In sports, competition is getting fiercer. Not just on the pitch or court, but also for broadcasters who are competing for viewers; competing against other networks, other games, other content altogether.
So how do you separate yourself from the competition? It starts by maximizing your media rights, and pushing your content to the limit. The right technology can help you do just that. Here are seven ways technology can help you make the most of your media rights.
Elevate Brand Awareness on Digital Platforms
Making sure your brand has a strong digital presence is key, and not just for engagement with fans. Digital platforms can be an incredible asset when it comes to promoting upcoming and ongoing matches and encouraging fans to watch live games. Nowadays, it’s safe to say that almost everyone is tuned in to one social media platform or another — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. Even more than that, a whopping 45 percent of US adults say they use a second screen “very often” or “always” while watching TV.
Take advantage of constant scrolling on social by using animated graphics with video to draw viewers to your network. You can tease upcoming games to ensure fans tune in to a later broadcast or draw fans into an ongoing broadcast by, for example, showing the current score with a short clip and a one-line teaser — will your favorite team be able to complete the comeback?
The good news is that you don’t need a dedicated team of graphic designers to create these graphics. Generating these graphics is quick and easy with the help of automation and AI, you just choose your graphics template and the images or videos you think will draw in your viewers.
Get More Tune-Ins to Live Games
People are just waiting for a reason to tune into something — 88 percent of consumers say they exhibit “ appnostic ” behavior, meaning they unlock their phones while waiting for something without having a specific app or action in mind. You can draw in these consumers by sending [rich-media] push notifications to fans of certain teams or athletes during games.
These teasers can include a highlight from the game, or an emotionally engaging moment, that will encourage fans to not only engage with your content on their phone or tablet but also turn on the TV or subscribe to an OTT stream and catch the rest of the game.
Deliver More Content, Faster
Remember that fierce competition? Much of the competition comes down to volume and how quickly you can get your content out to the public. Using AI-based technology, you can instantly deliver content to viewers. Today video can be produced automatically, which means that no prior video editing experience is necessary, meaning anyone, like your social media crew, can operate as if they are fully trained editors.
AI-based platforms automatically produce video highlights that are edited and published directly, while also clipping and rating plays, making it easier for your content crew to find the most exciting action and export it directly to your social accounts moments after it happened in the game.
You want to be the first one to post that dagger three-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game at halftime, and, if we circle back to tune-ins, it’s a great way to draw fans from social feeds to live games.
Use Your Clips For Sponsorships
More content means more eyeballs and, in turn, more sponsorship opportunities. Every highlight you post to social media could become an opportunity to monetize your content: the best assists of the game sponsored by one partner, top goals of the week by another. Technology makes creating and publishing these sponsor-specific highlights even easier, and enables you to package video by context (such as best dunks or top saves) You can add graphics overlays to your content, or wrap your highlights with graphic bumpers — intros and outros — to create sponsorship-specific highlight packages. Branding just got a lot easier.
Get More Broadcast Quality Content, at Speed
Using automated technology you can skip the hassle and double work of editing footage separately for social and your broadcast. AI and Machine Learning technology can be used to generate content across platforms, formats and use-cases, including broadcast quality so video content can be ready to air on your studio shows. This means your content team and editors will have more time to focus on in-depth analysis and creative content.
Using Archive Footage to Generate Engagement
That archive footage you’ve been holding on to for so long can be put to good use. So bring the boxes out of storage, dust off the tapes, and get ready to serve up some nostalgia. It is now easy to ingest archive footage and index it using technology, just as you would with live games. Now your blast from the past footage can be distributed across all networks, to share some of the best highlights on birthdays, holidays, special events or anniversaries.
This footage can lead to new exposure to fans of former superstars and create new commercial opportunities. You can even create a new consumer experience and let your fans personalize archive content they want to watch (instantly).
Adding Innovative Direct-to-Consumers Experiences
Personalization has become the key to engagement. This stands true for nearly everything that surrounds us on a daily basis, including sports. Content automation not only provides real-time generated content but also allows your viewers and fans to decide on the type of content they want to consume at any given moment.
Imagine the following scenario: fans log on to your site and have the opportunity to generate the exact highlight they want to watch at that exact time. They no longer have to search the web for that crazy buzzer-beater they remember from last week, playing with the wording to find the right sequence of words to get a specific highlight they want to see. Instead, a few clicks on your website can produce all of Kawhi Leonard’s dunks during the NBA playoffs, or all of the Golden State Warriors 3-pointers from the Finals. An endless sea of highlights is available at a few clicks of the mouse — or taps of the screen — on your owned and operated property.
You can also use automated content to enrich your LiveTicker with fresh videos as the games are being played or let your fans interact with a Facebook bot that can produce highlights on-demand and in real-time. The options for grabbing those eyeballs are endless.
These seven ideas are just a few ways to maximize your media rights and ensure you are truly getting the most out of your content. Using technology on top of your content can help engage customers, create more monetization opportunities and create loyal fans to help your brand stand out from the rest.
