$23 billion rise fuelled by on-demand subscriptions as Amazon, Facebook & Twitter acquire sporting rights to bolster content market share

A new study from Juniper Research has found that global consumer spend on digital content will reach $250 billion in 2019, an increase of $23 billion year-on-year.

The research found that SVoD (Subscription Video on Demand) services will be a key driver of growth as major players, including Amazon, Facebook and Twitter, acquired sporting rights in the last few years. The worldwide reach and significant subscriber numbers of these players position them as effective partners for sporting tournament and leagues aiming to increase viewership.

Video Accounts for Lion’s Share of $23 billion Increase

The new research, Digital Content Business Models: OTT & Operator Strategies 2019-2023, forecasts that in 2019, video will have the highest year-on-year growth in digital content revenues; reaching an estimated $94 billion, and accounting for 45% of global annual revenue growth.

Other sectors leading growth in net incremental revenues in 2019 will be:

Games: 36%

Lifestyle: 8%

ePublishing: 5%

The research found that growth in video will be driven by continued content spend by OTT players such as Netflix, Amazon and Apple, whose budgets were $8 billion, $5 billion and $1 billion respectively in 2018.

Meanwhile, games will generate the highest digital content revenues of all categories to reach $99 billion in 2019.

Research author Elson Sutanto explained: “Games revenues will be 40% of total content revenues in 2019, unchanged from 2018, as popularity of watching eSports online and attending tournaments remains strong worldwide”.

Amazon Targets Premier League Sports Rights

The report also highlighted Amazon’s acquisition of a small rights package in England’s soccer Premier League. It argued that Amazon would essentially be using the package to test the water for larger, potentially exclusive, bids in the future in both Europe and the US, by gauging the level of viewership among its Prime and non-Prime members.