Kevin Mayer, the hard-charging govt who was one of many architects of Disney Plus, says sports-only streaming platforms have each probability of being viable. As chairman of DAZN, he now has an opportunity to show his level.
The former TikTok CEO was talking on Tuesday at APOS, the high-powered Asian media convention operated by consultancy Media Partners Asia. The consultancy not too long ago charted a future the place pay-TV companies, historically depending on a mixture of premium sports activities and leisure, face critical challenges in mature markets equivalent to Australia, however hold on in progress territories like India.
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His APOS speech additionally got here in the identical week {that a} dozen soccer clubs proposed establishing their own European Super League. Mayer’s DAZN has denied being behind the hierarchy-disrupting proposal and even holding talks with the insurgent golf equipment.
The secret to sports activities broadcast success, Mayer mentioned, is a deal with the sports activities that followers most wish to watch. In soccer-mad Italy, meaning having the ability to serve up Serie 1 league video games. In Japan, the requirement is to ship baseball. He mentioned that DAZN’s technique in France, Spain and the U.Okay. consists of making an attempt to develop with the rights that matter.
He described a “very centered” technique of “concentric circles.” The bullseye in Europe and Asia is the native rights. The outer ring is these actions with international crossover. For DAZN, that international part is at present largely boxing.
Accordingly, Mayer mentioned that DAZN’s success will should be measured market by market. Success could require DAZN to develop into one of many two main exploiters of rights within the goal sports activities in every territory.
“There is nothing particular about an over-the-top service that’s totally different than another solution to exhibit sports activities. Putting sports activities in entrance of sports activities followers is a extremely worthwhile endeavor. No matter what the mechanism that’s used, whether or not you might be a part of a pay-TV bundle, or whether or not it is advisable to purchase by way of a pay-TV bundle and the sports activities package deal is delivered by way of satellite tv for pc, or you might be shopping for a sports activities package deal with no buy-through leisure product instantly over the web, these are all totally different flavors of the identical factor,” mentioned Mayer. “If you place it in entrance of audiences, in a high-quality means, with the appropriate sports activities rights and promote it, you can also make some huge cash. It is supply unbiased.”
Mayer can also be on the board of the Forest Road Company, a movie financier and tax credit score specialist, and a strategic advisor to Forest Road Acquisition Corp. (FRX), a particular function acquisition firm (SPAC) that not too long ago introduced a three-way merger to create at-home related health platform buying and selling underneath the ticker $BODY.
Mayer mentioned that well being and wellness are long-term mega-trends which have a $100 billion whole addressable market, and are unlikely to be monopolized in a winner-takes-all situation. Beachbody and Myx Fitness, part corporations within the new company, Mayer mentioned, have created video content material with lengthy shelf life. He mentioned that it’s troublesome to make nice content material however described Beachbody’s 15-year catalog as “fairly outstanding” and “a library of sustainable worth.”
Expect extra dealmaking from Mayer in social media, story-telling, music and leisure, which he mentioned are all “co-mingled.” But his subsequent car is probably not U.S.-based.
“Entertainment and music have a little bit of a middle of gravity within the U.S. however increasingly more that middle of gravity is changing into dispersed and native tastes are operating very native. If you’ll be a related international footprint leisure commerce music firm, there has bought to be actual, substantial native operations. You can’t do it from the U.S. alone.”
Mayer saved his highest reward of the session, nevertheless, for TikTok and its guardian firm, China’s Bytedance, the place he was employed final yr for a couple of turbulent months.
“It is an astonishingly high-quality app, largely all the way down to the know-how they’ve, which is so unbelievably superior. Their AI and machine-learning applied sciences are innovative. They are nearly as good or frankly higher than what now we have within the west. They are geniuses,” mentioned Mayer.
“To take that quantity of video content material, parse it in a means for the appropriate audiences on the proper time is remarkably difficult. If you don’t do it proper, you simply get a jumble of video you don’t care about. But to get one thing that learns your preferences as shortly as TikTook does is a fairly outstanding technological feat.
Mayer additionally described TikTook “extra as a social leisure platform than a social media platform.”
“I seen there that there’s a excessive social commerce potential,” Mayer mirrored. “Taking the connection that influencers may construct by advantage of nice leisure content material…that has nice resonance with their followers. That will develop considerably within the west because it already has within the east.”
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