Sports-focused streaming platform Caffeine suddenly shuts down

Caffeine, a streaming platform for niche sports, gaming and entertainment properties, ceased operations on June 26, 2024. The company announced the decision on its website, citing the inability to achieve profitability as the main reason for the closure.

“We are at a point where we are still not completely profitable, so we have made the decision to end the service on June 26 while we consider our next steps. It was a crazy journey, along which we managed to achieve a lot,” we read in the announcement.

Caffeine highlighted its growth to 61 million monthly users and 4 million daily users, as well as its partnerships with 200 sports organizations in 17 categories.

Caffeine’s journey began in 2018 with significant support from 21st Century Fox, which invested $100 million in September of that year. Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch joined Caffeine’s board, and the collaboration led to the creation of Caffeine Studios. By 2019, Caffeine had raised $146 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Greylock Partners.

The platform has become a hub for live sporting events, especially niche sports such as the World Surf League, National Women’s Soccer Conference and LIV Golf. Caffeine advertised itself as a “live sports and community hub” and served as the streaming service for coverage of LIV Golf’s first round. LIV Golf praised Caffeine for attracting a younger, more diverse audience compared to traditional broadcast platforms. However, the partnership, which started in early 2024, lasted less than six months.

Despite its eventual closure, Caffeine explored various business models, including virtual gifts, subscriptions, pay-per-view and advertising.

The platform has also established distribution cooperation with traditional media publishers such as Barstool Sports, Blue Wire, Bleav Network, Clutch Points and The Action Network.

Caffeine CEO Ben Keighran expressed optimism about the future of the platform as recently as last year. He discussed plans to expand content from niche and emerging sports leagues, partners and competitive events, as well as strengthen advertising and distribution partnerships.

Caffeine’s closure brings expansion plans to a screeching halt and leaves many smaller sports leagues without a streaming platform. The company’s closure highlights the challenges of maintaining a streaming service in a highly competitive market.