W
e are living in a golden age for sports fans.
The rise of mobile and social has bestowed millennials with more content and access than any previous generation. Niche sports are reaching global audiences. A new wave of digital-first media networks, like The Players’ Tribune and Whistle Sports, is emerging. And fans are engaging directly with teams, athletes and each other on a daily basis.
The millennial fan consumes media much differently than their baby-boomer parents, who prefer to lean back and be broadcast to. Instead, digital natives prefer to lean forward, engage, participate, create and share. They bore easily, they multitask, and they barely remember a life without mobile.
While televised sports has thrived in the post-DVR era as a last bastion for live unscripted drama, the threat of cord-cutters and cord-nevers is real. Last year alone, ESPN lost more than 3 million cable subscribers.
To win today, sports brands must “fish where the millennials are” and adhere to these four trends in digital media consumption: social, mobile, video and personal.
SOCIAL
Millennials spend their days on Snapchat, Instagram, Vine and countless other social apps. They text, tweet, snap, swipe, like and share. Communicating effortlessly through emojis and
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Memes, emojis are part of the Hawks’ messaging.
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memes, they have their own visual language of shared experiences.
Through a liberal use of emojis and pop-culture references, teams like the Atlanta Hawks showcase an authentic personality that resonates with a younger crowd. The witty, irreverent barbs dished out by the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Kings make other, more conservative teams appear stodgy. While seemingly inconsequential, this stuff matters to a fan who is more likely to follow based on content than a win/loss record.
It’s no surprise that more teams are handing over the reins of social accounts to millennials to shape the digital voice of billion-dollar brands.
The next big step in social media is commerce, where data-driven insights serve up authentic purchase opportunities for on-demand mobile consumers.
MOBILE
Mobile is the glue that connects fans to the sports they love regardless of time or location. Knowing this, brands must operate in a mobile-first mindset.
With fans always on the go and unlimited content at their fingertips, yours must be timely and stand out. Yesterday’s news is ancient history. It’s all about what’s trending now.
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The Los Angeles Kings use pop culture as part of their social media.
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Millennials crave bite-size highlights. A good rule of thumb is short, snackable photos and videos that can be viewed in the car, office or classroom.
They want in on the action and refuse to stand on the sidelines. That’s why user-generated content is a must in any successful social strategy, leveraging millennials’ desire to create and share.
Breakthroughs in cloud computing and mobile bandwidth have opened new content channels that both augment and threaten the primary broadcast. In a matter of months, live streaming apps like Periscope and Meerkat burst onto the scene and shook up the golden goose of sports media rights.
Sports rights holders must be prepared for many more uncomfortable meetings with broadcasters and advertisers on account of unforeseen technological advancements.
VIDEO
The preferred means of communication for millennials has shifted from voice and text to images and now video. It’s the ultimate storytelling medium.
This has been a breakout year for video, which now accounts for more than half of all mobile traffic in the United States. Staggering autoplay views on Facebook and Twitter are racking up significant ad revenue. Snapchat’s Discover channel is now the daily source of sports highlights for millions of young fans. Furthermore, Snapchat is making advertisers shoot vertical videos optimized for mobile viewing (meaning, viewers don’t have to turn their phones to the side to watch).
With Digiday reporting “vertical videos have up to nine times more completed views than horizontal video ads,” it was a matter of time before Facebook and YouTube followed suit.
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The multichannel network has 90 million subscribers.
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The technological breakthroughs in video creation and distribution combined with this generation of sports fans’ appetite for personalized content across multiple screens has created an enormous opportunity to build a new kind of sports media company.
Enter Whistle Sports, a multichannel network with 90 million subscribers, impressive league partnerships, and a roster of millennial-oriented digital talent. This new breed of social influencers and creators from fringe sports like Ultimate Frisbee has amassed fan bases that rival the big leagues. Dude Perfect’s subscriber base of more than 6 million YouTubers is 10 times larger than any major athlete or league, sans the NBA. These fun “trick-shot” videos are a hit with millennials and have progressive brands lining up for content partnerships to reach this coveted audience.
PERSONAL
Sports fans now expect content and experiences to be personalized to their interests, location and context. Popular mobile apps like theScore and MLBAM’s Ballpark deliver personalized highlights, news and scores. ESPN’s self-titled app also gives fans the ability to receive instant news and updates on their favorite teams and athletes.
With FanDuel and DraftKings both achieving “unicorn status” and Yahoo getting into the game, daily fantasy is dictating how and why many millennial fans consume sports content. This format naturally appeals to impatient young fans compared to the traditional, seasonlong leagues. The fantasy roster has become the new featured lineup for “favorite athletes,” creating new opportunities for in-app engagement and personalized media offerings.
In addition, progressive rights holders are reimagining the live sports broadcast to be more interactive and customized to fan preferences, as demonstrated by Fox Sports’ partnership with NextVR to live-stream virtual reality coverage of June’s U.S. Open and the NFL’s new two-year partnership with Twitter.
Fans are playing a bigger role in the production process, as well. One example is MLB Wednesdays, a media partnership with Snapchat featuring league and fan-contributed content from MLB’s Wednesday games.
While multibillion-dollar media rights must be protected and provide some stability, technology has ushered in an undeniable shift in media consumption. Yahoo’s $20 million live stream of the NFL’s Bills-Jaguars game this October is a bellwether of future sports online streaming deals. One thing’s for sure: Millennial sports fans will continue to unapologetically adopt any new technology that enhances the fan experience and brings them closer to the game.
We are dealing with a whole new breed of fan that won’t stop and wait for us to catch up. It’s time to get with the times.
Steve Cobb (steve@hashtagsports.com) is the co-founder of Hashtag Sports, which produces the #SportsDaily newsletter and the #SportsFest expo and conference. Follow him on Twitter @steve_cobb.
