i3 - July/August 2017 - 42

Business

By Gary Arlen

C S PAC E

Live Streaming Rearranges
the TV Ecosystem

 W  

hether it's the NFL, a prime-time network TV series
or live special programming, video is being delivered
via non-traditional methods. Internet-delivered
over-the-top television is overhauling the 70-year old TV
industry, thanks to options like "skinny bundles" from Hulu,
AT&T's DirecTV Now, DISH's Sling TV or Sony's PlayStation
Vue, or original content on YouTubeTV and Twitter. By 2021,
the global live video streaming business will generate $70 billion
in revenues, up from $30 billion today, an 18 percent growth
rate, according to a MarketsAndMarkets.com forecast. That is
in the same vicinity as U.S. broadcast TV advertising revenue.
Real-time live streaming is erupting
in London between the Jacksonville
in many ways. For example, Turner
Jaguars and the Baltimore Ravens to
Broadcasting's TBS and TNT, cable
all Verizon platforms: AOL, FiOS, go90
networks owned by Time Warner,
and Complex Networks (digital video coare expanding their digital footprints via
owned with Hearst Corp.). If the deal goes
streaming apps accessithrough, Yahoo CBS-TV,
ble on iOS, Apple TV,
which would normally
Android and Amazon
carry the game, will only
Fire as well as Roku,
show it on its local affiliBy 2021, the
Google Chromecast and
global live video ates in the two teams'
VIZIO SmartCast
streaming busi- hometowns. Sky Sports
devices. TBS and TNT
carry the game in the
ness will generate will
are the first major netUK and Verizon will offer
$70 billion in
works to include Vizbee
streams to other internarevenues, up from tional online audiences.
technology, allowing
viewers to cast content
$30 billion today, The streamed game is
from a mobile device to
part of the NFL's exploraan 18 percent
any connected screen
tion of how to deliver live
growth rate.
without a special plugvideo when its broadcast
- MarketsAndMarkets.com
in. This wireless digital
contracts come up for
strategy gives viewers
review in a few years.
more ways to watch TNT
Amazon is paying $50
and TBS programs.
million to stream 10 games through its
Prime system this year, and Twitter
streamed 10 NFL games last season.
Binge Streaming Marathons
Sports events, once the crown jewels
In May, Twitch, an Amazon-owned
of live telecasting, are only part of the
video game service, began an 18-day
live streaming juggernaut. Hulu's new
transmission of all 886 episodes of the
$40-per-month streaming service
popular public TV show Mister Rogers'
includes channels like Food Network,
Neighborhood and even showed episodes
Travel Channel and HGTV that are packthat only aired once. Meanwhile, Verizon
aged into cable's big bundles. "By bringis paying the NFL more than $20 million
ing together thousands of live and
to stream the September 24 game
42

JULY/AUGUST 2017

on-demand libraries of shows and
movies, Hulu can now be a viewer's primary source of television," CEO Mike
Hopkins explains. For an extra $4
monthly, Hulu offers a commercialfree version, and a $19.99-per-month
package which includes a cloud DVR
and multi-screen access. Even when
added together, those fees are lower
than a typical cable TV subscription.
YouTube Live is attracting vast
audiences with a different approach.
There were 6.9 billion views during the
first quarter of 2017, according to Tubular
Labs' latest State of Online Video report.
Gaming content (eSports) accounts
for 53 percent of YouTube TV's live programming, while technology (15 percent)
and news (12 percent) draw substantial
audiences. In the spring, YouTube
opened streaming capabilities to any
user with 1,000 subscribers, encouraging
corporate or private creators to set up
their own programs.

The Casualties

The Digital Entertainment Group's
(DEG) recent study shows a steep decline
in purchase and rental of entertainment
content from 2015 to 2017. Analysts
believe that DEG's tally of $1.8 billion
spent on SVOD during the first three
months of this year may be undercounted.
Live streaming is reinventing the
TV business, even as traditional broadcast and cable companies prepare to
use new tools to compete in the world
of 2020 television.
ENTERTAINMENT CONTENT
CONSUMPTION

44%

37%

Ownership
2015

30%
Rental
2017

24%

26%

38%

SVOD
SOURCE: DEG

I T I S I N N O VAT I O N
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