger audience, that’s how they’re consuming content,” Tatum said.
Streaming increasing
Streaming, or the ability to watch sports over the internet on demand using devices like smart phones, smart TV, tablets or computers, was a key part of the US$77 billion broadcast rights agreement the NBA signed last year.
The deal allows broadcasts of NBA games by the Walt Disney Company on its ESPN and ABC networks, by NBC on its own network and Peacock streaming service, and by Amazon Prime Video on its streaming service.
Indian broadcaster JioStar CEO Sanjog Gupta said the group’s viewership had increased dramatically due to increased streaming capacity. This was as cricket's evolution through a focus on youth reversed declining viewership in the nation of 1.46 billion people.
“We had to build a platform that could handle high levels of concurrency, simultaneous viewers watching at the same time, which was around five million in 2015 and stands at 50 million today,” Gupta told the summit.
Danny Townsend, the CEO of Saudi-backed sport investment company SURJ Sports Investment, said content distribution to sports fans was “the lifeblood” of any sport but some, such as golf, tennis and cycling, resist change.
Gaming important
But Tennis Australia insisted it was continuously testing creative engagement strategies for the Australian Open (AO) tournament including creating a game on the Roblox platform that allowed fans to explore a tennis-themed world.
“We also ran a six-hour influencer program and created AO Adventure on Roblox, which had 25 million visitors,” Director of Partnerships & International Business Roddy Campbell told the summit.
Video gaming company Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson said gaming offered fans an opportunity to engage with sports in a way not possible before.
“For most people, they never get to stand in the middle of the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) but in our games, they get to do it every day,” said Wilson, who urged sports to target the next generation of fans.
“By engaging with the next emerging consumer class, which spends more time on sport than any previous generation, you position yourself to ensure sport remains the number one entertainment property for the next 100 years."
Jason Griffiths, Vice President of Partnerships with National Football League team the Los Angeles Rams, said brands were now looking at ways of interacting with individuals in a “hyper personalised” way.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said the league introduced a pitch clock and larger bases. He also changed the rules to shorten games and make baseball more appealing to younger fans.
“We continue to use technology not only to make the game better on the field, but in order to promote fan engagement,” Manfred told the audience.
Piracy rising
DAZN’s Rushton also said piracy had increased with the Sports video piracy: Payments systems must do more report showing 50% of media rights value in Europe being lost due to illegal access to live feeds, mainly sports, compared with 15-20% a decade ago.
“The data we’re seeing is pretty horrific and it’s a real sort of warning sign in the industry,” he said.
