Last year CBSSports.com, NFL.com and NFL Mobile from Verizon set multiple viewership records for a single-game sporting event in the United States when they allowed football fans to stream Super Bowl XLVII on their computers, tablets, and mobile devices.
This year, FOX Sports hopes to do the same.
Super Bowl XLVIII will be streamed live on FOX Sports Go, an app available for iOS tablets and mobile devices.
This same app also provided a steam of the Packers-49ers playoff game for those who weren’t able to watch it on television. CBS and NBC also provided live streams of the playoff games their networks hosted.
The live stream of Super Bowl XLVII on CBSSports.com reached people who didn’t have access to a television during the big game. According to NFL.com, this resulted in an enormous increase in viewer percentage. The Super Bowl live stream resulted in about 10 million live video streams, which was up more than 100 percent from the year before. About 114.4 million minutes were streamed overall, which was a 46 percent increase from the previous year.
In the future, big networks that air NFL games every weekend could begin to stream regular season NFL games as well. This would be a huge convenience for fans that live outside of their favorite team’s broadcasting area.
Live streaming regular season games throughout the NFL season would also benefit the big networks such as FOX and CBS because advertisers could pay for commercials during the live stream.
One way to further enhance the live streaming capabilities of FOX, NBC, and CBS among others would be to make the streams more interactive. Instead of the stream just containing advertisements and the actual game, networks have many options for enhancing viewer’s experience.
One option is to include the network’s Twitter feed beside the stream. The FOX Sports: NFL Twitter account constantly updates fans on news and statistics during games that the network is broadcasting. Including FOX Sports’ Twitter stream next to the game stream would enhance viewers experience even more because they would be able to keep up with what’s happening in the rest of the NFL while watching their chosen game.
Another way networks could enhance their live stream would be to include stats from each team being shown on the sidebar next to the game. This would convenience viewers who could pay attention to the game while having the statistics readily available for them, instead of having to keep track of them for themselves while they watch the game.
With technology constantly advancing, it is inevitable that the live streaming of NFL games through big networks will increase in the future. CBS, FOX, and NBC have massive potential to increase the amount of viewers more than they already have, make revenue through advertisements, and enhance live streams by adding more interactive features.
So this Sunday, if you’re one of the many who is streaming the Big Game, let us know about your experience, what you enjoyed and what you would like to see changed.