Live events and professional sports were meant to be the preserve of broadcasters — no longer. The agreement between Apple and Major League Soccer (MLS) announced yesterday, which will lead to the broadcast of North American league matches on the Apple TV application, confirms the tech giants’ appetite for these two lucrative for traditional media.
The agreement is a big deal: the computer giant will pay annually from 2023, and for a period of ten years, 250 million US dollars (approximately 323 million Canadian dollars) to MLS to exclusively broadcast all its regular games, its playoffs as well as most games played by its teams in some other competitions. To this amount will be added a portion of the subscription fees that Apple customers will pay to access MLS content on its platforms.
This is also a big data business. Digital platforms such as Apple’s, but also Netflix, Amazon and others, are hungry for this information on the consumption habits and behavior of Internet users. They know who is watching their video content and when it is most watched. Apple, which had unexpected success with its Apple TV+ service with the series Ted Lassowhich is set in the world of English soccer, probably has a good idea of when in the week MLS soccer will be most likely to attract spectators.
Coincidence? MLS is considering, starting next season, harmonizing the schedule of its teams so that they most often play their matches on Saturday evening, ideally from 7 p.m. local time. A perhaps innocuous detail seen from the United States, but a headache for a Quebec broadcaster like TVA Sports, which was presenting a Montreal Canadiens game at the time, a game that probably generated more revenue.
A good time for CF Montreal
The transition is likely to be tough for TVA. The Montreal broadcaster was content to declare, following the announcement of this agreement between MLS and Apple, that it “will harm the enthusiasm and visibility of soccer in Quebec”.
The transition will not happen suddenly, because there will still be MLS soccer broadcast on television next year, assures in an interview with the To have to CF Montreal President and CEO Gabriel Gervais. “For sure there will be matches on TV next year,” he said.
The big boss of the local team in MLS indicates that it is only necessary to find the right broadcaster, since the contract is to be renegotiated. Bell (owner of the RDS channel) and TVA would both be interested.
Unsurprisingly, the management of CF Montreal is delighted with the announcement of the MLS. “I think it’s absolutely marvelous as an agreement,” said Gabriel Gervais. “We can now say, at CF Montreal, that we count Apple among our partners. It is the largest company on the stock exchange. »
A partner who has just accentuated the transition that has been taking place for several months within the Football Club: new name, new logos, new boss… new global digital broadcaster. Lark ! “It’s still the right time for this transition,” says Mr. Gervais. The CF will look for young amateurs who are already used to digital, at a time when the enthusiasm for sport will only increase, in particular thanks to the coming to North American soil in 2026 of the World Cup, a significant detail.
A strong trend
The agreement between Apple and the MLS is not the first of its kind, recalls the professor of strategy at the School of Media of the University of Quebec in Montreal Suzanne Lortie. “There’s a general trend within professional sports leagues and teams to want to reclaim their brand,” she says. “They want to become their own media, manage their brand themselves. »
The English Premier League recently switched online broadcasters and will be available from Canada on the FuboTV app rather than DAZN. Amazon and its Prime Video service recently got their hands on NFL football games. Netflix is also starting to take an interest in live events and could if not dabble in professional sports, at least eye the live broadcast of high-profile events. Netflix isn’t too far from F1 either with its popular series Formula 1. Drivers of their destiny (Formula 1: Drive to Survive).
In North America, the soccer market is currently under-exploited by traditional media, adds Suzanne Lortie. Soccer fans are younger and more connected than hockey or American football fans. “Soccer, here, is a matter of streaming “, she adds.
Seeing foreign digital giants tackle this lucrative niche will further weaken the Canadian media ecosystem, believes Suzanne Lortie. According to her, we will see more and more sporting events intended exclusively for online broadcasting, all sports combined. Digital platforms will collect audience data and will be able to better target their advertising.
This kind of agreement could end up having an unsuspected political impact. Until now, the federal government’s Bill C-11 has presented itself as a means of preserving Canadian culture, whether in music, television or cinema. It will probably be necessary to question the place of sports broadcasting in this equation, concludes the Montreal university professor.
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