MLB’s New Media Monetization Strategies
As NewTeeVee points out, Major League Baseball is definitely on the ball (count it!) when it comes to monetizing its content online. According to the New York Times, the League grossed $60 million from streaming games to subscribers last year. Looking to juice that number this year, MLB is offering new features, such as high-def video and DVR-esque rewind/replay features. And, in case you were wondering, execs have instituted blackout rules to prevent cannibalization of TV revenues – for instance, you can’t watch the game until 45 minutes after its conclusion.
This model elegantly solves a problem: if you’ve moved to LA from Boston, for instance, MLB.TV allows you to catch Red Sox games that wouldn’t otherwise be broadcast in Southern California.
However, we think there’s a larger – and potentially more lucrative – problem waiting to be solved. What about those Red Sox fans that still live in Boston and want to catch day games that they miss while at work? We think that the market for a la carte, in-market access is at least as large (probably much larger) than the diaspora fan market.
Here’s what we would propose:
- Game-by-game access for $1.35 per game – 162 games per season divided by the $120 MLB.TV charges for the full season,
- Available only to in-market viewers (so as not to cannibalize full season subscriptions, which are only available out-of-market), and
- Streaming access for the 24 hours after the game has aired on TV (so as not to cannibalize TV ad revenues).
If stakeholders can agree on how to divide the pie (not an insignificant if), MLB could add a second new media revenue stream – at a time when many are struggling with their first stream.
