We Will, We Will Watch You

No more long lines, rowdy crowds, overpriced hotdogs, stale beer, and filthy toilets. Thanks to live streaming, every connected sports fan can now watch a game, race, or match real-time from anywhere in the world—even while on the move—sometimes including close-up instant replays and out-of-this world commentaries, and with the addition of offbeat camera angles.

- Aritha Zel Zalamea

It has been a while since the internet started inhaling television into its fold. We see it now creeping into paid television and even the movie industry. In sports, however, the internet has just begun to prove its mettle, and live sports broadcasting isn’t spared.

SCREEN-VOLUTION

There was a time when the only option to catch a sporting event was by going to the venue itself. That entailed a lot more time, energy, and cost than the price of a ticket. Watching major games on television then became the norm and the more accessible alternative for decades. However, airtime is expensive and TV suits squeeze as much profit as they can out of these opportunities by stretching screen time with bazillion advertisements, rescheduling broadcast to primetime, or holding the game hostage behind cable subscriptions and pay-per-view terms. Either way, airing is delayed, the viewing experience is hampered, or the wallet burns a hole.

Then we saw the rise of the second screen, with TV viewers glued to their computers and mobile devices to share updates, trash talks, and commentaries on the internet. Eventually, broadcasting companies and sports leagues started adjusting to this behavior and taking advantage of second-screen engagement, skyrocketing the value of online trends (read: trending hashtags and topics on social media networks such as Twitter). Now, the second screen is inching to first place, not really as a replacement but by elevating multi-screen content consumption. The advent of streaming lets you seamlessly transition from your mobile phone to your laptop, your tablet to your television set. And so in some cases, it is not about abandoning the TV as a hardware, thanks to smart TVs, but revolutionizing where the content comes from and how it is consumed.

THE CAVALRY