Brian Rifkin Op-Ed: Advertisers Are Slow to Adapt as Sports Fans Move to Streaming

The old playbook is dead. Sports fans no longer gather around a single screen, tuned into the same regional broadcast with the same predictable commentary. That era is ending, and in its place, streaming and CTV reign supreme. With consumers calling the shots and the traditional TV model falling behind, advertisers and broadcasters need to adapt.

We’ve seen this play out before with the transition from desktop to mobile browsing, and it reminds me of the age-old story of The Tortoise and the Hare. The hare–representing mobile technology and consumer behavior–took off at lightning speed as smartphones became the go-to entertainment device practically overnight. Meanwhile, advertising was the tortoise–moving as quickly as it could, but struggling to keep pace as brands, agencies, and publishers assessed their monetization strategies and ad investments carefully. However, in this race the hare didn’t stop, and it took years for the tortoise to catch up.