Notification App to Offer Live PGA, NHL Snippets for 99 Cents
Buzzer, a new app offering customizable game alerts and live streaming look-ins, will begin adding early access users Wednesday after signing deals with the PGA Tour and NHL.
Rather than building a new subscription service to compete with the dizzying collection currently vying for exclusive rights and lifetime users, Buzzer hopes to simplify the experience for fans. It sends notifications for exciting action based on user preferences, offering snippets of live broadcasts starting at 99 cents each. In some cases, the service will also sell longer, more expensive streaming access. In its app, Buzzer is developing something like a TV guide experience for sports fans, with hopes to tie-in betting and fantasy integrations down the line.
Buzzer will air two minutes of each NHL period through the Stanley Cup Final, with a focus on sharing high-leverage situations, while longer golf segments will be pulled from the PGA Tour Live subscription product. Viewers will be prompted to subscribe to that service, as Buzzer looks to generate affiliate revenue. The company is currently in talks with cable providers and other leagues about adding additional pay-per-view and authenticated offerings.
“For leagues and rightsholders, your most valuable IP is live sports rights,” Buzzer founder Bo Han said, but younger fans are watching less and less TV. Han, the former director of live content at Twitter, is hoping to reintroduce the power of catching a moment live rather than reacting to a highlight clip on social media.
“These are fleeting moments,” he said. “How do you utilize that almost as a live marketing opportunity to capture a new incremental audience, as well as generate a new revenue stream?”
The NHL deal was negotiated with Disney Streaming Services, which operates NHL.TV. Starting next season, that service will become a part of Disney’s ESPN+ offering. For now, Buzzer users will still be subject to the league’s streaming blackout restrictions.
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