Live sport 2.0 Capturing younger audiences with the creator economy
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20,000 foot view: The funding model for live sports has created fissures between older viewers who can afford to pay a premium for live access and younger audiences who either cannot, or do not want to. While older generations are accustomed to paying for access to content, younger generations grew up in a world with accessible content galore. As a result, they place more emphasis on parting with money in return for unique and tailored experiences, rather than to simply access content. The opportunity here is in monetising fandom as well as engagement. Sports competitions can increase their fandom with younger audiences by offering free-to-air live sports coverage while finding profit in providing lean-in entertainment experiences that cater to the consumption habits of Gen Z. By offering social interactive features, gamification, and placing creators at the heart of the experience, new sports franchises shift away from the traditional broadcast environment alienating many younger viewers. They must forge new sports viewing experiences that leverage the power of the creator economy.
Key insights
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to year olds are the dominant consumers of live sports video, making up of all live sports viewers in 2022
- Only of sports video viewers are aged and years old, while of fans and of basketball fans in this age range
- New sports targeting younger audiences should incorporate and social media behaviours to their offer more appealing
- Sports gamers for the use of livestreaming of NBA players and FIFA players watched YouTube Live week during 2022, compared to consumer average
- Sports gamers on lean-in social media behaviours as by commenting, liking, or social content. of NBA primarily engage in this behaviour, to of consumers in 2022
- Sports embracing such as boxing, have opened a new growth market that the potential to compete with sports for fans
- DAZN’s Misfits in August 2022, featuring the KSI, attracted nearly two million viewers – of which were subscribers
- The ad-supported offer of YouTube and Twitch a viable distribution option for younger audience demographics
- New sports should use livestreaming services to fandom, but must ultimately switch in-house livestreaming platforms if they to unlock the full monetisation of their audiences
Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Apple TV+, DAZN, FIFA , Kings League, KSI, Madden NFL , Misfits, NBA , Prime Video, Snapchat, Twitch, YouTube