The cord-cutting movement is no longer just a fad, it’s a verifiable trend. A trend that will see streaming services overtake traditional services in the next four years. Leagues and teams want their content in front of growing, not shrinking audiences. And streamers need more unique and diverse content offerings to earn subscribers in an increasingly saturated space.
Uncovering streaming possibilities in the world of international soccer
This win-win scenario is why we’ve seen such shake-ups in American sports like NFL on Prime Video and NHL on ESPN+. Even our national pastime has modernized as Major League Baseball can now be found on Apple TV.
At TelmarHelixa, we have done plenty of analyses regarding the American sports landscape, from Super Bowl trends to NIL’s impact. Now with TelmarHelixa's Discover Global snapshot data, we can start to answer the worldly questions about the planet’s most popular game: Soccer (that’s football for most of the world), as well as the multitude of streaming options available to those overseas. Let's assess the success, potential, and possibilities of international football in a world of cord-cutters.
Golazoooo for Serie A
In Italy in 2018, DAZN acquired the rights to over a hundred Lega Serie A matches, games from Italy’s top domestic football league. The data points to a successful partnership: a Discover audience of those engaging with DAZN Italia shows that in 2020, just a year into the deal, Penetration* with the Serie A fanbase was at 33%.
In the last 6 months, that figure jumped to 48%. Serie A fans in Italy are now 7.5x more likely to engage with DAZN than the average Italian compared to 3.36x for NOW TV and 2.57x for Prime Video.
Serie A Fans’ Favorite Streaming Services
1. DAZN – 7.50x
2. NOW TV – 3.36x
3. Prime Video – 2.57x
*Penetration is the share of an audience that shares a specific trait included in the queried audience, in this case the percentage of the Serie A audience that share an interest in DAZN.
Bundesliga, now in VR?
Let’s look at a different target: people in Germany with an interest in the Bundesliga, the top football division in the country. This fan base has a high affinity with Prime Video at 2.21x, making them twice as likely to be engaged with the service than other Germans. In fact, 20% of Bundesliga fans are already part of the Prime Video audience, which makes this an easy match.
The Bundesliga Fans’ Favorite Streaming Service
1. Prime Video – 35% || 1.13x
*Affinity (0.00x) is the leading indicator of what is distinctive and unique for your target audience.
*Reach (00%) is the portion of your audience that is interested.
What if we are looking for a more unique opportunity?
In 2018 MagentaMusik, a VR service from T-Mobile, aired the first-ever VR broadcast of a German professional basketball game. With Discovery Global, we can see that over 30% of the German Magenta audience has an interest in Bundesliga football, spelling tremendous growth opportunities. It could be time to let the German football fans have some fun with VR too.
Every Club, Every Fan
Now on to the UK, more specifically the Premier League. This time, let’s focus on how specific clubs can leverage their fans' interests instead of an entire league.
I know many would like to see me assess Man City or Liverpool, but we’re going to go a bit more niche because I’m a Wolves fan. Wolverhampton FC shares tons of exclusive content on their website, but certainly there is a streaming service that could cater specifically to fans of the West Midlands club.
Wolves fans in the country are 3.98x more likely to engage with ITV Hub and 3.74x more likely to engage with SportsJOE than the average Brit. For some added context, affinities for these services were at 2.82x and 1.6x respectively for fans of any of the Big Six clubs — proving that the Wolves can beat the big clubs at something after all.
Wolverhampton Fans’ Favorite Streaming Services
1. ITV Hub – 3.98x
2. SportsJOE – 3.74x
Around the World in Eighty Seconds
With just a few clicks we’ve jumped from Italy to Germany to England without needing to buy a single train ticket. I focused on football and streaming in this article to share some insights on personal interests of mine, but understanding what people care about, their lifestyles, and who influences them across 20 markets — the possibilities for meaningful audience analysis are endless. Coupled with new features like our Time Machine, which leverages time frame selection, Discover's Global data is the new passport to understanding international audiences.
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