As Live Sports Continue to Be “Must Watch” Events, Satellite Expands Their Global Reach

Sports and events
Blog 1 min read
As Live Sports Continue to Be “Must Watch” Events, Satellite Expands Their Global Reach

In a time when people have more options than ever to watch what they want, when they want, where they want, and on what device they want, live sports continue to attract millions of viewers who make time to watch major events such as the FIFA World Cup, the Olympic Games and the Super Bowl on linear TV. These scheduled, live sports bring people together for “watch parties” and have become an important part the culture in many countries. 

In 2022, the FIFA World Cup had more than 1.5 billion viewers around the world, including TV and streaming viewers. In 2023, the most viewed sporting event in the U.S. was Super Bowl LVII, with more than 112 million viewers. And major women’s sporting events are on the increase: in 2023, the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Solheim Cup and England women’s international cricket all had record-breaking audiences, according to the Women’s Sport Trust and Sports Pro Media. 

As more people put major sports championships on their viewing calendars, satellite continues to play a critical role in delivering sporting events in high-quality video that viewers expect, whether directly to consumer homes or by delivering content locally for final distribution over OTT, IPTV and cable and broadcast networks. 

At SES, we see the increasing demand for sports as we deliver 700+ hours of sports daily. In fact, in October, we had renewed our partnership with the National Football League in which SES’s hybrid distribution network would enable the NFL to reach more than 35 partners in Europe, Asia and the Americas. 

We expect sports viewing audiences to continue to become more global, and the popularity of live sporting events to continue increasing. As it does, we are ready to support our customers and partners and help them reach viewers in the farthest corners of the world, enabling more fans to enjoy memorable games and historic sports performances, and bringing people together for “must watch TV.” 

To find out more on Sports & Events at SES, watch our Close-Up series: