Juniper Research has identified 2018 as the year in which OTT (Over the Top) players including Amazon and Facebook turn sporting events into the next content battleground by bidding for (and winning) key packages in major rights auctions, including those for football’s English Premier League.
The company argues that Amazon is likely to be the biggest winner here. Not only would it gain revenues from new Amazon Prime customers joining mainly for the football, but additionally revenues derived from retail sales by those customers via the Prime channel. This significantly reduces the number of new customers it would require to cover the costs of a rights package.
Meanwhile, Juniper believes that 2018 will be the year for social payments with key launches from Apple and Facebook expected to drive growth in the space.
