When you’ve watched my activities during the 2013 Social Media Week in Hamburg you probably know that I invited leading digital sport marketing experts from around the globe to participate in a Hangout on Air and that my main thesis is that sport is among the most advanced industries when it comes to digitalization. As the Bangkok Post claims, there is strong evidence that sport fans are early technology adopters as well. No surprise, to the Medienlotse…
They just can’t get enough: Sport fans.
Probably there are only a few things in your life you love more than your partner, your kids or your car. A good bet is that some amount of your love-ability is also dedicated to sports, whether you are active or just following teams and athletes in their regular struggle for success. There is also a good chance, that social mobility forced you out of the area where your favourite club usually stages home matches. The best alternative if you can’t afford to attend the matches each time: Get cable TV and watch the matches live.
But with a family things can get complicated. The anniversary birthday of your father-in-law or the theatre play of your kids might prevent you from slouching on the sofa and cheering on your team. What to do then? Fortunately, the technological and digital development offer sport fans numerous possibilities to watch live content of their team on the go or re-live – without disrupting family gatherings or a romantic dinner. But sport fans are different from normal TV consumers. They only want one thing: more.
TV producers in Germany haven’t lived up to the idea of enriching their TV live content yet. Biathlon screenings still miss crucial athlete indicators such as speed or heart rate on screen, whereas speed and gap distance were shown during last week’s ice-skating world championship in Russia. Publishing company Axel Springer stroke a real bargain when they paid only 5 Mio € for the digital rights of the Bundesliga. Next year they are about to launch their new service, which allows fans to watch highlights of the match only 60 minutes after the final whistle on the go plus share crucial scenes on social networks.
This may sound no big deal, but the world is changing. Modern society has become very mobile and we have more spare time than our parents. On the other hand, the entertainment sector is one with the fiercest competition and sport clubs and media companies have to do their best to keep their customers happy. Applying digital datatainment and pushing digitalisation is surely one of the best bets for the future.
Your sport club or federation needs a digital strategy? You want to learn how to engage sponsors and fans for your sport brand? Then contact “Der Medienlotse” (media pilot)!