{"id":8150,"date":"2019-01-16T16:59:52","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T11:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/?p=8150"},"modified":"2019-01-16T17:01:40","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T11:31:40","slug":"digital-technology-hailed-as-defining-tipping-point-for-sports-revenue-growth-in-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/digital-technology-hailed-as-defining-tipping-point-for-sports-revenue-growth-in-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital technology hailed as defining tipping point for sports revenue growth in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<h4 class=\"sectiontitle introbox__sectiontitle\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u201cShow Me the Money!\u201d report calls for sports to embrace technology innovation to broaden their appeal amongst new audiences, expand to new geographies, and create more immersive fan experiences<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"date\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>London, UK\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0January 16, 2019 :\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0A new report by\u00a0Tata Communications\u00a0examining the commercial transformation of sports identifies 2019 as a defining tipping point for the global sports industry, with digital technology innovation set to kick-start a new era of unprecedented commercial growth for broadcasters, rights holders and sports organisations.<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"introbox__sectionintro\">\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>The \u201cShow Me the Money!\u201d report<sup>\u00a0<\/sup>\u2013 featuring insights from Formula 1, MotoGP and European Tour plus major global players HSBC and DAZN \u2013 highlights that<\/strong> streaming platforms, eSports, VR apps and other technology innovations are quickly becoming new crucial revenue drivers for sports alongside media rights, event attendance, sponsorship and merchandising. Not only do they help grow a sport\u2019s global viewership in terms of volume, they can boost engagement among fans, creating a more compelling value-proposition for sponsorship and advertising.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">That is why, according to \u201cShow Me the Money!\u201d, regardless of the role an organisation plays in sports, it should have a unified digital strategy to unleash new opportunities for growth.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Mehul Kapadia, Managing Director of\u00a0Tata Communications said,<\/strong> \u201cDigital technologies are the friend, not the enemy, of the live experience. So, as the digital fan experience gets better, the pressure is increased to ensure that fans at venues can engage with the action in new ways too. A holistic fan engagement strategy enables broadcasters, rights holders and other key players in the sports ecosystem to maximise the commercial opportunities that digital platforms offer.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8154 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/digital-stadium2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"466\" height=\"475\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Describing digital technologies as the \u201csecret sauce\u201d for monetising fan engagement, \u201cShow Me the Money!\u201d notes that a successful digital strategy is all about augmenting the fan experience. This could mean enabling people at the stadium or trackside to experience sports in new ways or connecting people around the world to the live action in the most immersive ways possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Digital platforms also allow sports to create more emotional connections: more direct access to leading sports stars through platforms like Instagram helps fans identify with the big personalities. This makes them \u201cstickier\u201d from a commercial perspective \u2013 so more likely to buy TV and streaming subscriptions, more likely to attend events and more likely to buy merchandise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Other key findings of the report include:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The lines between traditional and digital media platforms have blurred, causing a seismic shift in the entertainment landscape, tearing down traditional geographical barriers, and highlighting the need for the sports ecosystem to rethink how revenues are generated.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Digital platforms are giving sports access to geographies and audience demographics they were previously unable to reach.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The approaches the sports ecosystem is taking to reach new audiences and improve fan engagement are highly interrelated: the desire to get more people streaming live content on Facebook does not negate the necessity for packing stadiums full of fans.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u201cThis report demonstrates that 2019 can be a defining tipping point for the sports industry,\u201d said<strong>\u00a0Mehul Kapadia, Managing Director of Tata Communications\u2019 F1 Business and the company\u2019s Global Head of Marketing<\/strong>. \u201cDigital technologies are kick-starting a new era of fan engagement, and it\u2019s going to be fascinating to see where the journey takes us. Yet, it\u2019s important to remember that digital technologies are the friend, not the enemy, of the live experience. So, as the digital fan experience gets better, the pressure is increased to ensure that fans at venues can engage with the action in new ways too. A holistic fan engagement strategy enables broadcasters, rights holders and other key players in the sports ecosystem to maximise the commercial opportunities that digital platforms offer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">From a broadcasting point of view,\u00a0<strong>Marcus Parnwell from OTT platform DAZN<\/strong>\u00a0agrees and points to the example of Matchroom Sport which has expanded big-time boxing beyond the ring and into a \u201ccollective fan experience which can be shared and augmented through OTT broadcasting, live-streaming and social media\u201d.<\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong>Formula 1 Global Head of Digital and New Business, Frank Arthofer,<\/strong>\u00a0acknowledges the role of digital in engaging with younger audiences: \u201cThe direction of travel is to evolve digital platforms like official websites and social media channels to become content hubs for fans and a place for brand partners to integrate authenticity into the storytelling.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">In the golfing world,\u00a0<strong>European Tour Senior Strategy Manager, Tom Sammes,<\/strong>\u00a0describes digital as a \u201ctest bed\u201d for new developments such as 360\u00b0 live broadcasting, AR and VR, and believes digital is sport\u2019s biggest opportunity to reach a new audience.\u00a0<strong>Tricia Weener,<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>Global Head of Partnerships of HSBC<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 a long-term golf sponsor that also has long-standing partnerships with rugby sevens and tennis \u2013 agrees, calling digital the \u201clifeline for today and the future\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u2022 To read the full \u201cShow Me the Money!\u201d report, click :\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tatacommunications.com\/digital-futures\/show-me-the-money\/\">here<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cShow Me the Money!\u201d report calls for sports to embrace technology innovation to broaden their appeal amongst new audiences, expand to new geographies, and create more immersive fan experiences London, UK\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0January 16, 2019 :\u00a0\u00a0A new report by\u00a0Tata Communications\u00a0examining the commercial transformation of sports identifies 2019 as a defining tipping point for the global sports industry, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3400,3399,3402,3401,3404,1028,3403],"class_list":{"0":"post-8150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-technology","7":"tag-digital-technology","8":"tag-digital-technology-for-sports","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-ott-platform-dazn","11":"tag-tat-communications-show-me-the-money-report","12":"tag-tata-communications","13":"tag-tom-sammes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8150\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}