Attention sports broadcasters: The comments are your next greatest opportunity
3 ways to grow your broadcast audience and increase subscriber numbers
Image credits: Robert Norton - Upsplash
Sports streaming is exploding. According to a Sports Pro news article, even Netflix is getting in on the game, with its recent “bid for the rights to the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour in several European markets…and [a potential] move for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour in the UK.”
Like Netflix, Amazon and Disney, many companies are shifting their strategy towards live sports - and for good reason. Fans and spectators can engage directly with each other and with broadcasters in the comments sections, and we all know that higher engagement online translates to more brand visibility, ad spend and commercial deals.
To build on this strategy and convert one-off viewers into loyal subscribers, Benny Bonsu, Director of Daily Content at The Olympic Channel, explains how important it is to provide opportunities for people to engage with the sport on social and digital channels outside of game times, as well.
However, the more content that streaming services provide, the more responsibility they’ll have in assessing and mitigating risk. Otherwise, new legislation like the Digital Services Act will make them subject to fines. There are huge advantages to having software support in place before legislation is operational. Having a proactive approach will allow streaming services to adapt their platforms, assess their current risk, and adjust their strategies before there are financial consequences for any lack of action. More than ever, combatting abusive content is necessary for the triple bottom line.
So, whether you’re streaming live sporting events or converting new audiences with digital content outside of game times, how can you capitalise on the good, while managing the bad?
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3 Ways to Grow Your Live Stream Audience:
1. Want to grow a younger audience?
Make your sport accessible and inclusive for Gen Z on their most popular social channels.
Let’s take a look at rugby, for example.
2022 made the Women’s Six Nations Championship the most accessible it’s ever been, with its first ever Title Partner (TikTok) and an all-new brand identity. Sarah Beattie, Chief Marketing Officer for Six Nations Rugby, explains that this is a critical step “to fuel the growth of the women’s game…and connect more people to the game-changing heroes that will inspire future generations.” Additionally, Six Nations Rugby has also been running the Rugby Against Racism campaign to combat online abuse, with the aim of making their social and digital channels “a safe, open and inclusive space."
Authors: Sahaj Shah and Kasey Machin
Now, let’s look at the data.
In order to make women’s rugby more accessible and inclusive, Sport New Zealand and World Rugby partnered with Areto Labs to monitor social media during the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021 (played in 2022). With over 116,000 comments tracked and over 800 high risk comments detected, the official analysis is yet to be released.
In the meantime, here are some public abusive comments that were directed at some of the rugby players who competed in the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021. These comments are likely to make certain audiences feel unwelcome to engage in the online rugby community, which leads to our second point, below.
Areto’s proprietary language model detected these subtle but equally harmful public comments, which typically remain undetected by traditional sentiment tools.
2. Want to grow an international audience?
Moderate content that's likely to make your target audience disengage.
Let’s take a look at cricket, for example.
The International Cricket Council launched its own streaming platform - ICC.tv - to engage both existing and fringe cricket fans, particularly from markets with a large South Asian diaspora population. In fact, the ICC’s Head of Digital, Finn Bradshaw, explains that Germany and the US are target growth markets because of this. As such, they have a parallel social media strategy to keep growing the game in those markets via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Now, let’s look at the data.
As a safeguarding initiative, Sport New Zealand partnered with Areto Labs to monitor social media during the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2022. Of 259,205 comments tracked, 15,808 comments were 50% likely to be abusive. Pakistan and India received the the largest volume of mentions, which backs up the international governing body’s strategy of growing the game among South Asian communities in international markets. However, Pakistan and India also received the largest volume of abusive comments, which are likely to make the ICC’s target growth markets feel unsafe or unwelcome to engage in the online cricket community.
With the ICC’s Global Growth Strategy placing elite women’s cricket at the forefront, this data highlights the need to take action against online abuse - before more cricket fans from South Asian communities start disengaging.
3. Want to grow the game as a TV product?
Counteract content that doesn’t align with your target audience’s values by changing the conversation.
Let’s take look at football, for example.
When the England Lionesses won the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, investment in the women’s game increased exponentially across the UK. Sky Sports, in particular, is aiming to grow the Barclays FA Women’s Super League as a TV product, as part of a three-year deal that began in September, 2021. We’re already over a year into the partnership, and they’ve made some significant strides. At SportsPro Live in April 2021, Gary Hughes, Director of Football at Sky Sports, “revealed that Sky’s WSL coverage [was] averaging 125,000 viewers per game, which [was] up 170 per cent compared to the competition’s pay-TV audience for the 2020/21 season.”
According to Jenny Mitton, Director & Women’s Sport Lead at M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, one of Sky’s strategies for growing the game on TV is by actively monitoring social media for abusive comments and shifting the narrative to a more positive one. “When you go into Sky Sports’ Instagram,” she says, “if you have a troll saying something that’s completely abusive [to a woman athlete] and going down the wrong direction, Sky will call it out in a really smart way. When trolls comment on a player and her ability, Sky will demonstrate how she’s actually faster or has scored more goals or more assists than maybe another male athlete. They really use their voice to stand up for women athletes and women’s sport.” (Source: The Toxic Cost of Success)
Now, let’s look at the data.
Areto Labs monitored public Twitter comments during the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, and a whopping 88% of all English and French comments mentioned the England Lionesses. However, this increase in visibility also brought an increase in online hate. In fact, 38% of all abusive comments towards the Lionesses were identity attacks, and many of them are likely to make audiences from the Black community and/or LGBTQIA+ community feel unwelcome.
Source: The Toxic Cost of Success
Source: The Toxic Cost of Success
This article was written by Sahaj Shah and Kasey Machin.
