How sports broadcasters are tackling scale, monetisation and engagement

SVG Europe

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The pressure to deliver more live and on-demand content across multiple platforms – often simultaneously – and with exceptional operational efficiency is a complex, evolving but, let’s face it, exciting engine of the media industry. The most successful sports broadcasters and streamers will be adept at using technology to complete their mission.

SVG Europe took the temperature of the business from sports tech solutions providers Synamedia, Levira Media Services and Amagi. 

“Sport is producing more moments than ever, but most of it still never reaches a screen,” says Martti Kinkar, CEO, Levira Media Services.  “The core challenge is making production scalable, reducing cost and complexity so coverage isn’t limited to premium events.” 

Then comes the platform reality, rights holders need to publish across linear, streaming, social and direct-to-consumer channels, and that can quickly become operationally heavy. On top of that, monetisation is still evolving. So what’s the right mix of paywalls, advertising, sponsorship and free distribution to build audiences?

Kinkar also points to a “capability gap”, explaining that teams often have deep broadcast experience, “but not always the digital, multi-platform skills needed to operate efficiently”.

Delivering quality at scale

Delivering sport at scale may come down to two main challenges: growing fan engagement and monetising those audiences effectively.

Simon Brydon, head of sport (video network), Synamedia, says: “At the most fundamental level, attracting viewers depends on delivering high-quality streams with low latency and reliable performance, even during events with millions of concurrent viewers. Any issues (buffering, delays or poor picture quality) can quickly undermine the viewing experience.”

But proficient technical delivery alone is no longer enough. Streaming platforms are increasingly expected to enhance the live experience with additional features that deepen fan engagement. These include rapid highlight creation, live-to-social clipping, cloud DVR functionality, and multi-view capabilities.

“These features help replicate and extend the traditional broadcast experience while giving digital audiences greater flexibility and control,” Brydon notes.

Additional complexities which OTT platforms and broadcasters must address include regional rights management, rapid highlight creation, and the need for real-time monetisation. 

“At the same time, revenue models are shifting towards streaming and CTV, requiring more data-driven, measurable advertising approaches,” says Srividhya Srinivasan, CTO, Amagi. “Balancing scale, speed, cost control, and monetisation across fragmented platforms is the core challenge.”

Monetisation pressures

Traditional television viewing is still largely advertising-supported, but streaming services have struggled to replicate the same level of ad monetisation at scale.

“With subscription fatigue increasing, platforms need to maximise advertising revenue without harming the viewer experience,” says Brydon.

He points to dynamic ad insertion (DAI)’s ability to enable targeted advertising within live streams. However, delivering ads reliably across hundreds of thousands, let alone millions, of concurrent viewers presents significant technical challenges.

“Many platforms are unable to fully utilise their available ad inventory during large-scale live events, leaving potential revenue untapped. To address this, broadcasters are exploring approaches such as server-side ad insertion (SSAI), AI-driven optimisation, and ad pre-fetching to improve reliability and efficiency.”

New formats are emerging. Some broadcasters (ITV’s Six Nations 2026 coverage for example) have begun introducing ‘squeeze-back’ ads during natural breaks in play, allowing advertising to run alongside the live feed without fully interrupting the viewing experience.

With around three quarters of TV viewing now ad-supported (as reported by Nielsen Q3 2025 driven by the American football season), this underlines the role of SSAI and “advanced CTV ad technologies” in enabling personalised, measurable ad experiences. “This is making digital sports distribution commercially viable at scale,” he says. 

This is where cloud-based broadcast infrastructure is playing a major role. “Migrating playout, packaging, and distribution to the cloud enables broadcasters to scale dynamically around major events without heavy fixed infrastructure costs,” Srinivasan says. “AI-driven workflows are improving metadata enrichment, contextual ad targeting, and quality control. 

Amagi advocates the adoption of “unified, cloud-based workflows” rather than operating separate silos for broadcast and streaming. 

Explains Srinivasan: “A single operating layer that supports live production, channel origination, distribution, and monetisation allows sports broadcasters to launch linear and pop-up channels, distribute and monetise content seamlessly across platforms, and create near-real-time highlights. 

“Combined with advanced analytics and targeted CTV advertising, this approach helps attract streaming-first audiences, increase engagement through personalisation, and unlock incremental revenue from FAST channels and new digital ad formats.”

CDN strategy and infrastructure

Another key challenge lies in content delivery infrastructure. While public content delivery networks (CDNs) support many streaming services, high-profile live sports events can push them to their limits. As a result, some platforms are adopting hybrid delivery models, combining public CDNs with private networks deployed deeper within ISP infrastructure. 

Explains Brydon: “These private CDNs can provide more reliable performance during peak demand and help ensure consistent video quality.”

Encoding efficiency is also critical. Brydon says: “More efficient compression enables higher-quality streams at lower bitrates, improving viewer experience while reducing distribution costs.”

Adapting to changing audiences

Audience expectations continue to evolve, particularly among younger viewers. Many expect richer digital experiences, including real-time statistics, personalised feeds, vertical video, and highlights optimised for social platforms.

“Rights holders must balance these approaches carefully,” warns Brydon. “Short-form content can help attract new audiences, but excessive free distribution risks undermining the value of premium live broadcasts.”

He points out that long-form storytelling, such as behind-the-scenes documentaries, have also proven effective at building deeper fan engagement.

“In this rapidly evolving environment, broadcasters need flexible, scalable technology and partners capable of continuous innovation to keep pace with changing audience behaviour and monetisation models.”

Driving engagement 

AI-driven production tools, remote production workflows and IP-based infrastructure are having a significant impact, and for Kinkar this is positive.

“Automated camera systems and AI-assisted production are reducing cost and complexity, enabling coverage of events that would previously have been economically unviable,” he says. “IP connectivity allows signals to be routed and managed more flexibly, removing the need for heavy, on-site infrastructure.  AI is also improving content discoverability and workflow efficiency. Together, these technologies are lowering barriers to entry and making scalable production a reality.”

He urges organisations to adopt a “multi-platform mindset”, distributing across social, OTT, direct streaming and partnerships simultaneously. “Even lower-tier or grassroots content has value when packaged correctly. This broader exposure drives engagement, attracts sponsors, supports talent development, and creates new commercial models.”

Nonetheless, Kinkar feels that many broadcasters still default to traditional production methodology.  He calls for greater openness to new workflows and partnerships. 

“Embracing innovation, experimenting with new models, and bringing in digitally native expertise will be essential to unlock the full potential of modern sports content distribution.”

Amagi’s Srinivasan agrees that the sports broadcast industry needs stronger interoperability between platforms and better cross-platform measurement standards. 

He says: “Simplifying multi-platform sports delivery while improving monetisation efficiency will define the next phase of growth.”