iWorld
What motivates sports fans to access illegal streams, Synamedia’s first global research finds
MUMBAI: Independent video software provider Synamedia today unveiled the first in a series of trailblazing reports designed to broaden understanding of global sports piracy in order to protect the value of sports rights.
The charting global sports piracy report draws on results from a 10-country study of over 6,000 sports fans conducted by Ampere Analysis. It finds that while 89 per cent of sports fans have a pay-TV or subscription OTT service, over half (51 per cent) still watch pirate sports services at least once a month. Furthermore, of those who regularly view illegal sports content, 42 per cent watch sports fixtures on a daily basis. This is over 60 per cent higher than the average sports fan. This suggests there is a considerable opportunity for operators to drive incremental revenues with targeted sports offerings.
Notably, the report segments sports fans for the first time based on their attitudes to, and consumption of, pirate sports content. For operators and rights holders, understanding these nuances provides a springboard from which to reduce the appeal of illegal content and encourage greater uptake of legitimate services. A detailed assessment of different approaches to combating sports piracy will be covered in subsequent reports.
Synamedia has identified three main groups of sports fans (segmented into five distinct clusters in the report):
Loyal Stalwarts (26 per cent of respondents): Found disproportionately in soccer-mad nations, these armchair fans are big viewers of pay-TV sport. Almost all believe it’s wrong to watch pirate sports content yet more than a third (35 per cent) still do it at least weekly. As diehard fans, they would be prepared to top up their sports subscriptions if they could legitimately access all the content they want to watch on any device – both at home and on the move.
Fickle Superfans (31 per cent): Living mainly in developing markets, these multi-screen fans have a huge appetite for a wide range of national and international sports and all consume pirate sports content, with 89 per cent doing so at least weekly. They might pay more for legitimate sports services if they could access more flexible packages, a broader range of sports, or multiscreen services with frictionless onboarding and flexible terms.
Casual spectators (43 per cent): These consumers don’t follow league sports but love watching major sporting events such as the Olympic Games, the Superbowl and tennis grand slams. The least likely group to pay for a legitimate sports TV subscription, almost a fifth (17 per cent) say they watch illegal content at least weekly, despite their lower levels of interest relative to the other segments. They are likely to be lured away from pirate streams by "light" access to tournaments, flexible payment models, and pay-to-play access to big events.
Analysis of the attitudes and behaviour of viewers within each cluster holds the key to a renewed anti-piracy drive. One important element in the fight-back is the adoption of flexible solutions and services – such as those from Synamedia – that offer the freedom to target specific clusters of fans with an appealing mix of access and payment models, as well as disrupting pirates’ ecosystems.
Simon Brydon, senior director, sports rights, anti-piracy at Synamedia, said, “Global spend on TV sports rights is set to total almost $50bn in 2020. Protecting these revenues and keeping sports on screens requires a deeper understanding of the evolving piracy landscape and a cogent response. This initial research into what motivates sports fans to access illegal streams establishes a baseline for a more nuanced and targeted approach to combating piracy. Our ambition is to help sports rights holders and operators apply a more forensic approach that drives up legitimate revenues, reduces sports’ fans reliance on illegal streams and takes the wind out of the pirates’ sails.”
iWorld
Bill Ackman makes a $64bn bid for Universal Music Group
The hedge fund boss wants to list the world’s biggest record label in New York and thinks he knows exactly what ails it
NEW YORK: Bill Ackman wants to buy the world’s biggest record label. Pershing Square Capital Management, the hedge fund run by the billionaire investor, submitted a non-binding proposal on Tuesday to acquire all outstanding shares of Universal Music Group in a business combination transaction worth roughly $64.4 billion (around 55.8 billion euros).
Under the terms of the offer, UMG shareholders would receive 9.4 billion euros in cash, equivalent to 5.05 euros per share, plus 0.77 shares of a newly created company, dubbed New UMG, for each share held. Pershing Square values the total package at 30.40 euros per share, a 78 per cent premium to UMG’s closing price on April 2.
The deal would see UMG merge with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, with the combined entity incorporating as a Nevada corporation and listing on the New York Stock Exchange. New UMG would publish financial statements under US GAAP and become eligible for S&P 500 index inclusion. Pershing Square says the transaction is expected to close by year-end, with all equity financing backstopped by Ackman’s firm and its affiliates, and all debt financing committed at signing. The transaction would cancel 17 per cent of UMG’s outstanding shares, leaving New UMG with 1.541 billion shares outstanding.
Ackman has a long history with UMG. Pershing Square first bought approximately 10 per cent of the company from Vivendi in the summer of 2021 for around $4 billion, around the time of UMG’s listing on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. He has since trimmed that position, raising around $1.4 billion from the sale of a 2.7 per cent stake in March 2025, and resigned from UMG’s board in May 2025, citing new executive and board obligations arising from recent investments.
His diagnosis of UMG’s troubles is blunt. The company’s stock has fallen around 33 per cent over the past twelve months on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange, and Ackman lays out six reasons why. These include uncertainty around the Bolloré Group’s 18 per cent stake in the company, the postponement of UMG’s US listing, the underutilisation of UMG’s balance sheet, the absence of a publicly disclosed capital allocation plan and earnings algorithm, a failure to reflect UMG’s 2.7 billion euro stake in Spotify in its valuation, and what Ackman calls suboptimal shareholder investor relations, communications and engagement.
The Bolloré stake has long cast a shadow over the company. Cyrille Bolloré stepped down from UMG’s board in July 2025 as the Bolloré Group battled the French financial markets regulator over its stake in Vivendi, which holds a further capital interest in UMG. UMG had confidentially filed a draft registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in July 2025 for a proposed secondary listing in America, but put those plans on hold in March 2026, citing market conditions.
Ackman has kind words for UMG’s management, at least. “Since UMG’s listing, Lucian Grainge and the company’s management have done an excellent job nurturing and continuing to build a world-class artist roster and generating strong business performance,” he said. But he made his diagnosis plain: “UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction.”
In other words, Ackman believes UMG is a great business trapped inside a broken structure. If the board agrees, he intends to fix that, loudly and in New York.
