With kick off of the football World Cup less than a month away, the latest research from the Global Web Index (www.globalwebindex.net), shows the huge potential for making money from online sports rights.
The survey of 16,000 internet users includes people in many of the nations that will be taking part including the USA, England, Mexico and South Korea. This year’s World Cup will be the first where mass market online video streaming is a reality across the globe. Typically online rights are bundled with the TV deal as an ‘add on’, but the Global Web Index shows that these rights are seriously undervalued, with FIFA potentially missing out on millions in revenue.
The research shows there is already massive take-up of sports highlights and full length programming online. The Chinese lead the way where video platforms such as Youku and Tudou carry full length programming as standard. 35% have watched full length programmes online in the last month and 27% have watched sports highlights. Other countries are not far behind.
Crucially there is huge, untapped potential for cashing in on streamed sport content. Sports fans in India, South Korea, China, Mexico and Italy are most likely to choose to pay for their fix. Indians are most likely to pay to enjoy streamed sports without advertising (37%) followed by South Koreans (32%). In direct comparison, those living in the US and European markets in the study prefer free access, with ads. However there is still a very large interest in paying, and one that if monetised could be far more lucrative than the advertising revenue. It is a similar picture for watching clips of sporting highlights.

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