The UFC, NBA, NFL, EPL; all of these multi-million dollar businesses are currently experiencing a significant change. Change that has led to us being able to watch these events from the palm of our hands, and all for free.
Twitter was originally the starting point for communicating during these live sporting events through hashtags. But over the last 9 months of 2016 we can now not only commentate on, but watch these events live.
Relating to an article I wrote a few weeks ago on “Why you should be using Video Advertising, now” , platforms such as Meerkat, Periscope and Youtube Live streaming have all adapted the new trend of live video streaming. However, Facebook Live is predicted to become the master of them all due to the reach it has.
This technological shift we’re experiencing was none the more evident than on the 20th August during UFC 202 Mcgregor vs Diaz.
Now over the last 5 years of being an MMA fan, I would have paid the $59.95 or $69.95 fee in order to watch these fights live. Long and behold UFC 202 comes around and I find myself scrolling through Facebook just before I was going to purchase the event.
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When I noticed a number of different live streams popped up on my Facebook feed that were broadcasting the event, in HD. As much as I would love to support and pay my dues to a company that’s worth $4 billion, I couldn’t pass it up.
Instantly, in the palm of my hands, I had been given a number of different FREE options to watch HD live streams directly from the event itself from someone in the stands or watching a live stream of someone watching the event on their own TV – and with the development of 4G data and HD camera quality on our smartphones – the quality was superb!
Just like Pirate Bay did to the film industry, Uber did to the taxi industry and Netflix has done to TV – Facebook’s live streaming service is beginning to, and will continue to change the landscape of live sports broadcasting.
There’s currently minimal information out there regarding what effect Facebook is having on broadcasters and the legality of the situation, and this makes for an extremely interesting case study into the phenomenon.
How is this new era of sports coverage in 2017 going to affect sports and their revenues? To go one step further, are we going to see concerts, keynote conferences, sporting events and TV – live, for free and in High Definition through Facebook?
Twitter was, and most likely is still the hub for communicating sports events with friends, fans and followers as the event is happening. Taking this one step further, Periscope for Twitter and Facebook live are now allowing us to watch, comment and engage all at once. Which in my opinion – will remove the need for TV’s.
Are we going to see our mobile phones become the next generation of TV’s? Upon first glance, we have Netflix, live streaming and a number of different movie and TV services available at the palm of our hands – so why not our actual television?
Facebook Live’s Success and What’s to Come
Facebook Live signals a new age for sports broadcasters. Facebook claims that the average viewing duration for videos is up to three times longer when they’re live. The UK’s biggest media conglomerates BBC and Sky have already delved into the world of Facebook Live and have reported huge success with its experimentation on the platform. They have leveraged it in a way that rather than posting the same content as on TV, they are providing viewers with an in-depth, behind the scenes look at things that you won’t see on TV.
Although we can’t be sure, in quite possibly the first ever Facebook Live video, the women’s soccer Orlando Pride season opener was shown live on Team USA member Alex Morgan’s Facebook page.
While at first this may seem like a strange event to broadcast the first ever Live video on, due to Facebook’s unrivalled audience the game drew an audience of 554,000 online fans. A figure women’s soccer could only dream of reaching historically for this kind of match. Interestingly enough, the Youtube broadcast had a reach of 76,000, significantly smaller than the Facebook broadcast numbers.
For sporting events like women’s soccer (which have struggled to get regular broadcast time), Facebook Live allows the sport to reach an audience they would not normally have. At the end of the day if you can broadcast live sports on Facebook and reach an audience that rivals or is even bigger than traditional media forms – then you can certainly expect a shift towards this platform as people become more comfortable with it.
Facebook Live also experimented with a larger scale event earlier in the year when Manchester United met Everton football club. The match was streamed live on Facebook and had a potential reach of 1.7 billion users.
In particular the landscape of women’s sports, sports that don’t receive much coverage, amateur level sports and lower tier sports are going to benefit from this. Millions of people around the world will now have accessibility to these events, live from the palm of their hand.
Tips to get started with Facebook Live
If you are looking to get started with Facebook Live just head to Facebook’s help page to get some great tips and advice.
The point of this article is simple. We can all see the world rapidly changing in front of our eyes and Facebook Live is going to follow us along that ride. Whether you leverage it for business or personal use the underlying reason is the same. People are gravitating towards Facebook live and with the reach and audience it has its continued growth can’t be denied. Get familiar with it and get broadcasting before the next trend comes along!
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