iWorld
Is Comcast eyeing a mega-streaming deal?
New Delhi: The world is moving towards streaming at a pace like never before. And, the media titans are eyeing every opportunity they can get to consolidate their digital entertainment businesses and brace up for the streaming war.
After AT&T and Amazon, it is now the turn of the US cable giant Comcast to make its move to turbocharge its streaming operations. According to media reports, the company is mulling a mega-deal with one of the two media giants- Roku or ViacomCBS.
However, the question that Comcast’s CEO Brian Roberts is wrestling with is- whether to build something internally or buy to become a streaming powerhouse, reported The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. The merger seems unlikely, but Roberts is evaluating his options, which include a potential tie-up with ViacomCBS or acquisition of Roku Inc, the business daily reported citing unidentified persons.
All three companies have declined to comment on the matter and issued no statements so far.
The US cable giant Comcast had branched out from its cable and broadband into entertainment in 2009 with the acquisition of NBCUniversal, whose streaming service Peacock is yet to catch up with the likes of Netflix or Disney+. However, its broadband business has continued to grow. As the first wave of the pandemic ravaged the world last year, its broadband business added nearly two million customers and the unit’s revenue rose 10 per cent to about $21 billion.
An acquisition of streaming giant Roku at this stage could help it to step up its streaming game against the industry titans – Netflix, Disney, and Amazon. Roku’s valuation has more than tripled in the past year to $53 billion.
On the other hand, a transaction with ViacomCBS which owns streaming service Paramount+ could provide the much-needed boost to its streaming operations, but it is too early to say.
However, several analysts say, the latest buzz could be just ‘speculation’ as a merger at this stage seems unlikely. One of the reasons is that Comcast has been largely focussing on developing the software behind its Xfinity cable boxes, called X1, and its Flex streaming boxes which resemble Roku. The other being its potential partnership with Walmart to further the Smart TV technology.
The reports come close on the heels of two major media deals that happened over the last few weeks. First AT&T announced its decision to spin off entertainment giant WarnerMedia and merge it with Discovery becoming the world’s second-largest media firm by revenue after Disney. The new entity Warner Bros. Discovery is now led by Discovery CEO David Zaslav. Soon thereafter, Amazon made its most ambitious move in the entertainment business and announced that it is buying MGM Studios.
So, whether or not Comcast is considering a transaction with ViacomCBS or the acquisition of Roku, it has definitely stirred many questions on the cable giant’s next step.
iWorld
TAM Sports expands monitoring to live streaming on CTV and mobile
New cross-platform framework tracks brand visibility across broadcast and streaming feeds
MUMBAI: TAM Sports, the sports intelligence arm of TAM Media Research, is widening its monitoring net. The company has expanded its advertising tracking to include live streaming across connected TV (CTV) and mobile platforms alongside traditional linear live broadcasts, sharpening its ability to measure brand presence in the fast-evolving sports media landscape.
The move comes as sports viewership increasingly splinters across multiple screens and streaming environments, pushing advertisers, sponsors and rights holders to seek credible data on how their brands perform across platforms.
For more than 15 years, TAM Sports has provided independent monitoring of sponsorship exposure for federations, leagues, teams, sponsors and agencies. By adding live streaming feeds on CTV and mobile to its analytics stack, the firm now enables stakeholders to track advertising occurrences and brand appearances across streaming environments as well as conventional television coverage.
LV Krishnan, chief executive officer, TAM Media Research, said media consumption around sports has transformed rapidly, and measurement systems must keep pace.
“Media consumption around sports has evolved rapidly, and measurement frameworks must evolve with it,” Krishnan said. “For more than a decade and a half, TAM Sports has continuously adapted to industry needs by providing credible, independent insights across platforms. This commitment is why federations, agencies and sponsors continue to rely on us as a trusted partner.”
Anshu Yardi, head, TAM Sports, said the increasingly fragmented video ecosystem has made unified analytics essential for stakeholders trying to assess the true impact of sponsorship investments.
“In today’s fragmented video environment, sponsors, agencies and franchisees need a clear understanding of how their brand communication performs across screens,” Yardi said. “TAM Sports brings together cross-platform monitoring and analytics that help stakeholders track brand visibility, benchmark competitive presence and demonstrate measurable ROI from sports partnerships.”
The platform evaluates brand exposure across several dimensions. These include advertising occurrences during live coverage, in-content brand integrations, stadium branding visibility, audio mentions, editorial logo placements in print, and presence across digital and social media. Clients can also combine the data with brand-lift studies to assess the depth and prominence of sponsorship exposure.
By consolidating these monitoring and analytics capabilities within a single platform, TAM Sports aims to give rights holders and sponsors a clearer view of how their investments perform across broadcast, streaming, digital and on-ground environments.
The company says the expanded system allows stakeholders to gauge competitive share of voice and sponsorship visibility across the broader sports media ecosystem.
In a world where fans switch effortlessly between television, phones and connected screens, the message from TAM Sports is blunt: follow the audience everywhere—or risk losing sight of the brand game altogether.
