By Mounir Zok
During the past seven months, since the start of 2023, we have seen a significant increase in sports organizations pursuing digital transformation initiatives. At N3XT Sports, our client roster continues to grow. Whereas we welcomed new clients at a steady pace prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen these numbers double year-on-year ever since.
As we reflect on the year so far, and what’s still to come, the industry continues to evolve at a rapid pace. At the beginning of the year, we identified audience retention, data simplification, and technology integration in our 2023 Digital Trends in the Sports Industry report as three key areas for optimizing the sports organization’s digital ecosystem.
As part of its evolution, sports bodies are exploring new ways digital transformation can serve the evolution of their business. Among the most popular drivers for digital transformation, rights holders are migrating their organizational data to improve workforce productivity, scale their owned and operated direct-to-consumer (D2C) product portfolios, and leverage fan intelligence to inform and personalize content.
For example, the latest automated production suites provide rights holders with new ways to develop generative content for segmented audiences, while many International Federations (IF) now distribute personalized video via their own over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms. Meanwhile, digital transformation is also shaping how rights holders capture and manage first-party fan data via their digital touchpoints, including the consolidation of user information and internal resources for optimizing employee workflows, while making customer data easier to access and understand.
OLYMPIC FEDERATIONS PREPARING MODERN FRAMEWORKS FOR ‘DIGITAL’ GAMES
With less than a year to go until the Paris 2024 Olympic Games get underway, sport’s governing bodies are taking a deeper look at how they can evolve their current digital infrastructures, and ways first-party data collection can help drive audience growth and retention, post-event.
While a major milestone on next year’s sporting calendar, the Olympic Movement is preparing for the first truly digital Olympics and has led international and national federations to expand, not only their D2C portfolios, but also their understanding of their internal frameworks and how digital transformation can serve their entire ecosystem.
Since the beginning of the year, our team at N3XT Sports has been working with some major players in the Olympic industry, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and international governing bodies like United World Wrestling (UWW), Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), World Triathlon, and more. Our client portfolio keeps growing as sports entities seek to improve their digital capabilities. This year has been our busiest yet, reflecting the industry’s increased focus on digital transformation after Covid-19.
Digital transformation is a big part of what we do, and we’ve taken on some challenging projects in sports business development. Our work involves creating and implementing digital strategies that add value, optimize business operations, and boost D2C and digital revenue streams. We take pride in thoroughly auditing our clients’ digital inventories and products, providing updated digital frameworks and information systems that fit modern ways of working.
We’re committed to helping sports organizations thrive in the digital age. Our consulting team works closely with clients to embrace digital transformation, adapt to change, and stay ahead of the game. Together, we’re paving the way for a digitally empowered future, and we’re excited to continue onboarding more clients and taking on transformative projects.
WHAT’S N3XT?
Digital transformation is an absolute ‘must’ for the modern sports organization. However, while the industry continues to explore its options, one of the main challenges digital adoption entails is how to implement technological solutions, designed to widen fan engagement, without causing disruption to an organization’s operational workflows or inadvertently creating data silos.
This is true of every rights holder and sports property – no matter their size or popularity. While data complexity hinders and does not heighten productivity, simplifying the flow and storage of data is a fundamental component for a sports organization looking to optimize its digital processes, and requires both a clear understanding of where operational efficiencies can be made to streamline the capture of user data across multiple digital touchpoints and how they will, in time, enhance the employee experience.
As the industry prepares for Paris 2024, the time is now for sports organizations and rights holders to begin their digital transformation journey. As demonstrated throughout our diverse client portfolio, digitalization begins with understanding the entity’s digital maturity and internal frameworks to identify areas of the business where digital transformation can have the biggest impact.
Our team at N3XT Sports works tirelessly to develop and implement data and digital transformation strategies across a multitude of sports properties at federation level, competition level, and club level. To find out more about how N3XT Sports can serve your organization, fill out the form below, and we’ll be in touch. Our goal is to drive the digitalization of the sports industry and our clients.