As it turned out fans were able to watch highlights of England’s defeat by Ukraine on BBC1 last night, but the contract signed by the terrestial broadcaster preventing them from announcing this in advance. Most analysts do not see the live internet screening of the match as setting a precedent. Even the chief executive of Perform, Andrew Croker, commented, ‘This was a window of opportunity created by that particular match.’ It is more likely that second tier sports will use the internet in an attempt to boost audiences.
As it turned out fans were able to watch highlights of England’s defeat by Ukraine on BBC1 last night, but the contract signed by the terrestial broadcaster preventing them from announcing this in advance. Most analysts do not see the live internet screening of the match as setting a precedent. Even the chief executive of Perform, Andrew Croker, commented, ‘This was a window of opportunity created by that particular match.’ It is more likely that second tier sports will use the internet in an attempt to boost audiences. Perform has announcced a deal with men’s professional squash to stream 250 live matches a year on the internet. Betfair, the betting exchange operator, already shows a variety of live sports on its website, including Serie A Italian football. Tens of thousands of customers use the service, up 35 per cent in the last year. One online bookmaker, bet 365, offered the match free to new customers. Market leader BSkyB is unconcerned about the Ukraine-England match and sees the internet as serving niche markets where there is appeal to a relatively small but passionate group of people. Sky is more worried about the threat to its coverage from piracy. The Premiership employs a piracy monitoring company, Net Results, to protect its rights. However, Net Rights thinks that copyright law needs updating as it was drafted when live streaming was not an issue.
Perform are quids in after the experiment. It is estimated that the number of subscriptions was between 250,000 and 300,000, far more than estimates earlier in the week, with more than one viewer per purchase. The webcast encountered no technical problems. Total receipts should be far more than the £900,000 offered by the BBC for live coverage. Pay-per-view sports events typically attract 90 per cent of subscriotions on the day. Given that the price was £4.99 before Thursday, £9.99 on Thursday and Friday, and £11.99 if buying yesterday, total receipts could be as high as £3m. The market value for rights to an England game is typically £3m – £5m. Last night’s broadcast qualifies as the most watched (and profitable) ‘internet only’ football match in history. The previous viewing record was held by Manchester City’s friendly against Barcelona at the Nou Camp, which was available free in Britain only on City’s website, where 95,000 fans tuned in. Yesterday’s match was also watched by thousands of fans in Odeon cinemas.
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