For decades, the NFL's Super Bowl "has been one of the leading events on the television calendar," according to Sam Dean of the London TELEGRAPH. But "things are starting to change." America's primary sport is losing viewers and it is "losing them fast." Viewing numbers were down by more than 10% in the first few months of the NFL campaign and have "barely bounced back since." It is a similar story in the Premier League, where viewing numbers in the U.K. and the U.S. "dwindled dramatically early in the season." Most agree that "a change in viewing habits is having a major effect." Clips from games are now available immediately online (legally or not), and "younger generations in particular are consuming sport in a range of different ways," whether that is via streaming, social media, desktop or live apps. Much has been made of what this means for the broadcasters, but there is another group "reeling" from these "dramatic" changes: sponsors. As the way "we watch sport" becomes "more fragmented and viewers turn away from traditional channels," sponsors are finding their linear agreements with clubs, leagues or tournaments are not "delivering either the exposure they would traditionally receive, nor reaching a younger audience." The world of sports sponsorship is "spinning fast" and in a climate where an Instagram video can be seen millions of times more than any live broadcast, experts believe the "top companies who pay big money to partner up with the leading lights of sport will either need to adapt the way they promote their brand, or watch their sponsorship agreement haemorrhage value." Branding consultancy Landor Global Creative Officer Peter Knapp said, "The traditional way of looking at sponsorship has to change, because this is the way screen-based entertainment is going. The millennial generation doesn't want to bother with all the dull bits, they just want the good bits." At the "forefront of the modern way of consuming sport" are companies such as Grabyo, a British startup that provides technology which allows rights-owners and broadcasters to quickly edit and publish short video clips in real time on social media. Grabyo CEO Gareth Capon said that "sponsors are, in many cases at least, yet to fully appreciate the power of digital and social media." Capon: "Digital often gets wrapped in as part of something else, which is not the most effective way of truly valuing what that engagement represents" (TELEGRAPH, 2/4).
