A new sports content app and website has launched in Australia called 20FOUR. The company hopes to pump out a ton of behind the scenes athlete-related content for an array of sports.
The Sydney-based startup, which has been in the works for the last 18 months, plans to deliver mostly video content for fans of Australian rules football, rugby, soccer, cricket, surfing, snowboarding, motocross and more. The athletes, as well as 20FOUR’s in-house production team, will produce all of the content.
The hope is to provide fans access to off-season, off-day and behind the scenes action they rarely can get from a game or event television broadcast.
“Consumers have voiced a clear preference for authentic, snackable content – available on demand,” 20FOUR CEO Chris Haigh, a former head of strategy at Fox Sports Australia, said in a statement. “20FOUR will carry the sporting conversation between games, and throughout the off-season, in a way that hasn’t been seen before in this market.”
Aside from 20Four’s exclusive content, athletes’ social media posts will appear on the platform. All of 20FOUR’s content will be available completely for free via its website and mobile app, which launched Wednesday.
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20FOUR wants to help bring fans closer to their favorite athletes in order to help them better understand what being a professional athlete is all about. “We’re developing an athlete-to-fan mobile based community focused on creating a genuine connection between people and their sporting heroes,” Haigh said. “We’re working directly with the biggest names in Australian sport to create exclusive content that fans want to see.”
At the same time, brands and sponsors will be able to tap into 20FOUR’s video and photographic content. Haigh expressed the startups interest in producing branded content for an array of companies. 20FOUR will make money by leveraging their athletes’ stardom and wide-reach.
“Athletes when used appropriately drive real engagement and influence,” Haigh told StartupSmart. “In 2017, they have real commercial value and in themselves are a media asset. To officially commercialize that asset you need scale.
“With some of the really big guys … you’ll see some big brand involvement, but the majority of athletes in the market can’t access that.”
The company hopes to help less well-known athletes gain exposure by placing them in the same content world as big-time Australian sporting names such as Australian rules footballer Joel Selwood, motorbike stunt rider Robbie Maddison, surfer Laura Enever, mixed martial artist Rob Whittaker and others. Currently, a total of 56 featured athletes have partnered with 20FOUR.