Why Data is Central to Sports Monetization

Sports consumption has changed significantly in recent years, as have the opportunities for monetization. Fans are now interested in more than just the live coverage and have a strong and growing interest in many other forms of short form and behind the scenes content. This presents sports bodies with the opportunity to generate revenue from a wider range of sources but in order to do this effectively, they need to collect, organize and leverage the right kind of data. In practice, this means analyzing the data to understand the preferences and behavior of sports fans, and also using that information to create and deliver content that appeals to different subsets of an audience on the channels they want to consume that content on. This can be anything from personalized recommendations or targeted advertising, to offering exclusive access to certain events or content.

‍A data-led approach to monetization

‍Using data effectively is critical for generating increased revenues from subscriptions, as well as from advertising driven services. For sports organizations, the challenge is less about acquiring the data, and more about being able to effectively use it to positively impact business KPIs. Often sports bodies simply do not have the resources available to analyze and use any data collected. Therefore, without being able to dedicate a significant proportion of their workforce to data analysis, sports bodies are often hiring performance marketers and agencies to provide support in this area.Whether managing things in house or using an agency, sports bodies need to ensure that they have the tools to deliver data driven campaigns at scale in order to be able to drive effective monetization. Performance marketing teams, as well as other key stakeholders, need to be able to easily understand the data, so that they can use it to target customers with personalized actions.

‍Data-led experimentation to improve results 

‍Analytics is a complex area, and it pays to test the effectiveness of the data by running controlled experiments. This can be done by experimenting with different actions and then assessing their impact on KPIs. These kinds of actions could include:

• Targeted social media posts
• Changes to UI/UX
• Special promotions
• Direct mail
• Showcasing preferred content

Being able to experiment in this way can help sports bodies evaluate first to increase engagement and attract and retain subscribers. Data truly is the key to unlocking the door to sports monetization. JUMP Data-Driven Video and Accedo recently launched a joint service which is designed to help broadcasters, and sports organizations which have adopted a D2C strategy and OTT service, increase business impact. It makes data insights on sports OTT platforms easily accessible and actionable by providing a user-friendly dashboard showcasing the main data usage findings. The service is designed to increase business impact by enabling a range of marketing campaigns to be carried out seamlessly and at scale to improve acquisition and engagement, prevent churn, increase ad sales and unlock new monetization opportunities. Video providers can easily run a range of automated and immediate campaigns targeting different customers on different platforms.Find out more about how Accedo is helping sports bodies to grow their video business and unlock revenue streams here.