Even as US sports media rights deals continue to grow, 85 percent of industry leaders believe that rights owners are not actively addressing the changing needs of their media partners, according to Altman Solon’s 2023 Global Sports Survey.

The survey of more than 2500 sports fans and 150 top executives from eight major global markets reveals growing concerns for fans and media partners as the industry gets more fragmented, Altman Solon said in a media statement, while revealing some topline data about the report.

“Changes in fan viewing habits and new streaming competitors have sent the sports media industry into a state of flux,” said Altman Solon Director Matt Del Percio.

“While the major U.S. sports leagues are operating under blockbuster deals with the networks and streamers, some of their European counterparts have experienced some pull back. The leagues that create flexible, performance-based rights deals that address the industry flux will be more competitive over the longer term,” he added.

Del Percio highlighted Major League Soccer’s new 10-year, $2.5 billion deal with Apple TV, which factors potential upside based on subscriber growth, as a model for future rights deals.

When it comes to signing rights deals, 65 percent of sports executives said rights owners should lengthen media cycles and focus on long-term partnerships with performance-based variables.

“Single-mindedly focus on fans, obsessively build strong products/propositions and seamlessly collaborate with stakeholders including licensees, for maximization of value (commercial and non-commercial),” Sanjog Gupta, Head of Sport, Disney Star, told the people putting together the report.

Other key findings of the consumer portion of the survey include:

# Execs are split on whether rights owners should prioritize direct-to-consumer DTC via internal offerings (47 percent) or rights licensing/supporting existing partners (53 percent).

# Execs are also split on whether rights owners should foster development of pure streamers/tech groups (54 percent) vs. empowering traditional broadcasters and their transition to streaming (46 percent).

# Fans of tier 1 sports leagues (European football, US major leagues) are willing to pay $20-25 per month to access live games.

# 58 percent of surveyed rights owners prefer to improve and innovate the core product over optimizing media and commercial models.

“Rights owners need to think and act like entertainment franchise owners. Creating more assets and inventory with relevant products and services to attract, entertain, and retain new, adjacent and younger audiences,” the report quoted an unnamed chief executive of a sports media company.

This year’s survey, according to the media statement, for the first time included a poll of more than 150 global sports media executives to understand the priorities and solutions for a changing industry. In October, Altman Solon released data on global sports fans’ changing viewing habits.

In 2020, Altman Vilandrie & Company and Solon Management Consulting cemented a decades-long partnership across the Atlantic to form Altman Solon, one of the world’s largest global strategy consulting firms with an exclusive focus on the TMT sector.