AUSTIN, Texas — “There’s never been a better time to be a sports fan,” declared Andrew Barge, Head of Sports Broadcast Partnerships at Twitter, early on during a panel discussion at South by Southwest Conference on Sunday. More content — most of which is even free — is available at your fingertips than ever before, and a fan’s ability to support teams — be it in traditional sports such as football or baseball, or in newer sports such as eSports and drone racing — is unprecedented.
This is posing unique problems, however, for teams and media companies (traditional and social) alike, forcing organizations to reexamine how they engage with their fans.
Twitter provides a unique value add to what already exists in the traditional on-screen experience. As Barge describes it, Twitter is “the world’s largest digital sports bar.” It is an established second screen that allows fans to simultaneously interact with fans around the world while watching the action unfold on the court or the pitch.
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It has not been as easy for the teams and traditional media companies to adjust.
The traditional avenue that fans have consumed content through was cable bundles consisting of live and on-demand programming. This has been incredibly lucrative over the years, especially for Regional Sports Networks (RSNs), as content has largely been accessible through only one source. But now that more and more fans are cutting cords, cable bundles must be reevaluated.
For Monumental Sports Network, the home of the Washington Capitals, Wizards and Mystics, it has been the creation of an app that provides fans with more and more previously unavailable content that’s been a unique differentiator, reinforcing the importance of redefining the “cable” bundle. This new bundle must include things such as exclusive content or unique in-person experiences, not just the traditional programming.
If viewers are cutting cords, then why aren’t networks simply creating more direct-to-consumer content?
At NBC Sports Ventures & Comcast Ventures, they are taking their time to ensure they get it right. While cable viewership is on the decline, their argument is that cable still holds such a large market share that networks can afford to take it slow. That’s why NBC Sports has begun to use non-traditional sports as an avenue to experiment with before going mainstream. They found great success with their 2016 Rio Olympics mobile coverage, and are planning on continuing it with the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
One non-traditional sport that is really challenging teams and networks alike is eSports. The last few years have seen more and more eyeballs drawn to websites like Twitch. Viewership is expected to grow to 427 million people by 2019, and in recent years, events like the League of Legends World Championship finals have drawn more viewers than even Game 7 of the World Series. It is also not uncommon to find teenagers uninterested today in attending a hockey or baseball game at Madison Square Garden, but over-enthused to visit the Garden when an eSports championship is on center stage. That is why the next few years are crucial for both teams and media companies.
“We’re all trying to find a way to work ourselves into the muscle memory of young consumers,” Monumental Sports Network vice president and general manager Zachary Leonsis said. “If we don’t try to evolve, we’ll wake up 15 to 20 years down the line and realize we missed the ball on this one.”