It’s been well-documented that sports fans are early adopters of technology. Recent studies have shown that 79 percent of fans utilize mobile on a daily basis and 45 percent of them follow teams and athletes via social media. These statistics don’t represent a mere trend—it’s an invariable reality.
For whatever reason, brands and athletes have taken advantage of this digital marketing opportunity more than teams thus far (see Pepsi Max’s “Uncle Drew” webisode campaign with Kyrie Irving and Usain Bolt’s “Bolt!” app). Their triumph is further supported by 55 percent of fans being more inclined to buy a product endorsed through an athlete’s social channels and 53 percent having second screen devices alongside while watching sports on TV. Thus, mobile presents the next frontier in sports marketing.
Yet, teams haven’t effectively implemented strategies to target these consumers. Less than half of professional leagues have official team apps, specifically 50 and 40 percent within the NHL and NBA, respectively. This disparity is alarming in view of the potential fan engagement and revenue opportunities.
To further explain the hurdles involved and the process behind developing team apps, below is an exclusive interview with Scott Michaels, Vice President of Atimi, one of the leading app developers in the sports market. Atimi’s Sports Framework, an over 400,000 user base across the iOS, Android, and BlackBerry platforms, is the key tool that’s generated top-ranked team apps for the likes of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks.
Sport Techie: Considering that by 2014, 7 billion devices will be connected to the internet, why have some major sports teams not prepared to activate a mobile strategy?
Scott: There are multiple reasons for this. Firstly, mobile has not been forefront in the mind of the teams, and as such, not many have any staff dedicated to mobile initiatives. This is a generalization certainly, but a very real problem, as many of the teams do not yet have a good sense of what mobile can do for them. This is changing as those teams with strong mobile strategies are able to show a peer the increase in revenue, fan engagement, and brand affinity that mobile can bring.
Secondly, one of the murkiest areas is around content rights, particularly the one most valuable to the end consumer, which is video. It’s a complex space and we have found some teams see it simply as an issue that they don’t have the time to unravel.
Sport Techie: As a collective, do teams have enough resources to invest in mobile initiatives, both financial and personnel?
Scott: Like all businesses, this is a function of the revenues that a team has. Smaller market teams of course have less to spend and less sponsor and ad revenue than larger market teams. So rather than look at it as a collective, it’s important to recognize these differences and group the teams into three buckets; large, mid, and small market teams.
Of those three buckets, certainly the large market teams have the resources and the initiative, where at the mid market teams may have the revenue but less initiative, and finally the small market teams lack in both. Interestingly enough, the small market teams are those that would see the greatest impact from mobile revenues making a significant impact to the bottom line.
Sport Techie: What are some common issues that teams face with apps, particularly in the ideation process and once it’s been out in the market?
Scott: Certainly, one recent example is the NHL lockout, and the need for us to change the applications to meet the content rights as required by the lockout situation. Under normal circumstances however, the issues are primarily in getting the word out to the fan base, as the adoption rate is quite high once it’s known that the app exists. From a content standpoint, the teams need to ensure that the app is ‘alive’ with new content on a regular basis.
Sport Techie: What are some of the best examples of team apps right now and why have these been successful?
Scott: Some of the top-ranking team apps have been those that use the Atimi-developed Sports Framework. Many of the sports apps we have developed for teams like the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, and Chicago Blackhawks have all landed top spots in the App Store. The Sports Framework gives fans the ultimate mobile experience through real-time updates and exclusive content and boasts hundreds of thousands of users across platforms.
Sport Techie: According to Flurry, a mobile analytics firm, users spend an average of 94 minutes in mobile apps and 72 minutes surfing the net per day, what kind of content can teams produce to tap into this reality and maximize their usage rate?
Scott: Sports apps, or team apps are a special breed within the App Store, where we see high use times, and very low end user drop off rates (comparatively). Team apps have a few distinct features that maximize usage:
– Push notifications for events that the end user cares about
– Real-time scores
– Off season or other content to engage between games or seasons
– Unique content
– Motivated users, who are fans of the team year round
Sport Techie: In terms of app functionality, wouldn’t teams be better served to conceive their apps as a utility tool rather than another self-promotional platform?
Scott: Team apps need to be based around fan engagement, rather than self-promotion. It’s an app for the fans, which then provides the vehicle for the sponsors.
Sport Techie: How can teams reward fan engagement and increase their revenue potential within an app without overtly coming out as propaganda?
Scott: Certainly, everyone loves contests when the prize is right. That is the opportunity for the brands, which then comes across as fun rather than overt. Other methods of course are for additional services (merchandise) or programs that the teams run.
Sport Techie: Ultimately, what market drivers will dictate whether more teams come around to initiate mobile endeavors before it’s too late?
Scott: I think here, you will see teams that move too slowly will find that the fans are going to have an expectation to have a great, high-quality app to support the team. Those that are slower will have the benefit of getting to see what has worked in the market, and that time is now. Those that continue to wait are simply ignoring what could be a significant driver of fan engagement, ticket sales, and sponsor support and revenue.
Sport Techie: Thanks, Scott!
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