The intersection of social media and professional sport

1. Social Media &
Sports
Does it matter?
 Who owns the most followed Twitter account in 2015?

3. Social Media &
Sports
Does it matter?
 Who owns the most followed Twitter account in 2015?
 Who is the lead performer in 2015 Super Bowl?

4. Social Media &
Sports
Does it matter?
 Who owns the most followed Twitter account in 2015?
 Who is the lead performer in 2015 Super Bowl?
 Are the most popular sports the ones that produce the bigger
revenue streams?

5. Sporteology fans Topendsport fans
1 Soccer 3,500 1 Soccer 3,500
2 Cricket 2,500 2 Cricket 2,500
3 Basketball 2,500 3 Field Hockey 2,000
4 Field
Hockey
2,200 4 Tennis 1,000
5 Tennis 1,000 5 Volleyball 900
6 Volleyball 900 6 Table tennis 850
7 Table tennis 900 7 Baseball 500
8 Baseball 500 8 Golf 450
9 Am football 410 9 Basketball 400
10 Rugby 410 10 Am football 400
10 most popular sports in the world

6. Social Media &
Sports
Does it matter?
 Who owns the most followed Twitter account in 2015?
 Who is the lead performer in 2015 Super Bowl?
 Are the most popular sports the ones that produce the bigger
revenue streams?
 How come they aren't?

7. Social Media &
Sports
Abdul’s story
“Imagine a Manchester United fan in Kuala Lumpur
called Abdul. He has never been to Europe, let alone to
United’s stadium Old Trafford, but he owns a pirated club
shirt, scours the internet for United news and watches
their games on TV in a local restaurant. And yet the
club’s total income from Abdul is zero. In fact, for
decades United didn’t know he existed”
Football and Social Media. Simon Kuper, Finantial Times, 2014

8. Social Media &
Sports
Abdul’s story
“ Imagine a Manchester United fan in Kuala Lumpur
called Abdul. He has never been to Europe, let alone to
United’s stadium Old Trafford, but he owns a pirated club
shirt, scours the internet for United news and watches
their games on TV in a local restaurant. And yet the
club’s total income from Abdul is zero. In fact, for
decades United didn’t know he existed”
My question:
Is there any value in Abdul? Is he a potential
consumer of my brand?
Football and Social Media. Simon Kuper, Finantial Times, 2014

9. Social Media &
Sports
Football and Social Media. Simon Kuper, Finantial Times, 2014
Abdul’s story
“Through social media, United can make contact with
fans like Abdul. If United can register people like him, the
club could become a de facto database company. Then
its value would lie chiefly in its knowledge of the
identities and consumption habits of its supporters”.

10. Social Media &
Sports
Football and Social Media. Simon Kuper, Finantial Times, 2014
Abdul’s story
Clubs are increasingly becoming “identity
companies” like Facebook or Google. They offer
services for free; in return the user gives them his or
her identity.
“The intelligent club in the future will say, ‘Well,
company, you want to have my 25 million fans. I don’t
give it to you. It’s mine.” The company will have to fork
out. A database of 25 million fans could be worth
billions of euros”.

11. Social Media &
Sports
Football and Social Media. Simon Kuper, Finantial Times, 2014
Abdul’s story
 So a Benfica soccer team executive asked: “How can I
make money from the people who will never engage
with me directly but are on our Facebook page, our
Twitter page?

12. Social Media &
Sports
Football and Social Media. Simon Kuper, Finantial Times, 2014
Abdul’s story
 So a Benfica soccer team executive asked: “How
can I make money from the people who will never
engage with me directly but are on our Facebook
page, our Twitter page?
Build a club app, they will have to register.

14. Social Media &
Sports
Abdul’s story
 Sport teams and leagues are better customer-seducers than any
other company.
 Sport product, sport content, is more engaging than most of the
products companies can produce.
 Social media can help sports organizations to capitalize on their
fans:

15. Social Media &
Sports
Monetization
 Difference between customers and fans:
“Fans will paint their face purple, fans will evangelize. … Every other
CEO in every business is dying to be in our position — they’re dying
to have fans.” Vivek Ranadivé, owner of the Sacramento Kings.

16. Social Media &
Sports
Monetization
 How can sport organization monetize their fans’ engagement?
1. Sponsorship deals. Companies partner with teams to sponsor
their social media apps.
2. Discounts, lotteries, special offers…
3. Ticket sales online, contests.
4. Social gaming, fantasy games, in-app purchases…
5. In the near future, selling data about fans to other companies

17. Most followed soccer
teams on Twitter 2014
Social Media &
Sports
Soccer

18. Most liked soccer teams
on Facebook 2014

19. Most viewed soccer teams
on Youtube 2014

20. Commercial revenue-per-fan

21. Social Media &
Sports
Data visualization
 Social media is also useful to make us feel part of something
bigger.

25. Social Media &
Sports
New trends
1. Athletes can skip the intermediaries and connect directly with their
fans. They can control their own story.

26. Social Media &
Sports
New trends
2. Quantity of data available is staggering

27. Social Media &
Sports
New trends
3. 70% of fans bring a mobile device to the stadium and expect to
use it during a game
“The new Sacramento Kings arena, set to open in 2016, will have
mobile applications for check-in, ushering you to your seat,
indicating shortest bathroom and concession lines, seat upgrade
options (much like what has been done in the airline industry),
cashless commerce, and in-seat wireless charging. The Kings
are exploring the use of drone technology to survey available
parking spaces and even provide unique in-arena camera
angles, said team senior vice president of marketing and strategy
Ben Gumpert”
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/five-key-trends-are-driving-business-sports

28. Social Media &
Sports
New trends
4. ‘Second screens’ to enhance the users’ experience. It’s not
business as usual anymore.
Viewer species in danger of extinction Multi-tasking viewer