The future of sports streaming lies in making content available instantly and globally. In the world of sports content, time is of the essence; highlights lose relevance quickly. AI-driven solutions now enable rapid delivery of high-quality dubbing and subtitling solutions. What once took weeks can now be accomplished in hours, making sports content immediately accessible to global audiences. AI-enabled dubbing ensures that these moments transcend language barriers, reaching fans worldwide with precision and authenticity. For sports organizations, this not only enhances viewer engagement but also unlocks new revenue streams by enabling rapid, global monetization of content. The future isn’t just about speed; it’s about ensuring that sports moments are experienced by anyone, anywhere, anytime — transforming fleeting content into lasting global connections.

Ai-Media is focusing heavily this year on helping sports streamers access new audiences through AI language translation. With streaming, it is easy and even expected for content to be available in many different language versions. We think that translation and voice AI is ready to do this even with live-sports experiences. A live commentary track translated into an audience’s preferred language will maximize their engagement and can help open up new markets not just for a single stream but actually opening up an entirely new fanbase outside of existing core geographies and demographics.

The notion of developing “omni channels” from broadcast and turning these channels into digital linear experiences is providing greater reach, retention, and monetization. The use of IP-delivered content allows for the involvement of interactivity (the gamification of viewing, including betting, trivia, and chat), which significantly increases user retention and monetization.

In 2023, live-sports viewing on digital channels surpassed traditional pay TV for the first time (per Statista). Combined with Millennials’ decreasing attention spans — just 12 seconds on average (Midia Research) — this highlights the need for innovation in sports consumption. AnyClip’s AI-powered platform identifies these unique needs and revolutionizes sports streaming and engagement. AI-driven content-recommendation engines deliver hyper-personalized experiences, while deep-search capabilities keep fans captivated by surfacing specific players, brands, and categories. Auto-generated highlights and playlists ensure easy discoverability for fans, and our cutting-edge Wildcard AI Modeling detects critical actions and moments. For fans, this means an unparalleled connection to their favorite moments by transforming traditional videos into searchable, interactive smart assets. For sports organizations, it drives engagement, boosts content retention, and strengthens fan loyalty.

As we look toward 2025, Ateme remains focused on driving innovations that enhance the sports-streaming experience. Our low-latency streaming technology delivers sub–2-second glass-to-glass delay, minimizing lag during live events. We’re also committed to providing sharper visuals through Ultra High Definition (UHD) and High Dynamic Range (HDR), along with personalized sound options using Next-Gen Audio, letting viewers choose between commentary or stadium ambiance. Ateme’s AI-powered Audience Aware Streaming is already optimizing content delivery by analyzing real-time viewer behavior, ensuring efficient bandwidth usage, enhanced picture quality, and reduced buffering. In 2025, we’ll continue building on these capabilities to offer an even more immersive and personalized viewing experience, keeping fans engaged and closer to the action whether they’re watching from home or on the go.

One such recent innovation is multiview. It enhances sports streaming by offering viewers an experience with multiple synchronized streams within a single player. This allows fans to personalize their experience by choosing camera angles, replays, and stats displays simultaneously. It deepens immersion by providing a comprehensive view of the action, including crucial replays and real-time data. Multiview also fosters interactivity through integrated polls, quizzes, and social-media feeds. By empowering viewers to customize their experience and engage more deeply with the content, Multiview elevates sports streaming to a new level of interactivity and translates to increased viewer engagement and satisfaction for sports fans. Learn more at https://bitmovin.com/video-player/multiview-playback/.

Broadfield Distributing recently hosted a three-day virtual event, SportStream.US, where we explored innovations enhancing sports streaming and viewer engagement. A key takeaway from our partners was the growing role of AV-over-IP technologies like NDI, Dante, and ST 2110. These tools are transforming sports venues and broadcast studios by enabling video sources to be seamlessly integrated into networks. The integration allows simultaneous use across broadcast production, in-venue displays, and social-media platforms. By streamlining workflows and maximizing content distribution, these technologies not only enhance the live-viewing experience but also improve fan engagement on digital platforms. As the demand for dynamic, multiplatform content grows, these innovations are at the forefront of making sports streaming more interactive and accessible.

As the lines between traditional sports and esports blur, sports leagues are increasingly embracing esports. For example, the NBA has its own esports league, and Formula 1 features virtual-racing events. These events are streamed in parallel with traditional sports, offering fans more options to engage with their favorite sports in new, interactive formats. These innovations are not just transforming how fans watch sports; they are shaping a new era of engagement, interaction, and personalization.

One innovation that promises to enhance sports streaming and viewer engagement is the tight integration of multi-bitrate–video encoding and packaging within a single video-delivery pipeline. When a live feed can be transformed into every required output — within one platform, rather than performed as discrete services — it becomes possible to deliver a main event feed with unprecedented efficiency. That same efficiency makes it financially feasible to provide the multiple camera angles that enable more-personalized and immersive viewing experiences while enhancing engagement across social platforms.

Innovations like FAST channels and OTT platforms empower viewers to customize their sports viewing. For example, LIV Golf’s AnyShot, Anytime feature allows fans to follow specific holes or groups through dedicated streams. Additional features like betcasts and second-screen experiences, including match centers and wraparounds, further enhance engagement and interactivity.

The future of sports streaming centers on creating more enriched viewer experiences that go beyond traditional broadcast models. Today’s fans expect real-time insights and interactive content that transforms passive viewing into active, data-rich experiences. Through technologies augmenting the immersivity — such as virtual carpets or augmented-reality visuals — broadcasters can meet viewer expectations, making content consumption more dynamic and contextually rich. Entire new genres of content are appearing thanks to the rise of the streaming market, driving a need for technology to provide new and innovative ways to tell better stories. For instance, we’re seeing more and more shoulder programming and news-video DJs producing live on-air — both with vastly different production workflows than what has traditionally been done on linear channels.

Streaming sports online is the new normal, and fans are now expecting an easy viewing experience from any device anywhere. The experience is becoming more interactive, customized to the targeted audience, and with the added value of more information available about the athletes, the teams, and much more. One example would be the Supponor AIR technology platform, which uses remote AI-based keying technology to augment dasherboard advertising during live broadcasts by placing dynamic graphics over the fully branded arena dasherboards on camera.

We are seeing shared reality bring fans together in communal immersive experiences that create the energy of being at the game itself. That has been unlocked through new ultra-high-resolution workflows, along with new capabilities for large LED displays, and creates a new format for sports fans. Now we are discovering how the story-telling elements with data and graphics can take that experience further.

Fans want personalized, interactive, and engaging experiences, such as real-time stats, multiple camera angles, and co-viewing options, enabled by emerging technologies. Converge by Deloitte for Sports leverages fan touchpoints, journeys, and behavioral insights to enhance loyalty and engagement. Hyper-focused segmentation rethinks content recommendations by analyzing watch-history data. GenAI techniques revolutionize the creation and discovery of relevant digital content, replacing manual curation and enhancing content-search capabilities, thus personalizing fan experiences at scale. Converge by Deloitte for Sports leverages fan touchpoints, journeys, and behavioral insights to enhance loyalty and engagement. Their proprietary, up-to-date data sets, combining more than 10,000 data points, provide unique insights that competitors lack.

Sports continue to lead the way in shaping distributed workflows and delivering contextual, immersive experiences to audiences. As viewing habits drastically evolve, sports consumption is increasingly mobile, social, and interactive, with streaming platforms providing native experiences that empower viewers to become creators. From interactive sports bars that put fans at the heart of the action to multi-device setups redefining the living-room experience, these innovations make fan engagement more personal and dynamic. Diversified is a leader in this transformation, driving new possibilities in intelligent spaces and media. Decentralized infrastructure and operator-centric orchestration are revolutionizing sports streaming through hybrid workflows that seamlessly integrate traditional systems with composable architectures and intuitive, operator-focused interactions. Together, these advances are creating more-flexible, engaging, and cutting-edge experiences for fans worldwide.

Eluvio is solving the most challenging problems of legacy video: complexity, cost, and the innovation trap. The traditional approach is so complex because the media, metadata, and processing are all part of siloed workflows, and achieving fast or scalable streaming often requires brute force, leading to unnecessarily higher costs, inefficiencies, and resource demands. It also prevents easy media re-use and personalization, which is needed in this age of AI. The Content Fabric replaces legacy distribution with a “content-native” approach. Streaming speed, workflow simplicity, and cost-efficiency are inherent, and media is data-driven and owner-controlled, without having to work at it so hard or pay so much. This changes the game for sports and enables first of-a kind experiences for EPCR, UEFA, and others using Eluvio.

From mobile phones to 100-in. monitors, from live to social media and videogames, your content has to be everywhere and tailored to each viewer’s needs.

At Eutelsat, we are expanding our role in powering FAST channels, which allows rights holders and broadcasters to monetize sports content more effectively, reaching wider audiences without requiring a subscription. Also, we are driving innovation in satellite-based multiscreen streaming solutions to enhance the sports viewing experience. With the rise of sports streaming on multiple devices, ensuring low-latency, high-quality content delivery is key. Our DVB-NIP via satellite technology, enables seamless content distribution directly to users' devices, offering a scalable solution for live sports events. This allows broadcasters to deliver the same high-definition experience to vast audiences, even in areas with limited infrastructure. These technologies, combined with our GEO-LEO satellite capacity, are setting a new standard for live sports experiences worldwide.

The need for data-driven subscriber-management techniques that enhance retention and customer lifetime value continues to be in the spotlight. Streamers are starting to realize that their existing customer-management and billing systems aren’t up to scratch in today’s digital-native environment. Many businesses are stuck with unsophisticated tools. Conversely, our collaborations with leading providers of video Quality of Experience (QoE) measurement provide deeper video-QoE insight and closely integrated, AI-powered churn management to drive retention and revenues. Combining advanced QoE analytics with robust subscriber management gives sports-streaming businesses new levels of visibility and consolidated insight into the fan experience.

We are moving to an AWS cloud-based streaming option for users to access our telestration technology. This is a work in progress to be ready by NAB 2025. It is initially aimed at mid- to lower-tier customers who have a different budget structure than the main networks using our software have.