In case you missed the news today – African sports will soon be live streamed from YouTube! Expect streams of your favourite sports via video on demand (VOD) and highlights packages. This includes for events like the recent NBA Finals, UEFA Champions League, ABSA Premiership, Serie A, La Liga, Women’s World Cup, UFC and AFCON.
No launch date has been revealed, but I have contacted YouTube for an official press release for further information. But, if it’s true, we’ll be saving a fortune not having to pay DSTV to watch sport. Hey, we might even ring up the bookies to win big with Betway’s betgames or spend a few bop at the Sun International Met!
Is It SuperSport?
All the initial reports seemed to indicate some kind of collaboration between SuperSport and YouTube, however, SuperSport has since denied its involvement in the broadcasting collaboration and YouTube has clarified their initial response,
YouTube works closely with broadcasters and rights holders in order to distribute their sporting events on the YouTube platform. In Sub-Saharan Africa, YouTube works with partners including SuperSport, which owns the exclusive regional broadcast rights to the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, FIFA Women’s World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations, among other franchises.
“All content curated and published on YouTube is fully in SuperSport’s editorial control and in accordance with their broadcast and transmission rights agreements with rights holders.” says Gideon Khobane, CEO of SuperSport.
Live streaming is different from uploading highlights to stream on demand, and SuperSport has made no current agreement for live distribution of global or local sports franchises on YouTube. “We apologise for any confusion caused.” – YouTube content partnerships lead Dayo Olopade
But it got me thinking…could SuperSport (or any other African sporting channel) actually make more money through YouTube advertising than paid customers EVEN if their existing full bouquet customer list decreases?
SuperSport on YouTube
I took a squizz at the SuperSport YouTube channel and it already has over 1 million subscribers. That’s A LOT of potential for advertising. With over 215 BILLION views already, that’s a small hint of potential success the channel could enjoy should they rely on AdSense to generate revenue.
How Can SuperSport Make Money via YouTube?
With Google owning YouTube, channels with more than 1000 subscribers have access to earn ad revenue from various types of ad formats. These include:
- Display Ads (they show on the right next to the main video window)
- Overlay Ads (these are the banners that pop up within the main video window)
- Skippable Video Ads (these play during YouTube videos, which you can usually skip after 5 seconds).
- Non-Skippable Ads (the annoying 15 second ads that you can’t skip and have to sit through).
- Bumper Ads (annoying ones you can’t skip but are only 6 seconds or so).
- Sponsored Cards (pop up cards that you can click on in a video).
You actually see these all the time (but probably don’t pay TOO much attention to them because some of skippable), however, every time you DO see an ad, the brand is being charged for impressions and the channel is earning money through Google’s display network.
And Now a Word From Our Expert…
Not only will there be opportunities for brands to advertise on YouTube channels, but placements will extend further than desktop and mobile.
I reached out to Julien Fievez, a GDN paid media expert who had this to add,
“As we are approaching the age of the smart TVs and programmatic TV advertising, it means that soon we’ll be able to target specific ads at specific smart TVs in ordinary television content. Instead of everyone seeing an ad for hand soap, we’ll rather be shown an ad specific for our own online user experience.”
This makes online advertising even more powerful, driving more conversions and resulting in more revenue for online channels and brands.
Considering Pewdiepie’s net worth reached 20 million pounds in 2019, some of which included YouTube advertising, it’s a serious stream of revenue – potentially more than the R900 a month serves MultiChoice at the moment.
So get your Betway game schedule out again and start planning your weekends, sports is coming!
