The media market is placing ever-greater premiums on subscription-driving content, while recognising that, in the current economic climate in particular, there is a finite amount of it.

This means the ‘rich get richer’ while those second tier properties who have previously relied on income from broadcast rights (think tennis, rugby) get squeezed. While previous commercial strategies have focused on media value, the ‘squeezed middle’ may now be better focussing on reach, both to drive sponsorship income and maximise the number of fans at the top of their marketing funnel, to support a future D2C play.

Along with increasingly selective rights buying from the traditional pay TV channels and operators, this in turn could precipitate a return of quality sports content to Free-To-Air platforms, where audience numbers remain significant, while also helping to access a wider audience which can be route to new customers in the long term.