As the market for sports fragments with more viewer choices and broadcasters look for ways to buttress advertising revenue, sports-specific applications for interactive television (iTV) may offer a means to enrich the viewing experience and allow broadcasters, content providers and cable operators to differentiate themselves, according to a new study from Research And Markets.
However, the study, entitled “Interactive TV: the Opportunities for Sport,” cautions that iTV remains an expensive addition to the possibilities of what sports broadcasters can offer, and as such broadcasters must carefully determine their iTV strategy.
It identifies the UK, France and the United States as hotbeds of emerging interactive TV applications for sports. Further it projects that global iTV gambling revenues –only one slice of the iTV market - will be valued at $2 billion by 2007.
The study, which was released this month, provides an overview of existing digital markets where exploitation of iTV functions is possible for sports rights holders and contextual commercial operations. Program enhancement versus direct revenue enhancement is discussed.
The report looks at the advantages sports have in an iTV market and analyzes high profile case studies. It also investigates how iTV functionality can be incorporated into sports arena design and the business models likely to fuel its use at sports venues.
The study also examines the impact personal video recorders, broadband delivery of video content, and on-demand technologies, are having on iTV deployment.
Topics covered include:
- The effect of iTV on the nature of sports broadcasting;
- The most compelling iTV sports functions from around the world;
- The opportunities to generate direct revenue from participation TV services, such as e-mail, text messaging and chat;
- The indirect economic benefits of different iTV functions including reduced subscriber churn and driving premium package upgrades;
- The potential and limitations for iTV sports betting and games;
- Possible iTV functions and models that could be applied to sports;
- The impact of personal video recorders on TV sports rights revenue and the sports sponsorship field.
For more information, please visit: www.researchandmarkets.com.
