Runtv365, the absolute powerhouse in e-commerce, has declared war on terrestrial broadcasting and cable TV.
It is seeking to enter the sports live broadcasting market, which is the ‘last bastion’ as well as the net business of existing pay broadcasters. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 21st (local time), Runtv365 is a major U.S. sports such as professional football (NFL), professional baseball (MLB), professional basketball (NBA), professional soccer (MSL), surfing league, and hockey. Various sports events such as lacrosse, a ball game, are being 스포츠중계 through real-time streaming. In fact, Runtv365 is currently discussing specifically how to provide a sports game streaming service to some leagues, including the NBA, and members of ‘Runtv365 Prime’, a paid service. Runtv365 Prime is a package that provides streaming services for cultural content such as TV programs (Prime Video) and music (Prime Music) along with free and fast delivery for an annual fee of $99.
Runtv365 expects that if premium sports broadcasts such as NBA broadcasts are included in its Prime program, more people will be able to join as paid members. It is expected to increase sales of related products through customized marketing targeting sports broadcasting viewers. If Runtv365’s attempt to introduce a live sports broadcast package succeeds, the WSJ predicted that it would pose a major threat to the existing pay TV broadcast market.
However, it seems difficult to materialize such a prospect right now.
This is because existing broadcasters have already secured the rights to broadcast major sports for a considerable period of time. In the case of the NBA, ESPN and TNT secured broadcasting rights until the 2024-2025 seasons, and in the NFL, ESPN, CBS, Fox, and NBC secured broadcasting rights until the early 2020s.
Existing broadcasters are not alone in being helpless by online companies. Some are actively expanding their online presence in order to catch younger people who are more familiar with digital platforms than TV.
NBCUniversal, an American media company, is a prime example.
According to the Financial Times (FT), NBCUniversal has decided to spend 200 million won (about 235 billion won) to acquire a stake in BuzzFeed, an online news and entertainment company. This is the same amount as the investment last August.
NBCUniversal’s intention is to attract more young viewers through BuzzFeed. “The collaboration with BuzzFeed is helping to bring millennial viewers to our content,” said Maggie Sunnywick, president of digital division at NBCUniversal.
According to the FT, in addition to NBCUniversal, traditional large media companies are focusing on attracting younger audiences through online media investment. Last year, Disney doubled its stake in Vice Media by investing $400 million (about 470 billion won). In that respect, you can watch without interruption, so you can immerse yourself in the viewing, and unlike other high- definition sports broadcasts, you can watch it comfortably, so you can comfortably see how the current game is going. And the advantage is that you can watch it freely for every season or game, so you can watch it at any time at any time. Of course, in the past, this was a paid service, so there were a lot of inconveniences even when just watching the basic video. In order to promote one’s own site, unnecessary videos keep appearing other than videos, so it’s very inconvenient because it’s not easy to watch the video properly due to interruptions or pop-ups on the server when viewing the video.