The sports livestream startup Playback, which found success striking partnerships with many major sports leagues and top content creators, is shutting down.
Playback’s founders announced in a blog post on Monday that the obstacles it faced, including securing live sports rights and navigating the increasingly complex ecosystem of live video, “were too big to overcome.”
“Despite a monumental effort from our small team, we haven’t been able to break out and achieve the runaway growth necessary to continue to compete,” they wrote.
The post, however, suggested that Playback is optimistic that it could be acquired by a larger company, citing active talks with “bigger” media companies.
The company aimed to be a Twitch or Kick for sports, where content creators could watch sports live with a community in real time. Whereas many popular Twitch streamers watch social media content or other videos with their audiences, Playback sought to strike deals that would allow its creators to simulcast games on the platform legally.
In March, Playback announced a $22 million fundraising round and a new partnership with Major League Baseball that would allow users to authenticate the MLB.tv service through Playback. That deal came on the heels of a partnership with the NBA, allowing users to authenticate League Pass on the platform.
But those deals meant that many nationally and locally televised broadcasts were not available, as users could not authenticate their cable packages through Playback.
The platform also experimented with original, creator-led content. Recently, former ESPNer Tony Reali hosted a new version of Around the Horn, with Playback creators as panelists.
In the end, it sounds as if Playback could not grow quickly enough to cover the costs of maintaining its platform.
If nothing else, the fact that Playback generated attention from sports fans and media figures in a crowded marketplace is evidence of the potential of a livestreaming platform powered by live sports partnerships. More minor leagues around the world are partnering with platforms and individual creators to air games for niche communities. Playback tried to do that at a larger scale, but ran into the still-strong alliance between corporate media and major sports.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.