The internet has no doubt changed our society. But what is the industry that has most been affected by the rise of the internet? Sports. The advancement of streaming has made sports more readily available for anyone with a smart phone – anywhere and anytime.
Streaming
Streaming has expanded sports events from being an event that you go to, to taking the sports with you wherever you go. Television cleared a path for the trend of bringing sporting events outside the stadium, but streaming bulldozed the field and brought it literally anywhere with internet access. According to the EFF almost 2/3 of all internet traffic is streaming video, which makes sports streaming a very profitable domain for companies like ESPN.
Streaming Options
There are countless options for fans to engage in watching their favorite sport. One of the biggest companies in sports is ESPN. ESPN is part of one of the biggest media conglomerates overseen by Disney. WatchESPN is one of the most prominent producers in the sports streaming business. You can watch hours of sports on their website or their phone app so you can conveniently take it with you wherever you want. They do charge a fee for subscriptions to different sports for the season in order to make sure you stay hooked, keeping them in business.
Streaming gave rise to a new outreach for fans who simply don’t have to come to a sporting event or gather around the TV on a Sunday to watch the big game. In some aspects streaming has made a way for fans to make their favorite sports conform to their busy schedules. People no longer have to watch a game while it happens live or record it on a VCR. Now, they can watch the game at their convenience – on the bus, at home, or anywhere in between. The number of fans watching sports through cable is dropping – 100 million viewers to 88 million in September of 2018 alone. Streaming, on the other hand, is on the rise.
The NY Times estimates that almost half a million people daily streamed events in the last Olympics. The reason streaming is so popular is because it is convenient and often “free.” While some streaming sites don’t charge a price, they all have advertisements, which keeps the companies in business. Some sites offer no ads in their streaming, but on the condition of a premium membership, which in most cases incurs a fee.
Sources:
Media and Sports 
Crazy to think how much television and streaming has changed sports. Good read, thanks for sharing. My constructive criticism to you would be add some more media throughout your post not only to keep your reader entertained, but also make it attractive to somebody who hasn’t started reading it yet. It could help draw more people in. Good work!
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Great post. It is crazy to think about sports before streaming, and how the technology for streaming will continues to advance because of convergence. Watching a sporting event on a cell phone was never even a thought 10 years ago-crazy! I would be curious if streaming has created issues for other industries, such as television. How are cable numbers dropping effecting the industry? Thanks for sharing all of this information-very interesting!
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I think you did a good job connecting ideas from the Vivian reading to the media conglomerate of ESPN. I also think you did a great job of explaining how media consumers are using streaming to make the television conform to their busy schedules, compared to several years ago where consumers had to conform their schedules to the television’s schedule. I find it interesting how in today’s culture, we have developed almost this sense of entitlement because we can get or access pretty much anything we want at any time anywhere. I thought this blog was very inciteful about streaming.
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