When Fox Sports Latin America launched Fox Sports Premium at the start of the year, the OTT revolution officially expanded in Central and South America, joining the likes of Fanatiz.

OTT, or Over The Top services are content providers who offer streaming media as their sole offering, rather than as a complimentary arm of broadcast.

Even aside from large media companies like Fox Sports, OTTs are being launched by venues and events themselves. In 2019, the French Tennis Federation and Roland Garros have teamed with Brazilian telecommunications firm Vivo to produce “RG Ao Vivo.” The platform will feature live coverage of the 2019 French Open, as well as house archival footage from one of tennis’ hallowed grounds.

Infrastructure issues have largely slowed the expansion of OTT services into Latin America, with Mexico becoming the first nation in the area to fully switch off analogue broadcasting at the end of 2018.

The change over from analog to digital broadcasting largely deals with high definition video, which is most often a property of digital and OTT providers. The early driver of high definition video was live sports, and in fully-digital countries, continues to drive the desire for Ultra High Definition video.

Argentina and Colombia plan to terminate analogue by the end of 2019, with Panama, Peru and Venezuela aiming for December 2020. Meanwhile, though Brazil’s transition started in the late 1990s, it has slowed nearly to a halt.

Regardless of the slower transition, OTT subscriptions in Latin America are projected to hit 51.1 million according to ResearchAndMarkets.com. According to that report, Brazil is expected to make up 40 percent of the region’s projected $8.25 billion revenue, with Mexico at 24 percent.

As of 2018, the largest OTT market in Latin America was Mexico at 19.3 million households.

While the infrastructure is improved upon, still-transitioning countries like Brazil often offer low-interest loans to those still without digital equipment. As the number of households able to hook up to OTT grows, media providers will prepare quickly to reach the projected millions in need.

Therein, the supply of high definition channels will rise, and so too will the demand for live sports providers. Video content providers like Netflix and HBO are sure to dominate the media market share at first, but few are expected to hold exclusive rights on OTT sports broadcasts.

GLOBO, the Brazilian media company, is set to renovate its services and facilities fully in order to accommodate the burgeoning digital industry.

The tech giant has already rebroadcast multiple 2018 FIFA World Cup matches on their 4K HD test channel. Even though Brazilian technology cannot yet support 4K HD, GLOBO is already prepared for the moment it can.

In late 2019, the Sportv Latin America Series will bring sports broadcasters, Pay TV operators and sports leagues to Florida for a conference at which the market of OTT sports will be discussed. Over 30 executives from Fox Sports Latin America, DirecTV, and more are scheduled to attend.

One of the obstacles standing in front of potential marketers on OTT platforms is the difficulty in identifying exactly who their audience is. At the same time, most services also suffer from ad overexposure, meaning there is still plenty of life to be breathed in to each platform.

The opportunity to break into the OTT sports market in Latin America remains wide open for both broadcast providers and potential marketers. Though the change over from analog to digital broadcasting may be taking longer than initially hoped, those same entities have had time to prepare.

Author: Alex Hooper

In 2019, the Jacksonville Jaguars will play a National Football League game in London for the 7th consecutive year

As the league has expanded their London slate to a record four games this season, the world of sports is reaching new heights of globalization.

There remains debate over whether or not Shahid Khan, owner of both the Jaguars and current British Premier League side Fulham, is truly building a fan base in England before a potential move towards the first British NFL team. Regardless of the endgame, Khan and the league are looking to fully harness a wider audience than was accessible in the past.

The London metro area and its population of 13.6 million is larger than that of Los Angeles (13.1 million). Considering that both the Rams and Chargers relocated to LA in 2016 and 2017, respectively, the London market is likely coveted ground.

The efforts to connect the NFL and London go both ways. Since its inception, the brand new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was branded as a new home for American Football in London. White Hart Lane will host two of the four International Series games this season.

The NFL and the Premier League make for easy transitions between the United States and United Kingdom due to the shared language of their homelands. That has made it easy for gigantic brands like Manchester United and the New England Patriots to expand their reach.

But due to the proliferation of social media, there is incredible growth potential for the individual brands of leagues, teams, and players alike. The ability to share videos and break down language barriers has eased the possibility of expanding into unfamiliar cultures.

Prior to the 2017 season, the National Basketball Association announced a multi-year deal with Rakuten to distribute all live games in Japan.

Yet television rights are only the start. The NBA now has its own Japanese Twitter account to support their fans. Major League Baseball, popular in Latin America, has its own Twitter in Spanish account as well.

Despite these growing trends in the United States, American teams have not fully invested in catering to their international audiences on a personal level by-and-large. Though NBA and MLB have their own accounts in other languages, language-specific accounts that cover an individual teams largely remain run by fans themselves.

With so much tangible interest in leagues, it would behoove organizations to invest in their own brand now that they have a captive audience. Upon the arrival of Chinese superstar Yao Ming in 2002, interest in the sport boomed, and the team still has a large following in the country of over 1.3 billion people.

Yet, no official Houston Rockets Twitter account exists in Mandarin or any of the spoken languages of China.

This problem seems to be a problem for only American sports organizations to this point. French soccer giants like Paris Saint-Germain have established their own multi-lingual Twitter presence, with Les Parisiens touting almost one million followers combined from their English, Spanish and Brazilian/Portuguese-language accounts.

PSG’s example by itself is enough to show the pure value of expanding to other continents, while the digital age makes it an obtainable to engage with anyone a brand reaches.

Author: Alex Hooper

Marketing to women and women’s sports fans is not just about equality, it is simply good business sense. Not only are women making it known that they are tough, their purchasing power is also strong.

For some reason, it has taken time for many in marketing to tap into a demographic that makes up 51 percent of the world’s population. Those who are sports fans are supporting their favorite teams as energetically as their male counterpoints.

Marketing teams have begun to respond. Nike caught the attention of women across America during the Academy Awards with their “Dream Crazier” ad, narrated by Serena Williams. While the Nike commercial was not the first to capitalize on the rising voices of female empowerment, it did represent a fever pitch within sports.

The Nike ad was estimated to cost $2.6 million for 30 seconds, just a drop in the bucket for the world of global marketing. Yet, as of 2013, only $427.2 million was spent on global women’s sports sponsorship in a three-year span, compared to $106.8 billion on men’s sports according to Statista.

The lack of spending directly on women’s sports comes as a direct conflict with global opinion. According to Nielsen, 84% of general sports fans are interested in women’s sports in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.

Those polled also view female athletes as more inspiring (36 percent compared to 26 percent of male athletes), progressive (32 to 17) and family-oriented (25 to 13).

The difference between public opinion and advertising dollars spent indicates that there is still a massive gap between who could effectively be marketed to, and who actually is. The preference towards female athletes in general indicates that plenty of effective spokespeople are going untapped.

Simply because these growing brands are those of women does not mean that these athletes are exclusively marketable to women. In the above Nielsen poll, 51 percent of those who answered were men. In a roundabout way, that number could show that the market for women’s sports could actually grow as more relatable athletes become marketed more efficiently.

With the Women’s World Cup approaching on June 7, 2019, the opportunity to reach a wide audience will be bigger than ever. Over 750 million tuned into the 2015 World Cup, and with the rising interest in women’s sports, the 2019 edition is sure to top those ratings.

Women of sports have become some of the most recognizable faces – and voices – in America. While Williams leads on an individual level, the U.S. women’s national soccer team (USWNT) is easily the most recognizable brand in American women’s sports. Of course, they one of the most successful, winners of three World Cups, including 2015.

One of four USWNT captains, Alex Morgan, is a marketer’s dream in herself. The 29-year-old forward boasts 5.6 million followers on Instagram, 3.56 million on Twitter, and 3.3 million likes on Facebook as of April 2019. Simply by utilizing the Orlando Pride standout, any brand looking to target women can instantly access a huge portion of that demographic.

Soccer and tennis have been the main draws of what advertising dollars are spent in America, but interest has risen greatly in alternative sports like action and combat sports.

18-year-old Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Chloe Kim was recently ranked by Hookit as being the most marketable female athlete. Because of Kim’s high rate of engagement on social media, her brand carries more value.

Buoyed by 2008 Olympic Judo bronze medalist Ronda Rousey, interest rose greatly in women’s mixed martial arts throughout her career. Upon her departure from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 2017, Rousey signed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) soon thereafter. With the most decorated women in combat history in tow, the promotion featured the first women’s main event at its most popular annual event, WrestleMania, in April 2019.

Adding to the growing interest in women’s sports is the popularity of daily fantasy sports. In 2017, DraftKings and FanDuel, two leading companies in daily fantasy, each expanded to include the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).