However, Media Partners Asia does believe that there is some hope for the future
Research and analytics agency Media Partners Asia (MPA) believes the APAC sport media sector could lose $2 billion (£1.7bn) in revenue from the coronavirus pandemic.
Originally the Asia Pacific Sports Media 2020 report had estimated that there would be $5.7 billion (£4.8bn) sports-related media revenue generation in 11 key markets in the region for 2020, compared with a $6 billion (£5.1bn) rights investment by broadcasters and OTT platforms.
However, it now expects a 35% drop in revenue generation in APAC for the 2020 calendar year. It has assumed that while European football will complete its current season, basketball, motorsport, tennis, golf and rugby internationally will experience truncated campaigns. Meanwhile, domestic competitions such as the IPL, AFL, and others’ effected seasons will have a further effect. It expects the T20 Cricket World Cup to go ahead at the end of the year.
There is some hope from the report though, with MPA predicting that a busy 2021 could make up for up to two fifths of these losses. The Olympics and European Championships are currently planned to go ahead in the summer of 2021.