Sports rights boom lifts media companies beyond major broadcasters
Major sports events benefit media companies beyond the main rights holders, executives from Fox-owned Tubi and Roku Media told Axios at an event in Cannes on Wednesday.
Why it matters: The value of sports rights have soared as media companies bid for assets they hope will retain audiences in a competitive landscape.
What they're saying: The interest in athletes can drive interest in related programming.
"One thing we know about Gen Z audiences is they care as much sometimes about these athletes, the stories behind the athletes — what we call shoulder content and programming — as they do the live event," Tubi CEO Anjali Sud said.
Roku can help audiences track down games and their favorite programming as the "front door to television," said Charlie Collier, president of Roku Media.
"Before Caitlin Clark blew up, we absolutely made sure that we got our viewers to those games on ION. It wasn't our rights, but it was absolutely our right to elevate that pop cultural moment," Collier said.
Zoom in: Tubi is investing more in this type of content with a Naomi Osaka documentary slated for August and a docuseries on NFL No. 1 draft pick Cam Ward.
"I think it's just recognizing that beyond the die-hard sports fans, there are people who are in it for the culture, and we access some of that with compelling stories and content and build that momentum," Sud said.
What to watch: Sud said Tubi would be interested in acquiring its own live sports rights beyond what Fox already has "if we could make the math work."
"But it's very expensive today, and I think it's a hard strategy in this current environment to scale," she said.
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