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The introduction of over-the-top (OTT) broadcasting platforms by European soccer’s football elite has been on the rise as part of a growing trend of sports properties recognizing the potential of acting as their own media platform.
With streamers such as Amazon Prime Video and now Netflix, with its $5 billion WWE Raw deal, getting into the live sports broadcasting arena, sports organizations have been looking at their own houses to figure out how they get in on the game without disrupting the lucrative media deals they and their leagues already have in place.
Paul McGee, head of video planning for media agency Goodstuff, explained that club OTT platforms offer value to media buyers who can reach highly dedicated audiences other media cannot.
“Traditionally, being in and around sports content would involve buying expensive and inflexible TV spots in the content. Now they can buy into a massive range of content, and deliver a high-quality audience at scale, but not having to have huge budget levels,” added McGee.
Taking the OTT Leap
At the start of the year, Dutch champions Feyenoord became the latest team to introduce its own fan-focused OTT platform, partnering with Endeavor Streaming, which is quickly becoming a leading player in the field, on an offering set to premiere in the second half of the 2023-2024 season.
We have created a place where our fans can see everything all the time, at one place, on demand.
Ruud van der Knaap, chief commercial officer, Feyenoord
The proposition will bring the club enhanced data capture and analytics tooling, while also offering Feyenoord’s commercial team access to deeper consumer insight metrics to maximize audience growth and build a marketplace strategy.
And while initially, the club says Feyenoord One won’t become an advertising and sponsorship tool, it does offer current brand partners and marketers even more exposure than they were previously receiving.
While it won’t show live matches from the senior squad as those are tied up with other broadcasting deals, the club will offer some live matches through its Academy as well as original documentaries and match day content including extended highlights, player interviews, press conferences and full match replays. The club has hired a team of around 15 content creators who will film and document everything going on around Feyenoord FC to potentially run on the platform, called Feyenoord One.
