In addition to competing with Netflix with movies and series, Amazon also offers live sports. And obviously, the American giant intends to highlight this type of content even more. Indeed, it is rumored that the company is discussing a new application which would be entirely dedicated to sports content. According to sources relayed by The Information, the idea would be to better highlight this sports content, the rights to which are expensive, but which can also bring big profits to the company.
In essence, on a dedicated app, live sport would be easier to find. And at the same time, Amazon would declutter its Prime Video service. As usual, for the moment, this information should be considered with caution, since it does not come from an official source. And The Information specifies that at this stage, the project could still be abandoned. Indeed, if the creation of an application dedicated to live sports can boost the growth of Amazon’s streaming activity, this app would also create additional pressure for the e-commerce giant. Indeed, for the app to be rich, it may have to acquire more rights for sports competitions. If Amazon is developing this app, it’s unclear when it might arrive.
Amazon is all about sports
What is certain is that sport will be a priority for Amazon in 2023. Indeed, this rumor circulates while recently its CEO, Andy Jassy, indicated that sport is a unique element on which the company will invest. But the company is already spending a lot of money for the right to broadcast live sports content. For example, according to Engadget, Amazon pays $1 billion a year for exclusive rights to NFL Thursday Night games. And as you already know, in France, Amazon already broadcasts Ligue 1.
Note that if Amazon seems to want to bet a lot on live sport, other platforms are interested in it. Apple, for example, already broadcasts baseball games on its Apple TV+ platform. And YouTube would have paid 2 billion dollars for certain NFL games in the United States.
Netflix, on the other hand, is not interested in live sports content. Ted Sarandos, the company’s co-CEO, clarified things during a conference. According to Variety, he explained that Netflix is not against sports, but that the company is “for profits”. In other words, SVOD prefers to bet on its original content, and believes that sports content would not be profitable enough.
