Sport is increasingly social, or rather the companies that sell online services are increasingly interested in sports rights. Amazon, Facebook and Twitter in fact, they would be planning shopping campaigns on major world sporting events to increase traffic on their sites and digital televisions.
By broadcasting a live sports offer Amazon would eavesdrop on its own channels, a important slice of audience left free by Netflix which for now focuses on films and series more suited to an on-demand commercial formula. The e-commerce giant has already spent billions of dollars to offer television shows and films on demand and, since the end of 2015, has launched a live online pay-TV service, "Amazon Prime Video", expected in Italy by the end year.
Sport could be the key to reaching large audiences not only in the US but also in Great Britain, Germany and even Japan. But Amazon is not exactly the only case: in fact there are many hi-tech companies that are approaching the world of sporting events to strengthen their commercial position and win new customers. What if Twitter has already bought rights to broadcast live streaming of prominent sporting events, the group led by Jeff Bezos and Facebook, according to rumors collected by Bloomberg, are following the same example.
In short, the trend is on the rise. And among the beneficiaries of the renewed interest in sport, there could be Mediaset itself which, on the Italian market for major sporting events, is one of the main interlocutors, and is at odds with Vivendi after the French about-face on the Premium purchase contract: Paris risks having to pay the Alfa group up to 2 billion. As far as football is concerned, Mediaset has acquired the exclusive right to Champion League matches on all platforms for the three-year period 2015-2018. As far as Serie A is concerned, the Biscione then has the rights to broadcast the 248 matches of the eight main Italian teams and the highlights. And precisely, hypothesizes a report by UBS, it could now bring the two historic rivals Mediaset and Sky closer together.
