Key Takeaways
-The explosion of short-form video has redefined how fans consume sports, forcing sports orgs and brands to rethink how (and where) they show up
-Live games are just one piece of a larger fan experience, where real-time highlights and behind-the-scenes content carry major weight
-To engage fragmented audiences, organizations must create diverse content ecosystems that speak to fans wherever they are
By all accounts, even the least social media-dependent among us, spend hours every day on their phones. And the majority of those hours spent—watching videos. To give things some perspective, consider these numbers. TikTok is expected to eclipse 2 billion users by the end of 2025 (there’s 8 billion people on the planet—you do the math). YouTube, the world’s leading video platform, released Shorts in 2021 and within a few years reached 70 billion daily views.
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And the tech giants aren’t the only ones seeing the tide shifts. Our own internal data revealed that our clients—over 550 of the top sports rights owners in the world—are creating nearly 2X the videos compared to four years ago. That trend doesn’t appear to be slowing down, and presents a daunting challenge not only for sports organizations, but for all businesses. How do you create content at scale? How do you do it while still remaining authentic and creative.
Today’s successful brands are creating entire ecosystems where every piece of content works together and serves fans of all types—even the ones who may not know your brand yet. In the face of daunting challenges—like demand, allocation of resources, and creating content for multiple platforms—there are plenty of organizations that have quickly adapted and built-out successful content strategies.
Who’s the King of Content?
Content gives fans a deeper connection to your organization, and reason to keep watching beyond the final score. In a recent webinar featuring RSC Anderlecht Media Director, Stijn Van Hemelrijck, he said, “Younger fans especially are less concerned with the standings, and more interested in supporting teams and leagues that reflect their values, style, and sense of self. A quick glance at Anderlecht social media shows just how much the club is invested in its younger audience.
Here are some other organizations leading the industry when it comes to creating great content:
–Cleveland Cavaliers: the Cavs punch way above their weight, with the 3rd highest social media following in the NBA despite a relatively low population. They were one of the first teams in the league to launch their own mobile app, complete with personalized highlights and other content—including 16,000 videos created with the WSC Sports platform
–LALIGA: social media’s most popular football league with over 230 million followers built one of the most engaged football communities in the world thanks to its newly relaunched app. They’ve proven that the fan experience is far more valuable than just reaching fans
–FIBA 3X3: one of the world’s fastest-growing leagues in terms of viewership, took itself from the streets to become a feature event at the Olympics. You can’t miss the league’s content, which is all over social media. In 2024, the league created over 10K videos from events all over the world
Today’s Fans Want More Than the Game
The term ‘watching the game' has changed. Now, it includes checking scores, scrolling for clips, reacting to highlights, and scanning social media—all while the game’s stil happening.
In the past, being a sports fan was simple. You’d check the newspaper (maybe even the TV Guide) to find out what time the game was on and which channel to watch. After a day of anticipation, you'd settle in for the full broadcast, ads and all.
But that fan journey doesn’t exist anymore. Today, it’s fragmented. It’s scattered across platforms, screens, and time zones. And to be blunt, it’s complicated. Thanks to a growing offering of streaming services and multi-million (sometimes billion) dollar rights deals, fans are often left wondering where to watch—or whether they even can. In an era when attention is harder to capture than ever, fandom is becoming harder to access. That’s why rights holders need to diversify their content portfolios. Make more from what they already have.
In a recent PwC-led survey of young sports fans, a mere 1% said they “do nothing but watch the game.” Instead, the overwhelming majority—more than two-thirds of respondents—said that they’re scrolling through social media during games. This type of behavior has serious implications. It means the live broadcast is no longer the center of attention. Rather, shoulder content, like news updates, highlights, trivia, and behind-the-scenes videos, is just as valuable as the game itself and should work to complement live games.
High Demand, High Supply
Falling short on content can create a problem of relevance. Because if different fans aren’t exposed to up-to-date, fast content, your organization isn’t in the conversation.
The fan who watches every second of the match isn’t the same as the one catching up on TikTok the next morning—and neither wants to be served the same story in the same format.
The challenge for rights holders: deliver the same game, a hundred different ways.
That’s breaking it down into moments, storylines, and formats that speak to different segments of fans wherever they might be. That could be through vertical clips on social and mobile apps, sending live updates, creating more player highlights, and repurposing evergreen content from years past. The scale required to do it—massive. The value of doing it—unmatched.
Building a versatile library of clips, images, and highlights, as well as longer-form and off-the-court content, like TV shows and documentaries, ensures that you can keep fans connected all year round. The more moments you capture, the more creativity you have up your sleeve.
The New Rules of Engagement
Because fans are now watching, scrolling, and browsing all at the same time, personalized content at scale has become the main product, rather than just a byproduct of the game. In the era of always-on fandom and no off-seasons, those that create with purpose and strategy will stay ahead.
Curious to learn how you can get multiple moments from one clip? We’re helping teams, leagues, and broadcasters build content strategies designed to serve today’s fans through the power of AI-driven automation.
