99SYN14528_SocialSportsFanDoc-V2

Content from teams and athletes is deemed most engaging
with sponsors and governing bodies lagging behind
“You see an individual MMA fighter,
and he’ll say ‘Look, I’ve done this’
and show you a clip. And you’re just
there like, that’s awesome, I want
to follow you and see everything
you do from now on.
“
– Chris, Cross Fit athlete.
2.2 Authenticity is the real deal
Millennial sports fans want a rich breadth of content, but they also want it to be authentic.
What does this actually mean? Our interviews point towards a desire for something ‘real’,
something that ‘gets me inside the game!’.
‘Behind the scenes’ and ‘getting closer to the action’ are terms that have graced almost
every sponsorship brief ever written. Yet social media has opened fans up to what direct,
personal access can really look and feel like. Today, Millennials chat with their idols and
flick through the holiday snaps of their heroes on a daily basis.
Those we spoke to report a dramatic disinterest in the content published by brands versus
that given by a sports fan’s favourite teams and talent. Less than 15% found branded
content to be engaging.
Is this another example of brands missing the point? Do brands package and polish content
so hard that it loses its authentic edge?
In order to understand how to make the most of
content on these platforms, it is essential to understand
which content sports fans find most engaging.
To do this we concentrated on content from four
sports-based categories (brand/sponsor, sports
governing body, athletes/sports person and teams)
and asked participants how engaging they found them
on a scale of 1 (not engaging) to 5 (very engaging).
Of the four categories, brands and governing bodies
were found to be equally uninteresting, with less than
15% of people finding the content they produced to
be engaging. However, men and women were split
on what content they did find of interest. Whilst men
tended to prefer the content provided by teams,
women found that produced by talent (athletes/sports
people) to be the most engaging online. For both,
the level of online engagement with these favoured
mediums strengthens as the level of fanship increases.
The preference for content from teams or talent may
be due to the fact that they simply appear as a more
authentic source than brands: why go to a third party
when you could hear it straight from the horse’s
mouth? Furthermore, they provide the in-depth
knowledge which sports fans crave. From our
interviews, we heard that sports fans ‘want to see
what these top-level athletes are up to’ behind the
scenes and in training because ‘that’s where
non-traditional sports athletes – like MMA fighters –
invite you to engage more’. Another added that they
specifically look out for ‘interviews with the manager and
players’ of their favourite teams on social media feeds
for extra insight into what’s going on. Fans are looking
for the detailed insights which teams and talent can
offer, and which many brands do not.
Less than 15%
of sports fans
find brands’
social media
content engaging