When developing a direct-to-consumer (D2C) strategy that drives audience engagement and subscriber growth, over-the-top (OTT) streaming is proving a valuable tool for sports entities looking to convert fans through personalized video content and new ways to monetize their digital ecosystems.
According to research published by Ampere Analysis in July, global OTT subscription revenues will “comfortably” exceed US$100 billion in 2023 while the regional market share is diversifying. Meanwhile, research carried out by N3XT Sports shows that International Federations (IF) with a higher social media presence are more likely to collect fan data via an owned OTT product, highlighting the role subscription streaming plays within a sports organization’s broader fan engagement strategy and the correlation between their digital maturity and audience retention.
Omar Zerrad, Senior Digital Transformation Consultant for N3XT Sports, was invited to moderate a panel, at SportsPro Madrid, which discussed how “challenger sports” are approaching OTT adoption. The conversation drew on expertise from Laurent Puons, the co-founder and Chief Executive (CEO) of Fight Nation, the streaming platform dedicated to combat sports, who spoke to challenges of keeping its 80,000 subscribers continually engaged via its freemium payment model.
Alongside Laurent, the panel also heard from Manoela Penna, Communications and Marketing Consultant for the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), about how the body’s ANOC.tv free-to-view streaming service supports National Olympic Committee (NOC) stakeholders, as well as insights from David Guinan, Chief Digital Officer at Cowboy Channel+, who touched on the importance of capturing fan data to optimize the user experience (UX).
THERE ARE MANY REASONS WHY SPORTS ORGANIZATIONS LAUNCH OTT PLATFORMS
When it comes to launching a dedicated OTT streaming service, there are always different motivations behind the decision. Before exploring Fight Nation, Laurent identified a gap in the market for live combat sports, while several sports broadcasters in France were broadcasting fewer combat events. “We were convinced that there was a space – considering the fan community – to watch live events on a unique platform,” he said.
Meanwhile, Manoela outlined ANOC’s motivation to promote ANOC events and to help NOCs build D2C relationships through live-streamed video content. “Last year, when we came up with the plan to launch ANOC.tv, we wanted to talk directly to our audience, give access to different content, but also showcase ANOC events,” she said. “We wanted to give visibility and power to the NOC community in our platform, integrated within their social media strategies.”
David said that the rodeo community was underserved from a content standpoint and was the primary reason for launching Cowboy Channel+. With 1,000 rodeo performances worldwide, annually, he said “there was a tremendous opportunity to unify them all and elevate the sport to follow specific athletes and bring people content they really never had the opportunity to see before”.
TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION & DATA MANAGEMENT KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL OTT PRODUCT
There are several challenges to launching an OTT streaming service that both caters to audience demand and drives business. Manoela said that the budget was the main barrier to overcome when launching ANOC.tv and that – thanks to “a very aggressive business-partnership plan” – the body was able to “take a step-by-step approach” to its product development.
Meanwhile, Laurent said that keeping users engaged while retaining a healthy subscriber base is a challenging process. “For us, the most important thing was to find the right partner to support us in the creation and development of the platform,” he explained. “Now, the most important challenge is to create and to build the fan base and convert all the fans into subscribers.”
Cowboy Channel+ saw the platform’s subscriber base grow from 3,000 to 30,000 within 45 minutes, David said. The rush of signups was unexpected, he continued, while the challenge then was to develop a technology stack that supported demand and one that doesn’t cause data silos. “When you divide your tech stack, you don’t have unified data, which creates its own nest of problems,” he added.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING A USEFUL TOOL FOR DRIVING LIVE STREAMING ENGAGEMENT
ANOC is using artificial intelligence (AI) to create video teasers via TikTok and Instagram channels to promote live-streamed events on ANOC.tv. However, there is a downside to this, Manoela said, since fans do not always see the teaser until after the event. Alternatively, the communications and marketing team is exploring ways to leverage NOC athletes as influencers to drive engagement more effectively. “For example, we might be using our WhatsApp channels to impact them in real-time and bring them to our social media channels and ANOC.tv,” she said.
Meanwhile, Laurent highlighted the importance of distributing short-form video content via social media to entice users to subscribe to the Fight Nation platform. “This type of content engages lots of comments and is easy to watch on mobile, desktop, and TV,” Laurent said. “On Fight Nation, we give the opportunity to the fan to discover the platform for free,” he continued. “Like this, they can watch all the content that we produce and broadcast except the livestreams, of course. It makes it easier for the fan to make the decision whether to pay or not.”
Taking a different tact, a thorough performance-marketing review discovered that the Cowboy Channel’s paid marketing acquisitions “had less of a churn” compared to its organic acquisitions, David explained, a learning that now informs how Cowboy Channel+ is marketed. “Data is important but I feel most people use it to justify their hunches. What excites me is when there’s surprises [in the data] and [what we found] was just shocking. It means not only is acquiring an audience [important] but acquiring the right audience that sticks.”
OTT ADOPTION OPENS UP COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR SPORTS ORGANIZATIONS
The effort behind converting fans into subscribers “can be very expensive”, Laurent said, highlighting the importance of growing a subscriber base that is both appealing to its partners and can attract event organizers willing to pay to distribute their event coverage via Fight Nation. “For Fight Nation, the best way is to sell content worldwide with the appropriate commentaries,” he continued. “I want to say that Fight Nation could be used by an organizer. If you want to broadcast your content worldwide or in certain territories, you can use Fight Nation and we can propose a pay-per-view (PPV) and share the revenues.”
Growing a commercial streaming product takes time and patience, Manoela said, outlining the importance of nurturing a reliable subscriber base first before looking to commercialize its content. “Of course, PPV is something we consider, and branded content is something very rich, very powerful for streaming, as well as gamification and product placement,” she continued. “We are really looking at ways to make the platform sustainable in the near future.”
For Cowboy Channel+, David said that getting the pricing right for your audience is “an artform” and requires a clear understanding of “how to expand the reach of your sport and preserve your core audience”. Giving audiences “something they can’t see anywhere else” is key, David explained, adding: “We have done that [with] the NFR event – ten days of rodeo. The only way you can watch it on our app is with an annual subscription but not a monthly subscription, [enabling] anyone who’s not a casual fan of rodeo to opt into an annual subscription.”