On July 8, 2024, the NBA logo was visible outside an NBA fan store in New York.
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Senior executive at ComcastNBC Sports targets NBA media rights update their calendar Over the years. They want the NBA to return after losing the game disney 2002.
On January 13, NBCUniversal’s subscription streaming service Peacock aired the first exclusive NFL playoff game – the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Miami Dolphins 26-7. There’s no doubt this game will be popular. The event had a total audience of 27.6 million viewers, making it the largest live event in U.S. history, according to Nielsen.
NBCUniversal is pleased with what happened after the game Spending up to $2.45 billion annually to publish NBA games Starting in the 2025 season – as the pay TV model wanes, Peacock is expected to be profitable.
Research firm Antenna estimates that Peacock added 3 million new subscribers by acquiring the rights to an NFL game that cost $110 million. Antenna said in March that about two months later, more than 70% of subscribers were still using Peacock.
This makes Kodela believe that NBA fans will continue to pay attention to Peacock even after the season is over. But it’s not just the lack of churn that convinces him of the value of mass sports. That’s what those new subscribers will watch when they sign up.
NBC Sports executives believe millions of new Peacock subscribers may watch other live sports on the service, including the NFL’s “Sunday Night Football,” golf, the Premier League, WWE and IndyCar. What they didn’t expect was how many subscribers Watch the platform’s non-sports entertainment offerings, such as movies and series from The Office, 30 Rock, and Parks and Recreation.
Patrick Mahomes #15 Kansas City Chiefs
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“Our highest video-on-demand usage was the week after the wild-card game,” Kodera said in an interview. “The churn rate for these new subscribers is below average. Sports fans are not a monolith. The whole family can watch the other entertainment NBCU has to offer.”
Media executives generally recognize that the traditional pay-TV ecosystem will continue to shrink over the next decade and that their companies will need to rely on streaming to survive and thrive. For NBCUniversal, securing NBA rights would help secure a deal with streaming giants such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and disney+.
Sports fans may subscribe to a streaming service to watch a specific game, but evidence shows that once they commit to spending money, they move on to other content.
“We know, with Paramount+, it’s very beneficial to have multiple types of content on the same platform,” CBS Sports chief David Berson said in an interview. “We know that when fans come to Paramount+ to watch sports, 90 percent of their time is spent on entertainment and non-sports content.”
maintain strength
The streaming wars are increasingly becoming an engagement battle. Companies invest in algorithmic and user interface technologies to keep audiences connected to their specific services. The future of Paramount+ Hazy as Paramount Worldwide Seeking merger with Skydance Media Warner Bros. Discovery Comcast is actively pursuing mergers or partnerships in the hope that Peacock will remain viable for years and even decades to come.
That’s why it’s so important for NBCUniversal to have games that consumers can only see on Peacock. Beginning with the 2025-26 season, Peacock will exclusively host approximately 50 national regular season and postseason NBA games, including national Monday night games and doubleheaders.
“The NBA is a must-have for sports fans,” said Cordra. “We need to build Peacock for the future. Having exclusive NBA games is important to achieving that mission.”
Peacock is only available in the United States so far and has 33 million subscribers, far fewer than platforms with international reach such as Netflix (About 278 million) or even Paramount+ (68 million). Although Netflix has been profitable for years, Disney’s family of streaming services returns to profitability Last quarter, Peacock posted a loss for the first time, losing $348 million in the second quarter and $639 million in the first quarter.
This makes annual expenditures of $2.45 billion a major risk. Cordella hopes the endless stream of live sports content will help make the service a must-have for sports fans, no matter what the season. The NBA, including the playoffs, runs from October to June.
Let math work
Comcast has plenty of leverage to monetize its investments — a feat that Bank of America analyst Jessica Reiff Erlich acknowledges is reasonable.
“We see Comcast’s path to profitability under the new agreement,” Ehrlich wrote in a note to clients earlier this month.
While Peacock’s continued subscriber growth will help, NBCUniversal will also rely on the NBA to help NBC increase retransmission fees among pay-TV operators and generate higher advertising revenue.
The NBA can also help market NBC’s other projects, including TV series, movies and theme parks – although the league’s Ratings pale in comparison to the NFL. This is one of the reasons why Warner Bros. Discovery Channel decided not to compete with NBCUniversal for NBA broadcast rights, as the price of NBA broadcast fees has soared to more than $2 billion per year. “Sunday Night Football” on NBC and Peacock averaged 21.4 million viewers per game last year, while regular NBA games on TNT, ABC and ESPN averaged 1.6 million viewers per game last season.
Ehrlich noted that Comcast Cable could also benefit from the NBA, driving broadband usage by moving more people to Peacock. Comcast also could save on future ancillary fees it would pay to Warner Bros. Discovery if a rival media company loses NBA media rights.
NBC also gained other competitive advantages by taking away the game package from Warner Bros. Discovery Channel, Sue the NBA in a Trying to retain some right to exist. When NBCUniversal next negotiates with other sports leagues to sell rights, or even with Hollywood creators looking for the best streaming service for their next project, it can use the NBA to demonstrate its strength relative to other media companies.
Even without factoring in potential cost savings from lower Warner Bros. Discovery League affiliate fees, Erlich expects the NBA deal to be profitable for Comcast in the second year. She reckons the company will see In the first year of the deal, Peacock’s incremental revenue from new subscribers was US$192 million, which will increase to US$420 million in the fourth year. She added $850 million to NBC’s first-year NBA ad revenue and $160 million to Peacock’s ad revenue.
Revealed: Comcast-owned NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.
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