It can sometimes sound like an oversimplification, but there is an approach which international federations (IF) successful in growing and retaining digital audiences often talk about – and that’s the importance of understanding the individual fan and what attracts them to the sports they love to watch.
Where it can be challenging, however, is deciding when to double-down on the production of content fans like and how to monetize content without turning subscribers off your product. The reality is that consumer retention doesn’t simply rely on doing more of the same thing. There’s a multitude of factors at play here while growing a fan base isn’t as straightforward as generating a reliable stream of content and sitting back and watching the engagement numbers roll in.
It’s the sports organizations that pore over the data and invest in the software and infrastructure to do this well that succeed in retaining subscribers. They are able to develop cross-channel retention strategies to maintain the individual fan’s needs and to continue to bring them back. It’s here – based on the fan’s behaviors gleaned from their data – where we find the sports organizations which know exactly why fans return to their platforms and which fans are willing to part ways with their hard-earned cash for exclusive offers and premium content.
This is a product of the Internet Age. As modern customers moved online, this period has brought about streams of anonymous data that advertisers in particular have learnt to manage and segment. As a result, data management platforms (DMPs) were created. Whereas customer relationship management (CRM) platforms are used to create and log one-to-one information about individual customers, DMPs help rights holders to manage a mass of data from second- and third-party software providers, such as the advertising networks.
Both of these systems evolved with the general technology landscape, but it was in 2013 when the customer data platform (CDP) was first defined and developed. Roughly speaking, CDPs synthesize the personalized information from a CRM, and combine it with the masses of data generated by advertising and online activity, as well as all the data contained within marketing platforms, such as email-service providers. The idea was to create a central place to see all possible data about your customers and to market to them based, not only on their direct relationship, but how and when they engage with online promotions more generally.
How organizations manage audience retention is also undergoing a transformation, and one that never stops evolving. In a similar vein, rights holders stand a far better chance of retaining audiences and generating greater returns on investment (ROI) by adopting software solutions that give a granular and more rounded view of the digital fan. More sports organizations, as a result, are tailoring the user experience by consolidating their different streams of customer data, so as to adapt their content to the fan’s interests, while recognizing opportunities to commercialize the fan relationship based on the rich marketing data available to them.
IT’S GOOD TO BE COMMERCIALLY FOCUSED, BUT CHECK IN WITH THE DATA FIRST
During my time working at the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and thereafter with the commercial venture Volleyball World, we set out on a journey to consolidate the governing body’s entire digital ecosystem. This involved building a framework whereby all of our digital touchpoints – including the website, mobile application, our Volleyball TV over-the-top (OTT) service, ticketing system, etc – were connected in such a way that the body is able to target digital content and products to individual fans, and identify the ones most likely to become paying customers.
It’s important to note that this isn’t everybody’s approach. However, in order for any and every sports body to thrive, commercialization is key. An ability to segment digital, performance-marketing campaigns is proven to be a powerful tool for generating revenue. According to Horizm, the world’s top sports leagues generated more than US$2.1 billion from their digital assets in 2021, demonstrating the opportunity for driving value by growing one’s digital presence.
Needless to say, it’s also vitally important to keep your ‘north star’ in check when it comes to commercialization. Otherwise, you could find yourself in a position where your organization is spending money on building beautiful experiences that do not generate value that can justify your ROI. Nevertheless, it is no happy coincidence that the biggest sports leagues and federations are leading the charge on digital monetization – they and their partners are also the ones investing dollars back into their digital and data infrastructure and performance-marketing capabilities in order to grow and commercialize the fan experience organically.
Remember: digitalization is a journey and requires a thorough analysis of your existing digital infrastructure and customer activity before deciding on the software solutions that will best serve the organization. It’s about finding the sweet spot that combines the organization’s digital maturity, digital footprint, and its ability to adapt to the evolving direct-to-consumer (D2C) space.
Motasem El Bawab, Chief Information Officer (CIO), N3XT Sports
In August, for example, Amazon signed a three-year contract with the US data and marketing firm Nielsen to measure audience behaviors for its exclusive coverage from the National Football League’s (NFL) Thursday Night Football (TNF) games – marking the first time a streaming platform will feature in Nielsen’s national broadcast analysis for the league and underlining the role Big Tech can play in growing and understanding the NFL fan base.
As the NFL continues to strengthen its digital portfolio, including its own NFL+ streaming platform, the league and its partners continue to invest in fan analysis, too. And this extends to the digital frameworks of its NFL stakeholders, after the NFL announced in December last year that 18 teams would be granted permission to carry out marketing, fan engagement and commercialization activities in eight overseas markets as part of efforts to “broaden the NFL’s global reach”.
Whether you work within the marketing team for the biggest sports league in the world, or you are part of a growing sports body, team, or competition, data management and clear data governance are imperative for bringing customers the full length of the “fan funnel”.
It’s only by distinguishing those fans willing to pay to stay connected with the brand (from the ones who aren’t invested) where commercial opportunities can be recognized and executed successfully, hence why data solutions are proving so valuable within the rights holder’s arsenal.
DIGITAL MATURITY ISN’T ACHIEVED OVERNIGHT. IT’S A LONG-TERM PROCESS
I recently had the pleasure of discussing the importance of data governance for fan engagement and audience growth at the World Football Summit (WFS) Europe, held in Sevilla in September. Some of the key takeaways included:
- The need to cater content to audiences and to understand empirically how and why certain fans watch the content that they do;
- The opportunity direct-to-consumer (D2C) media offers for developing a self-sustaining business model and raising the commercial value of your product;
- The positive impact performance marketing methodologies, such as email marketing and push notifications, can have on growing digital engagement and audience retention;
- The opportunities gamification and non-live, on-demand video (VOD) content hold for attracting new audiences to digital platforms;
- The role augmented and data-driven content plays in the segmentation of D2C content, whereby the fan is given the choice of viewing experience.
So, what we have here is a recipe for building relationships with fans at a hyper-personal level. In order to find the winning formula for your organization, you must first find the right combination of fan intelligence, including the types of content your subscribers prefer, and the channels they engage with. Although live-events content remains the greatest attraction for fans, industry research continues to indicate a growing demand for non-live video content, and, from experience, is turning the game in the rights holder’s favor. For example, consider for a moment the findings published in the Nielson 2022 Global Sports Marketing Report, which identify growing interest among global audiences for non-live video content.
According to the data, on average, two in five fans worldwide (39.39 percent) watch non-live content related to a live sports event – only 1.31 percent fewer than those who watch live sporting events. This level of interest peaks for global fans aged between 16-29, rising to 43.59 percent and only 0.41 percent fewer than those in the same age demographic who express interest in watching live sports.
What this demonstrates is the influence ‘non-live’ plays in connecting fans with sports at all ages, and the opportunity to curate archive and feature-length content that takes fans under the skin of the sporting events that we know – based on their previous interactions with the organization – that they enjoy; meaning that so-called “shoulder content” is not only a powerful tool for capturing the fan’s interest at the first instance, but for retaining their engagement at more regular intervals thereafter.
In summary, by understanding fan behavior at a granular level and how your distribution and media rights strategies align with the audience’s needs, sports properties are competing for greater subscriber retention, and therefore able to establish stronger grounds for commercializing their content offering further along the fan funnel.
Remember: digitalization is a journey and requires a thorough analysis of your existing digital infrastructure and customer activity before deciding on the software solutions that will best serve the organization. It’s about finding the sweet spot that combines the organization’s digital maturity, digital footprint, and its ability to adapt to the evolving direct-to-consumer (D2C) space.
This, in turn, helps to diversify the mix of paid features within your content distribution model and, in the long-term, leverage fan intelligence to target fans who are willing to pay for the pleasure to watch your content and want to be a part of your organization’s journey.
To find out more about how N3XT Sports can support your organization’s digital transformation and delivers bespoke strategies that help grow and retain audiences, please fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch. We look forward to hearing from you.