GARETH BALCH
More revenue was generated from Sports IP Owners in 2024 than ever before. The addition of $11B of total revenue that we’re projecting represents a 7% growth on 2023, which was itself another record year.
That 7% growth was partly driven by major cyclical events. The Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, and UEFA EURO 2024 contributed $3.8B and $2.5B to their federations revenues respectively. The Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics proved to be a positive step for the movement - from a commercial, audience and fan perspective - helping to set up LA for another record-breaking Games in 2028.
There is strong underlying growth as well. The biggest sports properties continue to thrive, with 19 of our Top 20 Sports IP owners growing their revenues vs 2023. Some, such as the Big 10 Conference, have taken significant steps in their most recent media rights deal with Fox, CBS and NBC adding $600M to their top line.
Many of us will be accustomed to headlines of macro growth, but will also be aware of the headwinds facing the industry over the last year. If you isolate the Top 20 Sports IP Owners and look at the rest of the Top 500 (the Top 500 revenue generating IP owners in sports) average year on year growth slows to 1% with many seeing flat or declining revenues.
Total revenue generated through Sports IP Owners in 2024
Annual growth in revenue generated from Sports IP versus $159B in 2023
Share of revenue delivered by the Top 20 Sports IP Owners versus 40% in 2023
That being said, at a time of ever-increasing technological change and globalisation Sports IP has become more valuable than ever. Where other sectors struggled with the era of fragmenting media, sport was uniquely able to bring huge numbers of people together around screens and venues while giving them more in-depth opportunities to explore their fandom through digital platforms ultimately delivering over a trillion hours of sports consumption last year.
Now, as we move through the next technological shift, with increasing personalisation and self-expression, it is the rights-holders that invest in knowing their fans best who will be the biggest winners.
The long-term trend is clear. Sports IP has an enduring quality to it that will continue to captivate audiences and create more fans, who spend more attention on sport. The value of this to media companies is clear. The costs of producing high-quality TV dramas have doubled in the last ten years, while the risk of a flop is ever present. Elsewhere, with streamers looking to grow their average revenue per user while minimizing the costs of acquisition and retention, sports media repeatedly proves itself to be a timeless, essential genre.
The plays to capitalize on this macro opportunity are becoming increasingly clear. In building out this report we’ve analyzed ten years’ worth of revenue data across 500+ Sports IP Owners and identified a group of ‘Super Accelerators’: IP Owners that significantly outperformed the market when it comes to revenue growth. 100% of these IP Owners grew their owned and operated audiences faster than the market.
Audience growth is a critical lead indicator for revenues. We’re obsessed with growing our clients' audiences and revenues and are delighted to spotlight a few of these Super Accelerators within this analysis. Within these spotlights you’ll notice key themes that will define the next decade. Sport as entertainment, riding geoeconomic tailwinds, evolving the supply of sport through a demand-side lens and more.
2024 was an incredible year of sport, proving once again that Sports IP continues to grow in both commercial and cultural impact. As we look ahead, the strategies of today’s Super Accelerators will define the next decade of sports business.