Facebook scores MLS streams (FB)

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Facebook has signed a broadcasting agreement with Major League Soccer (MLS) and Univision Deportes that will see the social giant live stream at least 22 matches of the upcoming 2017 MLS season, beginning March 18, Mashable reports.

These streams will be available in English via the Univision Deportes Facebook Page. They won’t feature any ads, though that likely won’t hold out in the long-term as Facebook absorbs more live sports on its platform.

Interestingly, the streams will have Facebook-specific content and commentary, including special commentary, interactive graphics, and fan Q&A and polling features. Making fuller use of Facebook’s broad functionalities will help surface these streams in a way that’s more natural to the social platform, and drive views and engagement. In addition, the MLS will produce 40 “Matchday Live” shows featuring pre-match highlights and analysis.

Facebook is accelerating at full steam to secure live sports streams on its platform. The company has also scored distribution deals for both Mexico’s and Spain’s top soccer divisions, Liga MX and La Liga, respectively, and is reportedly in advanced talks with the MLB to stream one game a week in the upcoming season, per Reuters. This spells trouble for digital and legacy media seeking to broadcast live sports. Twitter formerly claimed live sports as a key point of differentiation to rival social sites. And legacy media, like CBS and ESPN, which broadcast live sports are seeing Facebook’s shadow encroach on their perch. Clearly, Univision thought it wiser to team up with the social giant than attempt to challenge it.

Nonetheless, Les Moonves, CEO of CBS, fancies his odds against titans like Facebook. Although he expects digital properties like Facebook and Google to partake in the next bidding battle for NFL rights, Moonves is confident that traditional TV will prevail, because he thinks it’s still the best way to reach mass audiences. Viewership for the most recent Super Bowl would seem to substantiate Moonves belief. This year’s broadcast on Fox saw 111 million viewers, while the Fox Go live stream saw 1.7 million views, says Ad Age. However, Moonves’s estimation overlooks at least a couple of points:

• Facebook’s global reach is far above TV’s. Facebook’s global user base stands at 1.9 billion monthly active users, of whom 1.2 billion use the platform daily. In the US and Canada, Facebook had 180 million daily users in Q4 2016.
• Consumers show a preference for streaming. A Burson-Marsteller survey cited by Marketing Dive found that 55% of all respondents and 77% of millennials would rather watch the Super Bowl on a live stream than traditional TV.

If 2015 was the year that brands and advertisers embraced online video, then 2016 saw the medium take the next step as live streaming took off.

Live streaming video refers to broadcasts in real time to an audience over the internet. While the concept of live streaming has been around for years, mobile-first video platforms with user-generated content have just recently begun to make serious waves thanks to improved video quality, faster broadband speeds, and enhanced mobile technology.

Online video has become a key part of the strategic business model for both brands and marketers as they seek more innovative ways to capture consumer attention. Creative live streaming video initiatives and campaigns are a way for companies to cut through the digital clutter and have emerged as the medium of choice not only for person-to-person sharing, but also for business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) communication.

Brands are increasingly using live streaming to reach audiences. Its importance has grown significantly thanks to substantial investments by social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, and Twitter to build and enhance their live-streaming platforms.

And advertising dollars are likely to follow. 88% of agency respondents stated that they “might” or “definitely will” invest in live stream video advertising over the next six months, according to a recent Trusted Media Brands survey.

BI Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on live streaming video that examines the eruption of online video from the perspective of both consumers and advertisers and assesses how live streaming is emerging as the medium’s next catalyst for growth.

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• Live streaming video will further accelerate streaming videos overall share of internet traffic. Streaming video accounts for over two-thirds of all internet traffic, and this share is expected to jump to 82% by 2020, according to Cisco’s June 2016 Visual Networking Index report.
• Live video’s value comes from its unique ability to add an authentic human element to digital communications. As a result, brands are leveraging three main streaming methods to connect with their viewers: tutorials, product launches, and exclusive and behind-the-scene footage.
• Advertisers will continue to invest heavily in online video, especially as live streaming video gains traction. Already in the US, digital video ad revenue reached $7.8 billion in 2015, up 55% from 2014, according to figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau.
• While live streaming is still in its early stages, brands are leveraging micropayments, mid-roll video ads and direct payments from social platforms, to monetize their live streaming videos.
• The success of live streaming video hinges on brands overcoming a lack of measurement standards in the space, as well as changes in social media sites’ algorithms that affect what content users see.

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