My daughter, a typical 5-screen digital consumer (5thscreen is her Fitbit).
Five screens…
FIVE screens?
FIVE SCREENS!
According to Weiss (2016), five screens in our daily life will be the norm. What has this world come to? I recall a time when I was in high school that my uncle (who worked for Eaton Corporation at the time) told me that one day we’d all have computers in every room in our house. I thought he was crazy. Who could possibly need that many computers? Well, he has long since retired, however, his forecast was correct…and he can add to that prediction to our cars, as well.
As I drove home from a car show today with my daughters (each on their cell phones, of course) I realized that my car was also a five-screen environ! With the navigation screen, infotainment screen, movie screen and their two cell phones, it dawned on me that my minivan was also a five-screen environment….six if you count my cell phone that I was using for navigation because I prefer to use my phone over the car navigation system!!! Sheesh! Technology, big data, mobility and the internet of things is turning our world on its head.
Trends
Convergence of media toward a digital, online, mobile presentation is causing disruptive, transformational change in all industries, including sport. The five trends predicted in the BBC’s “Future of News” report can also definitely be seen to be taking place within sport: connectivity, computing power, sensors and the internet of things, big data and cloud computing, and algorithms and machine learning.
The potential applications of such technology in a sports environment is truly exciting to consider. Such trends elicit many questions of those working in various front office roles of sport organizations - marketing, promoting, publicizing and selling products and services of all sorts within the sport industry. Technological innovations are forcing practitioners to examine how mobile technology can be best strategically utilized in an efficient and ethical manner, such that they can maintain a competitive business model and survive the incredible changes in fan consumption patterns.
Mega-Companies
With the advances in technology, we are seeing global sport and entertainment mega-conglomerates emerge such as Liberty Media Group and AEG. Such entities are born due to the immense wealth of the ownership group. However, they grow and sustain in this web 2.0 environ because of their ability to utilize vertically integrated business strategies along with advances in technology to increase the reach of their marketing and improve the efficiencies of operation on a global scale.
Not to be outdone by these mega companies, technology is enabling local organizations the ability to diversify its audience and broaden and deepen its fan base as well. For example, as a means to broaden the team’s appeal to and ability to connect with to a Spanish-speaking audience, minor league baseball teams throughout the country are now joining together with Satisfi to offer customer service in alternate languages from English, through the use of chatbots (Fisher, 2018).
Global Opportunity
Companies such as Liberty Media (who owns Formula 1, the Atlanta Braves, among other entertainment properties) have an incredible opportunity to broaden and deepen connections with an already global fan base using digital, mobile and online tools. Earlier this summer, it was announced that F1 entered into a partnership with Amazon Web Services to improve its grasp of big data and to improve the fans’ racing experience. For example, each F1 car creates three gigabytes of data during each race, using 120 sensors which generate 1500 data points per second. With the help of Amazon Web Services and big data, broadcasters will soon be able to tell a better story, explaining race strategy and car functionality to its fan base.
In addition, the amazing statistic is that for as much connectivity that currently exists, the reality is that much of the world has yet to connect to the internet. With almost 58% of the world unconnected (West, 2015), and half of this unconnected population in China and India, there are enormous opportunities to create global fans for sport organizations. According to its 2017 press sheet, there are 503 million global Formula 1 fans who watch or attend 21 races in 21 countries on five continents (Liberty Media, 2017). With such a global audience, sports organizations such as F1 have an enormous upside to helping these BRIC countries gain internet access.
Roger Entner, an analytics expert, states that integration has to get tighter among those countries who are already connected, such that that the user’s interactions with technology flow seamlessly from device to device, deepening the consumer’s connection to content and advertising (Weiss, 2016). It is when sport managers and marketers can strategize and implement digital and mobile strategies which seamlessly integrate into these five screens that they will have emerged as a successful entertainer in the next generation.
Fan Wants and Needs Met
Advances in mobile technology, in the form of sports apps (Collins, 2016), virtual and augmented reality (Stern, 2018), and big data are changing the business and operations models across the entirety of the sport industry. From online ticket sales to digital and mobile branding, automated concession stands (Sunnucks, 2018) to the actual game presentation itself (Ourand, 2018), sport organizations and governing bodies across the globe are beginning to embrace the transformational changes required of their business and operations models, to keep fans engaged, coming to the events and watching the competitions, and it is improving the quality of the fan’s experience.
Building and Strengthening Connection
According to Kaplan (2012), mobile social media offers many opportunities to sport organizations to utilize digital, mobile social media communications strategies in key ways. He recommends a successful strategy will utilize “4 i’s” for success. First, that organizations individualize mobile social media activities into users daily life so the interactions are perceived as relevant; second that they integrate the activities so that they are not distracting; third, that they involve users in engaging content and conversations, and fourth, to give users the opportunity to initiate user-generated content.
Concluding Perspective
According to one media expert, “Successful products, both on the web and mobile, fill a need. Period. Unfortunately, in all the hoopla surrounding the mobile gold rush, many entrepreneurs and business owners are losing sight of the fact that what you're offering matters a lot more than the device on which you're offering it” (Robles, 2012).
It is when sport management professionals come with a customer-first query to their actions that they will successfully devise mobile, digital and web-based strategies using the tools and technologies which are emerging literally every day. It is when sport management professionals utilize these tools in an ethical way, protecting the privacy of their fan’s data, that they will successfully implement these strategies. Sport organizations have a unique opportunity unlike other industries, in that it is an industry that can naturally connect deeply to people’s social identity and integrate into their lives. When these organizations build a strong trustworthy reputation and brand, fans will become more loyal and will bring their friends along for the experience.
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About the Author:
Mary Beth is graduating this spring with a Ph.D. at Troy University in Sport Management, where her research interests involve organizational capacity in sport. She is the Sport Management Department Chair at Pfeiffer University, a liberal arts institution near Charlotte, NC. She has 15 years experience as a Marketing Director for an LPGA tourney, Marketing Director for a US Olympic National Governing Body, sponsorship sales executive for an NBA sports and entertainment property, VP of Marketing and Ticket Sales for a hockey team, and she aided press operations during the 1996 Olympic Games as an Interview Room Manager. Mary Beth enjoys thinking about new ideas and solving business problems.
Follow her on Twitter @mb_chambers or LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/marybethchambersphd
References:
Collins, B. (August 16, 2016). Using mobile-first strategy to design sports apps. Retrieved from: https://www.punchkick.com/blog/2016/08/16/using-mobile-first-strategy-to-design-better-sports-apps
Fisher, E. (May 14, 2018). Satisfi to provide MiLB with bilingual chatbots.Sports Business Journal.
Retrieved from: https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2018/05/14/Technology/Satisfi.aspx
Kaplan, A. (2012). If you love something, let it go mobile: Mobile marketing and mobile social media 4X4. Business Horizons, (55), 129-139.
Liberty Media. (March, 2018). Formula 1 Fact Sheet. Retrived from: http://libertymedia.com/pdfs/F1-FactSheet-Dark.pdf
Ourand, J. (July 9, 2018). F1 deal with Amazon Web Services part of push to modernize sport. Retrieved from: https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2018/07/09/Media/Sports-media.aspx
Robles, P. (December 3, 2010). Forget mobile-first: solution-first is the only way to succeed. Retrieved from: https://econsultancy.com/blog/11247-forget-mobile-first-solution-first-is-the-only-way-to-succeed
Stern, A. (May 14, 2018). NASCAR innovation unit looking beyond esports. Sports Business Journal. Retrieved from: https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2018/05/14/Technology/NASCAR-innovation.aspx
Sunnucks, M. (May 14, 2018). Driven to serve. Sports Business Journal. Retrieved from: https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2018/05/14/In-Depth/Concessionaires.aspx
Weiss, T.R. (September 11, 2016). Today’s 3 displays will grow to 5 screens in the future. eWeek.Retrieved from: http://www.eweek.com/mobile/today-s-3-displays-will-grow-to-5-screens-in-the-future
West, D.M. (February, 2015). Digital divide: Improving internet access in the developing world through affordable services and diverse content. Center for Technology Innovation. Retrieved from: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/West_Internet-Access.pdf
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