You’ve nipped to make tea at half time, you come back brew-in-hand to your sofa, only to find a blank, shimmering television screen, complete with a circling red countdown. It asks you, in stark white text:
‘Are you still watching “PL Live: Swansea vs. Southampton”?’
With recent news the Netflix and Amazon are considering purchasing Premier League football packages, it’s time to ask what our new Super Sunday will look like in 12 months time.
We know this to only be a matter of time, last year Amazon beat Sky to showcase Tennis’ ATP World Tour, at a cost of £50million. But football has a format, always has and always will.
If you’re passing the time until the late Saturday game you’ll switch onto Jeff Stelling’s Soccer Saturday, a pre-game ritual for most football fans.
The show bridges the gap between showing live events as a stand alone programs by painting a broader picture of football in the UK. Sky has the full package in itself; it has comment, reflection and full unabridged coverage of the main event.
With Netflix and Amazon, however, we’re limited to straight forward content – the TV show or film. Shows have emerged like Talking Dead, seeking to bridge a similar gap in viewers relations with the customer, but these are stand alone shows in their own right.
Premier League has released an update on its UK live broadcasting rights for seasons 2019/20 – 2021/22: https://t.co/WyUucKX5EP pic.twitter.com/mapRZADeBi
— Premier League Communications (@PLComms) February 13, 2018
Up to this point Netflix has been more reluctant than Facebook or Amazon in the market. Some commentators have stressed this is because they have an awareness of their limits; demographics and cost factors play into what content they show to a large degree. Why diversify and risk quality television and film content drop when you can consolidate an already lucrative market?
Snapchat’s deal to show Sky Sports highlights was an inspired move, and certainly kept many young men on the app – well, until they realised it was a less well produced version of Instagram in their droves.
If a prediction that by 2020 we will be watching football on Facebook and watching the Masters on Amazon stands true, then it goes to stay that we can say goodbye to the world of complete football coverage. On current trends, it’s a great leap to say Netflix or Amazon could recreate the inherent buzz of weekend football.
@willbostockEC4
