Streaming services spar for sporting supremacy

Chung Jeh-won

The author is the sports news director of the JoongAng Ilbo

Manchester City, the strongest team in the English Premier League, has come to Korea. It is “dreamy” to see striker Erling Haaland in Korea. Moreover, it is even more exciting that Man City played against prestigious Spanish club Atletico de Madrid. But how could I watch this game? First of all, you could not watch it on TV. It was not broadcasted on Naver portal site either. Then where should I have gone? The answer was Coupang. It is a little strange that delivery company Coupang broadcasted a big match featuring Europe’s top professional football teams. However, you could not watch the broadcast unless you paid and signed up for membership. This happened on July 30.

In sports broadcasting, “streaming” is the trend. Literally, sports content flows naturally to consumers on wired and wireless networks. That’s the case with Coupang and portal site broadcasts. It has become so natural to watch sports on smart television. The days when people flocked to television to watch sports broadcasts are long over. Netflix and YouTube are also flooded with sports content.

It is good to see that various types of online video service companies broadcast sports events throughout the world. But there is a problem. In order to watch sports, you have to pay multiple companies such as paid channels and OTT.

For example, if you want to watch a game with Son Heung-min in the Premier League or Ryu Hyun-jin in the Major League, you have to pay for the cable channel SPOTV. However, if you want to watch the match between Paris SaintGermain and Jeonbuk Hyundai in the K League in Busan, you have to join Coupang Play. For sports fans, it is a very frustrating and uncomfortable situation. Complaints can be heard everywhere. Pay to watch national heroes Son Heungmin and Ryu Hyun-jin play?

This situation is not much different in other countries. If you want to watch the Premier League games in Britain, you have to join satellite broadcasting Sky Sports. However, Sky Sports does not cover all the games. The matches not on Sky Sports can be watched through Amazon Prime. It also costs money to join Amazon Prime.

The rise of OTT, including Netflix and Disney Plus, is remarkable. They have recently entered the sports broadcasting rights market in addition to series and movies. Apple TV, run by the world’s biggest tech company Apple, is no exception. In particular, Apple TV holds the exclusive broadcasting rights of Major League Soccer (MLS). It is somewhat awkward that Apple, which has the biggest market cap in the world, is broadcasting football games. Why did Apple, whose smartphone sales still exceed 50 percent of its total sales revenue and whose market cap recently surpassed $3 trillion, enter the sports broadcasting rights market?

Apple is no longer just a manufacturer. It is not complacent to be a platform company (Apple TV). It is evolving into a content company that competes with soft power. Apple is approaching consumers with Apple Store, Apple Music, and Apple News.

You can see Apple’s big picture from the background of “king of football” Lionel Messi recently transferring to Inter Miami, despite Saudi Arabia’s proposal. Messi gave up the offer of 400 million euros ($440 million) in annual salary from Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal and chose to move to the US. His annual salary in Miami is $60 million, one seventh of Saudi’s offer. Instead, he is getting a cut from Apple TV, which has the right to broadcast Major League Soccer. In other words, some of the subscription fees Apple TV receives from subscribers go into Messi’s pocket.

Apple is determined to promote Major League Soccer with Messi. The strategy is to increase the number of Apple TV subscribers through the star power of Messi, who has more than 400 million followers on social media. Moreover, demand for iPhone will increase if MLS becomes more popular with the Argentine football star’s involvement. Apple especially expects Android phone users in South America to switch to iPhones to watch Apple TV broadcasts.

As if this is not enough, Apple launched Vision Pro based on augmented reality technology. It is a state-of-the-art device that unfolds the world of virtual reality before your eyes when you put on the headset. There can be no more suitable device to enjoy sports content.

American sports journalism service The Athletic reported in an interview with sports media analyst Ed Desser, “Or is this a testing ground, as Apple weighs more ambitious ventures into truly prized sporting rights, such as the NBA, the NFL and the Premier League?” Apple’s strategy to expand through sports has just begun.