There’s plenty to look forward to in the world of sport this year. To highlight what’s new to the industry, Ticketgum.com studied the Neilson Sport report “Commercial Trends in Sports” to pull 8 commercial trends that illustrate just how the sporting world is changing.
- New Sporting Powers
Emerging markets are increasingly engaging with and investing in top-level sports. China is leading the way in this trend, but further evidence can be seen in the fact the next three Olympic Games will be staged in Asia, while Russia and Qatar are the next two FIFA world cup hosts. Elsewhere, Mexico is heavily investing in sports and major events, while markets like Turkey, Indonesia and Thailand face challenges but have undeniable growth potential.
- IP Owners Take Control
This is an era when intellectual property rules. Everyone can be a broadcaster and content has never been more prized or valuable. Rights holders are looking to add value by developing their own content, often in partnership with brands or broadcasters, sometimes independently.
Athletes, too are becoming their own media owners – from dedicated apps and YouTube channels to larger investments. Whatever the avenue, it’s proactive and allows athletes to engage with fans directly, authentically and on their own terms.
- Rights Holders Rethink
Research by Neilson Sports shows people are “intensely interested in fewer things, but generally interested in more things.” To keep up, rights holders across every sport are examining ways to repackage, relocate and reposition events to better suit the changing structure. To add to the competition for a fan’s time and interest, new properties continue to spring up and entirely new sports, such are drone racing, are emerging.
- Sports Entertainment Fusion
On a constant quest to enhance the spectator experience, rights holders and venues across the world of sport strive to add more and more entertainment to events and for those watching remotely. These elements can include, but are not limited to: concerts, fan zones and enabling more access to star athletes.
- Live Sport Gains Traction
Thanks to technology, fans have come to expect content – live streaming, on-demand coverage and supporting statistics and analysis – to be available whenever, wherever. With established broadcasters, newer digital publishers, rights holders, telecoms firms, social media platforms and technology giants all engaged in creation.
For example, Amazon, Google and Apple are already active in content creation and delivery, while rights holders are actively developing and experimenting with their own media models.
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- New Revenue Streams
The introduction of “live feed” features on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have given stakeholders the opportunity to deliver live sport or secondary content straight to consumers. At the same time, this has opened more options for user-generated content. Mobile is increasingly the device of choice for fans to consume and share their content.
Different rights holders are at different stages of their digital journey: some are focused on fan acquisition, others on fan engagement and the most sophisticated on monetisation – from digital fan stories, to virtual reality and 360 videos.
- e-Sports is Emerging
Seen to engage with a young, much-prized audience, the industry of e-Sports is still maturing; but, that hasn’t stopped the market growing to a point where it is regarded as a serious proposition by established sports. Major stakeholders in the e-Sports industry – game publishers, distributors like Twitch, tournament organisers and teams – are all facing commercial challenges like those faced in established sports.
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- Optimising Fan Relationships
Investment in gaining a more detailed understanding of audiences and fans can not only pay dividends in terms of offering more refined, tailored content; it also opens doors to potential new monetisation possibilities, via membership schemes, OTT broadcast subscriptions and retail.
The power of CRM, to optimise all aspects of the relationship with a fan is undeniable, and the smartest brands are already demanding such information, with a view to use their in-depth knowledge to ensure brand partners are activating in the most effective way.
Feature Image credit: Eugene Onischenko/Shutterstock
