Last weekend a hall of fame boxer and a YouTuber (also a professional boxer) took the stage for an exhibition fight, which was streamed by Showtime.
Sports = downloads when it comes to streaming. I look at content makers like HBO Max and Disney a lot, but we can't ignore the sheer power sports streamers have, and now, seeing that force translate into downloads and revenue. And remember, it's almost always recurring revenue for the platforms.
Showtime's revenue rose more than 15x between Sunday and Monday with a total haul of more than $1.3M of net revenue, according to our estimates. For context, the previous weekend earned the streamer just $85K.
There's a bit more to this story, however. The demand on Sunday seems to have overloaded Showtime's servers, causing many to not be able to use the app (and the website) to the point where Showtime announced they will issue refunds.
Bottom line: Streaming is slowly choking cable, and it's a new reality for some streamers. Overwhelming demand means Showtime's projections were off (or negligence, but I don't think so), which is one of those good problems to have.
The more streamers understand the potential, the more you'll see them attempt to get as many viewers as possible because switching apps is not the same as changing channels.
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