As the cricket craze meets streaming surge, can India’s live sports scene handle Amazon Prime’s punch? Only if Amazon Prime decides to deal with the punch in 2024. Is Amazon Prime eyeing India’s multi-sport boom? We will only know in 2024. If Amazon Prime decides to play a long inning and a big one, will cricket be just the first wicket? Will other sports follow globally, and then in India?
What could change the broadcasting and streaming domain globally, especially in Asia and India? I am writing in the backdrop of three big developments in the broadcasting and streaming domain in India and globally.
1. The Reliance Jio Viacom’s non-binding term sheet with Disney India creating a giant and maybe a monopoly.
2. The Sony-Zee merger talks progressing where Sony and Zee have extended the deadline by 30 days to complete their merger.
3. WSJ and Reuters reported that Amazon is in talks to invest in Diamond Sports.
If Amazon’s deal with the regional sports broadcaster Diamond Sports goes through, it could advance and speed up the e-commerce and streaming service’s aggressive push into sports content. It could mark Amazon’s global entry on a big scale. In 2024 and 2025, Amazon may win big in terms of some marquee sports globally, as their rights come up for negotiations and renewal.
Diamond Sports Group, which carries the games of more than 40 major sports teams across the US, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. It is actively negotiating with Amazon about a strategic investment and a multi-year streaming partnership. If an agreement is reached, Amazon’s Prime Video platform will eventually become home for Diamond’s games.
Diamond, which has the local rights to about half the teams in Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association and about a third of the National Hockey League teams, will continue to operate its cable partnership.
Sports broadcasting is becoming the driver for paid subscriptions across the globe for streaming services.
Peter Biskind, a long-time entertainment journalist and cultural critic, chronicled in previous bestsellers, Hollywood’s groundbreaking New Wave of the 1970s in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and the Indie cinema movement of the 1990s in Down and Dirty Pictures in his latest book Pandora’s Box. He makes a case that though Netflix was a pioneer that ushered in binge-watching, ad-free television is facing an existential threat. In a bid to appeal to broader audiences, Netflix is driving away viewers.
My take from Pandora’s Box is that sports streaming will be a natural way to keep audiences glued, and Amazon Prime and its executives understand this. Hence, they will now embark on conquering the sports frontier.
Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon tweeted on December 5, “Exciting to see fans discovering NFL on Prime. Another record past Thursday for the exciting Seahawks-Cowboys clash.” The NFL Prime Time and Amazon Prime partnership resulted in the most-watched game ever on Prime Video and the most streamed game in NFL’s history.
Andy Jassy who led Amazon Web Services and is now the CEO of Amazon understands that sports have the pull and glue factor, and major sports partnerships for streaming would make Amazon Prime the home of sports.
BCCI in India is creating more and more cricket, and now women’s cricket. Non-cricketing sports are also growing in India.
India’s love affair with cricket is legendary, bordering on religious fervour. But is there such a thing as too much of a good thing? With a packed calendar, featuring the epic ODI and T20 World Cups, followed by the electrifying women’s and men’s IPL auctions, cricket seems omnipresent. Yet, despite the saturation, viewership numbers haven’t dipped. They’re soaring.
This begs the question: Is India merely cricket-crazy, or is something bigger brewing? Could this be the dawn of a golden age for all sports in India? After all, the recent Olympic successes, particularly the women’s hockey team’s heroics, show a burgeoning passion for diverse sporting landscapes. Kabaddi, polo, hockey, and even football have been witnessing increased interest and investment.
The financial windfall for the BCCI is undeniable. The record-breaking IPL and broadcasting rights deals have transformed them into cricket’s Santa Claus, with Jio and Viacom leading the charge. Mukesh Ambani, James Murdoch, and Uday Shankar are betting big on Indian sports broadcasting, with whispers of a potential Viacom-Disney Star merger creating a behemoth entity.
But one big player can stifle competition. BCCI needs a dynamic market to maximize revenue. This is where Sony-Zee combines and potentially, Amazon Prime come in. Amazon’s global sports broadcasting ventures and its ever-growing Indian subscriber base make it a contender to watch. With its juggernaut-like growth, Amazon Prime could soon be a major bidder for Indian cricket and live sports in general.
The future of Indian sports broadcasting is far from settled. With Jio-Viacom-Disney and Sony-Zee vying for dominance, and Amazon Prime emerging as a dark horse, BCCI is likely to be showered with even more lucrative deals. This, in turn, could fuel the growth of not just cricket, but all sports in India. So, buckle up, sports fans – India’s viewership binge is just getting started!
