Altman Solon’s David Dellea Discusses the 2024 Olympics and New Global Sports Survey Insights
Boston-based consulting firm Altman Solon recently released “Going for Gold: The Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games, media, and digital native fans,” which used their annual Global Sports Survey findings to understand how broadcasters are adapting their 2024 Summer Olympics coverage to appeal to a digitally native fan base.
Their survey of global sports media execs found that 79% are bullish on AI and believe automated content has the potential to unlock new revenue streams. NBCUniversal has also launched its "Your Daily Olympic Recap" on Peacock. This AI-generated, personalized Olympic highlight reel is designed to complement linear programming. According to NBCUniversal, over 7 million personalized variants of the Recap can potentially be generated for fans to stream.
The survey also revealed many other exciting developments and underscored the challenges of reaching young sports viewers in ways that best correspond to their preferences for short-form content.
I spoke in depth with David Dellea, Partner at Altman Solon, about the survey's findings and asked for his professional insights into the rapidly evolving sports media business.
Tyler Nesler: As a long-time global thought leader in sports business, what major emerging trends in sports media do you think have the most potential to revolutionize how viewers engage with sports programming?
David Dellea: Sports media has been fragmented by streaming. Our findings show that 60% of fans have a hard time accessing live games, making it imperative for broadcasters to improve the discoverability of their sports content. Where in the past viewers could simply "lean back" to watch games on linear TV, more and more viewers are "leaning in" as they actively seek out content on multiple platforms. This new active posture means that sports fans are more likely to become free agents- nearly 70% of fans are willing to switch television providers to retain access to one or more of their essential sports.
Do you expect the 2024 Paris Olympics to reveal on a larger scale which new emerging trends may have the most impact on the future of sports media?
The Paris Games are shaping up to be the first true multiplatform Olympics. We're already seeing NBCUniversal's cross-platform Olympic strategy payoff: the Opening Ceremony delivered record-breaking audience numbers not seen since the 2012 London Games. This was also the most streamed entertainment event in Peacock's four-year history, suggesting that streamers will be key to a successful sports media strategy.
The 2024 Paris Olympics will see significant moves towards personalizing sports programming, with the Warner Bros. Discovery and Snapchat partnership and NBCUniversal’s AI-generated “Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock.” What unique elements of sports fandom make it especially fruitful for innovations around personalized user experiences?
Over half of sports fans are what we call "casual fans" who watch sports less than weekly. Casual fans can be catered to through personalized content recommendations like what we're seeing with the "Daily Olympic Recap." Casual sports fans are a growth market, our data shows that over 70% of executives believe that expanding content libraries beyond live events and personalizing content are key priorities for engaging this fan base.
David Dellea
Altman Solon’s Global Sports Survey found that young viewers (Gen Z and Alpha) prefer short-form digital content, such as highlight clips, often viewed while multitasking (57% of fans report browsing the internet while tuning into sporting events). What are some ways that sports programmers can most effectively optimize these “second screen” viewing tendencies to maintain strong engagement?
Engaging younger viewers requires new, agile content strategies. Sports media should leverage short-form content including interactive feeds, micro-betting, gaming, and short form video across multiple platforms. Exclusive partnerships, like what we're seeing between Warner Bros. Discovery and Snapchat, can be crucial in not only reaching younger audiences, but also understanding what type of content drives engagement. Actionable data will be key to engaging this segment.
The Survey found that “just over half (52%) of sports executives believe content augmentation (AR/VR, gamification, and advanced stats) will impact sports media.” Was there any further insight into why the adoption of this technology has been tepid, and are there any developments that may help increase the use of augmentation in sports media?
The fact that only half of sports executives believe content augmentation will impact sports media is mostly due to low consumer adoption of AR/VR products. We think that adoption will be driven by a mix of improving comfort and ease of use (e.g. converging towards better, lighter eyewear) and finding a “killer use-case” that will deliver a superior experience for regular use. The conventional wisdom in recent years is that video gaming may provide the likely beachhead for the adoption of such technology, however adoption continues to be slow. In any case, I am skeptical that sports media will provide the beachhead for increased adoption. However, I could easily picture AR/VR increasing adoption through immersive gaming experiences, and then extend some of the learnings to sports media. It will be interesting to see if any of the more innovative approaches to augmented content during the Olympics will help jump-start adoption.
A key finding from the Sports Survey is the increased fragmentation of the sports media landscape, with the average fan finding it harder to access sports content. The Global Sports Survey states, “At the moment, reconsolidation in the sports media landscape is likely to follow one of two scenarios: a closed market with a small number of dominant platforms aggregating sports audiences; or an open market where live sports content is cheaper and easily accessible through multiple media outlets.” Based on current trends and data, what do you think might be the most effective approach out of these two scenarios?
Recent trends indicate that the market may be moving towards a “harmonized value chain” where sports media players are either focusing on enriching content as “editors” or at acquiring, managing, and retaining viewers as “retailers”. This seems to be the logical sequence from current market structures. That being said, there are also signs that the market may be moving towards “multi-platform licensing” (as part of “content democratization”), which I would personally find extremely exciting in a more and more fragmented sports media marketplace. Multi-platform licensing would basically flip the model entirely upside-down, by focusing on access and transaction volume, opposed to transaction value, which has been the focus throughout the Pay TV era to date. This latter model would be most beneficial for creating a sustainable role for sports in the sports media landscape. Many new ventures are betting on this trend by building new technology that enables differentiated access to the fragmented community of sports fans, enabling “content sharing” by reaching them wherever they are.
About David Dellea
David Dellea is a global thought leader in sports business. David’s focus is to expand Altman Solon’s global base of sports clients, addressing their strategic, organizational, and commercial challenges and opportunities. Over the last 18 years, he has consulted leading sports governing bodies, leagues, clubs, event organizers, investors, media companies, agencies, and the public sector across a wide array of topics.
Before joining Altman Solon, David spent his career in advisory and industry, most recently as Head of PwC’s Sports Practice, where he launched the firm’s sports survey. Prior to that, he led a boutique sports marketing agency and was co-founder of a sports tech wearable start-up. David holds a Law degree from the University of Lausanne and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management. He speaks fluent English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.
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