Read this: Who's winning in sports media?

BBC sounds music Radio podcasts hello and welcome to the media Show podcast this week in the world sports medium and if you are massive spots around the country in lockdown to cause this year has been all about the armchair rather than the stands hasn't it lets me I guess and there's a very good chance you read or watched some of their coverage Catherine anastasi is the head of live sport at talkSPORT which is part of UK is why this group so a sister station for Virgin tyres radio and talk radio on Talksport this weekend.

Is there any darts princess and you do live darts on the radio in a thumper the dark hit in the boards and it was nice to have a few fans day yesterday.

So beautiful to see what it's like tonight without the fans there cos London

Premier League games this Saturday as usual so we got a lot of games on this weekend starting twelve 12:30 and host of other things going on across the week.

I haven't got any game tonight.

We're going to be around the grounds for this Premier League round he wasn't Croft West Ham calling again as the busy busy busy busy busy busy night story also makes his return to the media show Stadium Daniel is a freelance writer and broadcaster covering football for platforms including the eye and the totally show which is owned by the Athletic football match last Leicester vs.

Aston Villa in March my partner's been shooting since then so yeah, no lovely live football for me and I suspect that might click the full year in March 21 has left been for a freelancer in 2020 remarkably ok says touching would I took on extra projects assuming that some would drop?

Not many did so I've been double busy rather than half busy so can't complain ok good for you mean.

I made it back as well now attracts new trends in media for a company called ampere analysis when I know you're Arsenal fan.

You have a season ticket in fact.

How do you find a matches made me feel about switching allegiances giving Arsenal could be the relegation fight this year exactly what I wanted to say.

Thank you very much another 25 minutes very good heavy with let's start with Alex Green who joins us live as well.

Alex is the managing director for sport on Amazon Prime video Alex you deserve a special.

Thank you because you found time to join us and what is literally busy is not the Year Amazon is streaming watches at Amazon Prime video is streaming 6 premier league matches tonight.

Have we going to talk about where the Amazon has got long-term ambitions to disrupt sport Media welcome.

Before I start asking the tough questions Alex what's your earliest memory of watching or listening to live sport you say am I spend most of my Summers in my pyjamas watching end-to-end cricket me to have known you for years.

I walked down my wedding at them to the test Match Special theme tune anyway Amazon's evolving in life support.

He's got anyone in the industry.

Really entry does Jeff bezos.

Let's be honest about it does he see you as among other things a kind of leader to get people to sign up to Amazon Prime and buy more things they don't really need a very customer obsessed company.

That's where we start and transport is just a great benefits to customers especially when it's completely free within prime, but you don't need to make you don't need to make money upfront the ideas to get people into the Amazon Prime

Yeah, yeah, we know the prime video users are more engaged with Amazon as a whole yes, they do we know the prime members spend more on Amazon so there's a there's a flywheel as we call it going on prime video plays a big part and sport is an interesting part of Prime video package arrive from the Premier League you have loads since last December including all the boxing day matches.

Can you give me the sense of the technological and logistical achievement that representing is to say that a lot of people in the industry? I spoke to said offering live streams of all the matches on a bank holiday.

Just come down reliably with the current state of broadband in the UK being broadcast together and I meant a lot of simultaneous matches in meant a lot of logistical challenge with having people all over the country covering different matches and the streaming there the broadband and the Stream

Overall it went well.

You know the vast majority of people got a good experience and a people like the actual coverage itself on the customer experience.

Obviously the most powerful companies in human history your owned by the most powerful man in the world.

Did you guys have Man the richest man in the world? Did you guys all your company ever talk to the UK government you offer your help in actually laying down some of the necessary infrastructure so the government works with and it took a lot of people within Amazon globally actually to deliver this is one of the biggest streaming events in the UK if not globally and I think what it proves is that you can deliver top-tier exclusive sport virus streaming service to millions of millions of viewers at super high quality, so it did prove a lot are both in the UK

Confidence really for Arsenal doing more of it and doing in in lots of different sports now.

Obviously what we is.

View is Punta see on the screen is full of the smiley the Amazon logo the branding on the Planets microphones and so on how much of all that production is in house and do you wanna send you outsource the production to other companies like BT Sport that used to work with BT what Santa inviting the production company that but no the overall production is ours we decide on the overall feel of it the talent lineup.

I mean if you can imagine.

We have 70 on-screen Talent covering all through this December and we have something like 2000 people working on the entire production, so it's a big effort.

So yes, we use some partners, but we we have the Ultimate

About 2000 people say working tonight all together something about all day.

Yes, did you saying you join Amazon 2015 when you did that was there an explicit conversated you say to the buses movie interview process that the aim was to become a bigger player in sport is Sky or BT Amazon doesn't really focus on what what other companies.

Are you doing we both very much on customers and yes, there was a desire to start experimenting with sport which we we've been doing since then and we keep learning we keep iterating but it's not about your name matching and it would anyone else is doing it's about us giving something great to customers being able to offer this much broader prime service is fantastic.

It's just this free to those customers, so it's a kind of good news story for them and we're doing more of it around the world.

Not just in the UK

Can I bring the others in this story the time this morning the BT sport has had its bid to renew the premiership rugby TV rights turn down you've been dabbling in Rugby show the alternations.

Come you going to the Premiership 94th minute winner you and I know you can afford that I couldn't say I don't know let me the reason why isn't it Future ride steals, but we were happy with the other nations that was a great event but I'm just came into the rugby calendar as a result of Alma disruption you go for the Premiership and there's a great was a great service and would you go for the Premiership let's talk in generalities and what are the factors that determine getting inside your your business brand your strategic mind? What are the factors that determine which sports Amazon mybid4it?

It's going to be available it going to be on to the right price.

Is it also about the propensity of that particular audience based on your detail research to for instance if you're involved in tennis to finish watching you think will be to buy a tennis racket on Amazon how do you approach the people that you're going to be at the the sports that you're going bed for when it comes to write fall into place and sons of the opportunity.

That's available and how we value it and how we think our customers fundamentally will respond to it, but I would say that we focus on picking sports events transcend the day today if you like that have broad appeal as well as appeal to hardcore fans.

It's a moment of you and you've seen that you have December Premier League coverage as the Nation's sky sports documentaries like all or nothing Tottenham Hotspur that was a big event in its own right that we launched earlier this summer so yes.

What is events we think we can market them well? We think they'll appeals our customers and that's really what we ok.

Let me know.

Thank you Daniel story of how to make do with watching football on TV this year.

It's frustrating for many a journalist.

What have you made? Honestly of the Amazon coverage is very good because in Sky and BT they have a historic and very modern feeling presentation which you don't need to stray too far from you know they're using commentators are using pundits that in the whole that worked out swearing that the public knows and the reality is there within football there is almost unprecedented loyalty amongst customers and fans for a live products.

You know he's like something else you watching I like the next day.

Just isn't enough you do want to watch your team that night so you got a product that's incredibly Marks and incredibly popular and it doesn't take you know it obviously takes expertise and it takes budget, but it doesn't take.

Huge groundbreaking formula to do it.

I don't think I think you've done the work for Amazon is it actually negatory distinct proposition and different branding a different people but does it innovation is it are they doing new things in an interesting way is new you know you can watch Sky you can watch football on Sky through Sky Go you can watch BT through a BT app and you do the same with your Amazon app, but when I don't think it's not reinventing the wheel but no do I think it was intending to an order.

I think it should have done.

Yeah.

There's a popularity for the product already there.

We would be foolish to try and reinvent.

I think it's just really views again.

Can you get last night for Man City vs.

West Brom everytime I ask you a question.

Is it a manner such power we have millions of years.

Sorry, we got starts around the proportion of sports fans.

Who are using Amazon Prime and actually we saw last year.

We did our consumer polling that there was an increase among football fans who are using so these are people you already on the prime platform, but actually they might not have been watching the video service so they've been shifted over to that so there's a lot of success there.

I haven't got any hard numbers for you.

I'm sorry I'm going to go back to Alex on that one it would you think about this was scratching his we've actually been looking recently at the impact OTT players are having on media rights in Europe as a whole and what were finding is that even the emergence of these OTT players being I'm streaming players like Amazon orders own eleven Sports for example.

So even them coming in isn't necessarily pushing that mediawrites needle.

Would assume so Amazon came in for those Premier League rights in the last sales cycle, but the domestic rights didn't increase for the Premier League and actually with their deal with Sky to take NOW TV on Amazon fire boxes and Force Amazon's now be on Sky it seems like there's a lot of friendliness between the players so if I was the Premier League and I was looking like that.

I'd be slightly worried about the next sale cycle that there isn't that that we may be saw a few Cycles ago, when Sky and BT really went at each other in terms of trying to get Amazon Prime video people who sign up for the 30-day free trial to stick around and continue baking Jeff bezos richest years whilst getting some glorious services through the post whatever you have that's working if you know what I mean last year.

It was the biggest event ever in the UK for new to prime signups and what's more those customers didn't just come and go you know that a hold.

Stayed and found all the other benefits that we have both on prime video and an across the prime memberships.

Ok, so yes, we're really happy.

Ok.

Just tried ringing Catherine and stars you understand.

You're used vans.

Is there much appetite for a third player in Premier League TV rights will transfer rather just pay one provider skyweather and getting the same place that is the million-dollar question of football fandom.

Yes is the easy answer fans would prefer to pay one provider but that's pretty obvious.

I think it would be insinuate that it might be cheaper.

It was certainly easier than the reality is that since ESPN and setanta and BT has coming over last 10 to 15 years that's probably not going to happen.

So they do expect to pay another the difference Amazon houses that for those prime customers.

They can clearly they can clearly invite fans in free within that membership.

Which is a is a draw to those supposes.

Just slightly democratise football is on in the UK because that is the price point entry for pay-tv in the UK is much higher than it is for an Amazon Prime membership if you're a Premier League fan at least you're able Access some of the games for a lot cheaper.

Where is historically it's all been on PPI TV and I know there is Now TV and some of those other offerings but again there quite new so you are allowing fans access a slightly cheaper very very quick question.

There's talk about you guys buying a cricket rights and India true.

Yes to New Zealand and the New Zealand cricket actually and we're showing specifically the Indian tours of New Zealand over the next few interested in the future England tour of India

As you know I'm interested in all cricket.

Thank you very much distance between Anastasia from the anastasi from TalkSport Catherine what's the pandemic is over.

Can you see an end to the ban on televising 3 p.m.

Today matches definitely something that's going to be discussed.

We've had these discrete time slots now for a long time since June and 1500 has been through but yeah, we're very supportive of fans getting back in the stadium and that's what the 3 p.m.

Blackout is designed to protect you know when it's safe to do so fans can get back in with need to be discussed and I'm not sure whether or not it will come back on a bit weird that fans can listen to those matches but

Watch them because they're all grown up music radio offers something very different to TV and I think I think the tube complainer two things is difficult because your radio is about listening on the way to a game that you're going to or phoning in on a cooling after a game that you've attended and you know it's it's free to wear so it's access of people who said you can't afford Sports TV channels or whatever so bit different to radio so I'd say the 1500 is something that isn't necessarily in that way too worried about content of I do it comes with your business big thing still talkSPORT definitely we we all live sport we have lots of different sports on the station, but football is up bread and butter and I'll gameday offering that we had for the last 18 months of so as proof that we've had huge followings over the over.

Sex with a game day on a Saturday and football provides us with all the things that feed the other the other programming you know it's it's our in-depth coverage analysis expert opinion play breaking news around football at something that we live and breathe football footballers that are used to using fake crowd noise when the pages empty gently down that was the crowds do come back in or can you see a world in which you might use it to supplement the real grass in the last couple of weeks.

We have got rid of the FA crowd noise for those with the £2,000 in so we've had the real reaction and I don't know if you heard but when we were at West Ham and we had a forever blowing bubbles coming across across play is it was a really emotional moment it was just unbelievable.

I think it kind of really emphasize to us how important those fans are and we had vape advise, and it's and it's definitely added to what.

Over the last 6 months since football came back, but that you can't you can't replicate having a real crowd in there, so yeah as soon as soon as we have dropped the effects and you sure the film with the BBC how does that work so we get for at the moment we're getting for matches and in a weekend.

You should be free during normal times.

We have the 12 to 5:30 and 3 and they have their paid for rights that they have mostly or Sunday and there's some shopping in changing at the moment.

Just because of the Seasons works out but actually was collaborated a lot more with the BBC over the last 6-months project restart because because of the restrictions in terms of getting into stadiums and being in sodium.

Does that number in so when they've had an exclusive game and they've shared the post match with us.

Cos we can't get in.

I'm really sorry.

I'm going to have to stand up because the lights have gone off in this room.

Which project all of a sudden continued even when we've not had exclusive it's really is really wonderful and I think that's actually going to continue once we come back into a normal at normal setter fixtures that collaboration between us.

Sorry radio listeners that I'm looking you guys on a zoom calling and as I can see that the room that you're really sunny gone completely just one more question before before we leave just get the lights going to Catherine's invite radio for listeners to understand please the character of talkSPORT I guess for those who don't know much about taught.

You might say that channel which is part of the news UK murder Empire it's a bit like five live what's the different talkSPORT 5 Live this is what we talked about all day everyday.

Something that we that we do is bring the fan experience to people and I think that's something we've done not just during the pandemic when people haven't been able to attend matches had that we've position of being in stadiums when other people can't be in bringing that people I think it's something we've done around all tournaments.

I'm not just football around our cricket coverage of Anna rugby coverage is for people that can't travel to big tournaments or people who can't get out and about around games we bring that sound experience.

Yeah.

We go on the road will bring the Colour and the sounds from these places and then we have your expert opinion from people who recently left the game or currently playing even in the Premier League that really adds a kind of gloss to our Sports coverage and outside of live sport and talking about I thought we've also in the last couple of years developed his new kind of documentary series that are much more in-depth and that something that's come out of the pandemic actually I would say.

Creativity just having the space on our on our on our network to play out documentary series so we've had coming in from the cold, which was something we worked with with the audio content fund created for Black History Month that was a 7 part series and then we've had series like when the lights come out about when sports people finally retire and these documentaries found something that would you want to continue doing you have to tell us a freelancer working as you have Dover publications.

You are multi-platform cause have you had to innovate the sorts of things that you been doing this year? Have you been doing lots of not me? I'm older soldier speech pieces.

Are you doing Sports for instance? How we have to change to adapt to this new world.

I think we certainly saw an influx of of nostalgia.

Is it the start of lockdown partly because I don't think anyone was particularly prepared for what had come.

You know if there was a spate of minute by minute coverage of old games.

On the BBC website on the Guardian website that was phased out reasonably quickly, I think partly because football's newscycle never stops.

You know Catherine knows that from the reason.

What is a 24-hour station is because there's enough to fill it and I think in general we're able to focus on what might happen next and what had just happened and then by the time football is back at it barzagli, business-as-usual, albeit not live at matches.

You know I've covered games from TV where I would normally be there and I think the aim is just to give the the reader the the same experience no no declining whatsoever and there is extremely explosion of effort isn't there by for instance Football Club's Daniels really craft their Public Image they got teams and even teams at work on PR they got huge corporations.

I tried to mould a reputation is that benefit does some fans, but you never worried that it was a undermines the role of the journey because it is for your job to find all that stuff out now if you want to find out about Tranmere Rovers it's all there.

Yeah, it is the Bazaar example is the the Club official Club website has transfer rumours listen listed on it as if they don't know what's going on.

I think it could blurred the lines, but there is the united class myself as a writer rather than Germany should I comment on the news rather than getting at news and I think there will always be a place for quality journalism and certainly a place for quality writing because I did not go to that stage.

I suspect their interest in terms of developing themselves as media companies is probably in the broadcast side of the game rather than in the in the written form and that might be a question for broadcasters to come but at the moment.

I think they're still separate entities.

Thanks.

Daniel Marino is the evidence that sounds of rushing back just bought Media now or some learn to live without it through are pulling you run that every six months and last year the proportion of fans who are willing to pay to access for in the UK was about 40% and that has seen a substantial drop to about 30% this year.

Now there's a couple of reasons you can have economic reasons that because of the pandemic people have been losing their jobs and people on low incomes and have less disposable income so that could be a knock-on effect that is it might have been a bit of fatigue when we round the survey and august-september.

There was wall towards 4 on everywhere and a lot of it was free on BBC and Amazon so you're ok.

Do we need to actually pay to access but if I was in if I was a broadcast or if I was a right told her I'll be watching this really carefully because over the next 12-months people will decide whether they will start cutting their contracts and then they just won't access the school or anything Amazon's a bit of a different one because he might use it as a delivery service but if you were designed in Europe for example.

You'll be slightly more worried that somebody might be your contract but at the moment we've seen as that people have had this afternoon or shift, but they haven't cut up a TV contracts just yet, so I would be keeping an eye on that very closely.

I think I think that's true.

You know we're going into unprecedented times in terms of people losing their jobs or and being long-term unemployed so I guess people will cutting and whether or not they cut their sports subscriptions is something that we get to see but it's something that could happen inside the other possible directly is that when football does come back as normal I think we might see a rush of of the public to to go to Live games.

Not just the Premier League grounds where they struggle to get a ticket at the best of times but can see their local team go and watch football live rather than consuming of ITV because goodness only knows we spent enough time on the sofa this year, how much taxes do you get into close at the moment then well, that's the biggest challenge of being a freelancer is that access will generally Go to media outlets above individuals with a few honourable exceptions.

Is it well I think that I think clubs are a pretty good.

I think that.

Playlist putting time to get that access but I think that there is room for everyone in the reality is that clubs see the work? That's done and if if they enjoy a particular interview with them again Catherine Catherine we talking about incredibly crowded market.

It's a great time to be a fan and consumer of this kind of Media is there a danger that to try and stand out amongst the crowd you being loud brash opinionated what something might in the stereotypical where I put the to say can knock it down so that talkSPORT which is a bit too broken to get noticed.

I think that's the case at all.

If you look at our two flagship programmes you got Laura woods on breakfast to started the in June hosting with Alan on the Alan Brazil on Thursdays and Fridays and you've got reshmin Chowdhury a host flagship gameplay programmer 11 on a Saturday thank you so much guys.

I really really appreciate it special given the lights knocked out on Newcastle

Much appreciated.

Thanks so much for all my guests today Alex Green managing director of Amazon prime video sport Catherine anastasi from TalkSport from ampere analysis and Daniel story and freelance football writer broadcaster, thanks.