Winning the Battle for Content Discovery

This is part one of the three-part series on content discovery. Part two will look at how sports content is discovered in a crowded field, and part three will discuss how to turn content discovery into business growth.

SportsPro London, the UK’s largest gathering of sports business professionals, is a good place to learn about the industry’s most pressing challenges. 

This year’s main themes included, among other things, competition from other forms of entertainment, such as streaming platforms, and distribution tactics. But this year, participants were particularly interested in discussing ways to reach new or bigger audiences. 

Over the past ten years or so, the answer has been creating as much short-form video content as possible. With good reason, too. Recent data from research firm YouGov reveals that short-form clips have become an important step in the viewing journey, helping audiences discover long-form content across the entertainment industry, and inspiring them to tune in. 

Key findings include:

• Nearly half (49%) of 16-44 year-olds say they discover content through social media.

• 77% of viewers who have seen clips from TV shows or films on social media say they have gone on to watch the full programme. 

• Among 16-24 year-olds, YouTube (78%), Instagram (65%) and TikTok (57%) stand out as key platforms influencing viewing choices.

A Change in How Fandom is Built

This has particularly impacted sports properties. “We are witnessing a change in how fandom is built,” said Jaume Pons, LALIGA’s head of social media and digital content. “Younger audiences don’t start with the 90-minute match. Discovery is now social-first and mobile-first. At LALIGA, we see that younger fans often enter through platforms like TikTok. So it’s not that they don’t engage; it’s that the entry point has changed.”

Recognizing this, organizations have significantly increased their presence at these entry points. LALIGA, said Pons, creates “thousands of clips per match, adapted to different platforms, formats, and audiences.” Annual uploads of NFL-related videos to YouTube jumped by over 400% between 2020 and 2025, and the league expanded from a single YouTube channel in 2015 to 10 official channels, including NFL Brasil, NFL Deutschland, and Mundo NFL.  

Occupying space across social platforms has also helped women’s sports properties reach new heights. The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), for example, ramped up its video uploads on all its channels in 2025, and was rewarded with year-over-year growth in video views across the board: 

• Instagram: +243% increase in video uploads —> +185% video views YOY

• TikTok: +200% increase in video uploads —> +68% video views YOY

• Facebook: +215% increase in video uploads —> +978% video views YOY

• YouTube: +100% increase in video uploads —> +172% video views YOY

Converting Scale Into Sustained Attention

The last segment to join the “discovery via short-form video content” party is International Federations (IFs). According to SportOnSocial International Federations 2026, a report by sports marketing agency Redtorch, IFs have been clearly shifting toward video content since 2022, in a trend that is visible across platforms:

• Video now accounts for 62% of all IF social media posts, up from 54% in 2022. Non-video posts have declined by -7% across all platforms.

• On Facebook, Reels output increased by 17% compared to 2024, and video generated 66% of the average IF engagement, up from 48% in 2024. 

• On Instagram, Reels accounted for 50% of all IF posts, compared to 30% for carousels and 20% for photos.

• In 2025, IFs increased their YouTube Shorts output by +39% YoY.

Despite the output boost, performance on YouTube declined significantly. Per SportOnSocial’s report, engagement with IFs Shorts fell by 80% and views dropped by 61% in 2025. A similar decline has taken place on Instagram, with engagement falling by 21% YoY and new fan growth shrinking by 25%.

“Visibility alone doesn’t build the kind of attention that keeps audiences coming back,” note the report’s authors, adding that organizations “need stronger storytelling and clearer pathways from short clips to deeper fan engagement. The challenge is no longer simply output, but how effectively content systems align with the conversion of scale into sustained attention.”

Industry experts second that sentiment. “Sports is not short of content. It is short of distinctiveness,” said Mark Keisner, managing director of Multiple, a creative content agency that serves the entertainment and sports industries. “Brands must focus on telling better stories by getting closer to the layers that make sports matter in the first place – the fandom, the rituals, the identity and the tension around the moment, not just the moment itself.” 

The Modern Discovery Engine

The evidence is unmistakable: sports organizations have never produced more content, yet standing out has rarely been more difficult. Success is still measured by output – how much content you create and how quickly you publish it – but speed and volume have become the baseline, not the competitive advantage. Winning discovery is about pairing scale with original storytelling and building clear pathways from short-lived attention to deeper fan relationships.

This is where AI-powered content creation tech becomes essential. Beyond generating and distributing platform-ready videos at scale, they can optimize every asset for discovery and conversion, directing fans from social platforms to owned channels. Because ultimately, as Simplestream’s Josh Harrington put it, “the challenge now isn’t just creating content. It’s getting it seen, monetizing it sustainably, and doing it without losing the trust of your audience.”