Huw Evans at Oliver and Ohlbaum Associates says rights values could fall due to a lack of major challengers to pay-TV

Sports

There is likely to be a decline in the value of sports rights over the coming years, according to Huw Evans, senior consultant at Oliver and Ohlbaum Associates.

Speaking at Westminster Media Forum’s The future for sports broadcasting in the UK event this morning, Evans said sports rights spending has slowed in the last five years (from £3.9bn in 2019 to £3.4bn in 2024). 

This reduction in spending has coincided with pay-TV services declining in popularity with a drop of 18% in the number of households subscribing to pay-TV services in this time. 

The average revenue per user for sports-focued pay-TV services has also fallen, from £29.5 in 2017 to £28.3 in 2024. 

The hole left by pay-TV hasn’t been filled by any real major challengers, adds Evans, hence why he’s sceptical there will be any uplift in the value of sports rights.

Streaming services, OTT providers and other broadcasters haven’t stepped up in any considerable way to fight for sports rights. 

Evans outlines two scenarios going forward – the pay-TV model will continue to decline with no serious alternatives filling the space left behind, or streaming services such as Netflix, Prime, DAZN, Apple+, YouTube and Discovery will step in to reignite competition. He’s not confident the latter will happen in any significant way.

He also said he felt free-to-air sports broadcasters were “perhaps the most exposed” although they have some protection around the listed events.

Asked by Broadcast Sport if a Premflix might be on the cards – with the Premier League creating its own D2C streaming service – Evans said he doesn’t see this happening in the near to mid-term. 

He said the current broadcast partnerships for the Premier League are “very healthy” and it would be a “major shock” if anything changed with this relationship any time soon.