Roku, Paramount Deal with Formula E Racing Points to Possible Future of Bundled Streaming Sports Rights
Bundling of streaming services could lead to a better fan experience when it comes to watching live sporting events via streaming.
When Roku announced its first live sports deal with Formula E racing in June, it was seen as quite groundbreaking. Free streaming platforms like The Roku Channel usually don’t pursue live sports because of the expense, but Roku did just that, agreeing to split domestic broadcasting duties of live Formula E races with CBS and Paramount+. It’s a highly unique deal, and it could provide a glimpse of what sports streaming might look like in a future of bundling.
- Roku will actively promote Formula E races on Paramount+ going forward.
- The fragmentation of live sports rights often leaves fans puzzled about where and how to stream their favorite events.
- As streaming services prepare for an age of bundling, similar deals to the Roku and Paramount arrangement could help improve the fan experience dramatically.
What Makes Roku/Paramount Deal with Formula E So Special?
The sheer expense of pursuing live sports usually means that the owners of those sports rights aren’t likely to promote an event from the same sport that airs on a different channel. You don’t often see commercials for NBA games that will appear on ESPN during a TNT broadcast, for instance; providers are desperate to keep their users engaged with their platforms as much as possible, and telling them where else they can watch a given sporting event runs counter to that goal.
That’s why Paramount and Roku’s deal to split Formula E races is so unique. As part of the arrangement, Roku will actively promote Formula E races appearing on CBS and Paramount+, telling fans where and when the races will be and the best way to watch them. Since Paramount+ is available on the Roku platform, viewers will be able to quickly navigate between the Formula E content hub on Roku to Paramount+ with less friction.
“From a viewers perspective, there’s one destination you can come to and always find the races, always find the content regardless of where it’s airing,” Joe Franzetta, head of sports for Roku Media told The Hollywood Reporter this week.
Offering a wide variety of races for free on The Roku Channel will surely help Formula E grow its American audience, and it raises fascinating questions about what sports Roku could pursue next. But the deal also provides a promising view of the possible future of sports streaming.
What Can Roku/Paramount Deal With Formula E Tell Us About the Future of Sports Rights Deals?
The willingness to cross-promote sporting events on different platforms won’t spread to other streaming providers overnight. But the reluctance to do so could be thawed by bundling going forward; streaming services from different providers are showing an increased willingness to bundle their plans together for a lower combined price in order to build larger scale and reduce churn.
If more of the top subscription video streamers do begin to bundle, it would be easier to convince executives that cross-promotion of sports events is good for all concerned. Sports rights are growing more fragmented as costs rise, and that leads to more customer confusion about where they can watch their chosen sports event.
ESPN has already hinted at such a plan. In spring of 2023, it was reported ESPN was reaching out to other media companies to see if it could enlist their support for a plan in which ESPN would show audiences on the ESPN app where they could stream any sporting event, no matter where it was playing. Nothing has come of that so far, but there’s a chance Disney is holding back that aggregation platform until it launches a streaming version of the ESPN family of channels, as it plans to do in 2025.
Streaming bundles will become more common in 2024, and as they proliferate the chances for cross-promotion of live sports increase. The deal that splits Formula E races between The Roku Channel and Paramount+ could become a model for sports providers if they can let go of old ideas about never helping the competition no matter the situation.
Roku Channel
The Roku Channel is a free live TV streaming service that provides 350+ live linear streaming channels and more than 80,000 free movies and TV shows. The library contains entertainment from several different decades, including some major hits.