The Riffs Show - Season 2, Episode 5
Kauser Kanji

VOD Pro

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The Premier League has just announced Premier League Plus – a new DTC streaming service launching in Singapore next season. Which led us to ask: what would happen if they tried the same thing in the UK?

For this week’s episode, Lydia and I built financial models independently and then compared them live on the show.

  • How many subscribers would they need?
  • What’s a realistic price point?
  • How much does advertising and sponsorship move the dial?
  • And crucially – could a Premier League DTC service actually replace the £1.67 billion a year it currently earns from Sky Sports and TNT?

We also get into why Singapore matters as a test market, what bringing production in-house signals about the League’s longer-term ambitions, and whether any of this is actually about going DTC at all – or something else entirely.

Then, briefly, we pay tribute to two people stepping back from businesses they helped build into something extraordinary: Reed Hastings and Tim Cook.

As ever, feel free to reach out to me or Lydia on LinkedIn with any thoughts.

**

00:00 – Introduction and Background of the Hosts

03:58 – The Premier League’s DTC Strategy in Singapore

07:59 – Understanding the Singapore Market for DTC

10:55 – Current UK Broadcast Deals and Their Impact

14:04 – Financial Models for DTC in the UK

19:58 – Challenges and Considerations for DTC Implementation

26:03 – Consumer Behaviour and Pricing in Football

29:13 – Financial Projections and Revenue Models

34:50 – Direct-to-Consumer Strategies in Sports Broadcasting

39:34 – Market Dynamics and Competitive Landscape

47:32 – Tribute to Industry Leaders: Reed Hastings and Tim Cook

 

ABOUT KAUSER KANJI

Kauser Kanji has been working in online video for 20 years, formerly at Virgin Media and NBC Universal, and founded VOD Professional in 2011. He has since completed major OTT projects for, amongst others, A+E Networks, the BBC, BBC Studios, Channel 4, DR (Denmark), Liberty Global, Netflix, Sony Pictures, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation and UKTV. He now writes industry analyses, hosts an online debate show, OTT Question Time, as well as its in-person sister event, OTT Question Time Live

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