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What should a sports federation's aim be with content?

Nick Winn
21/10/2022
1 min read

The battle for attention has become increasingly harder for rights holders and how fans consume content is constantly changing. What should a sports federation aim for when creating content to adapt and reach new fans?

Alessandro Lonati from Infront Productions joined a special SVG panel in October to try and answer the question on what federations want when it comes to creating content.

The importance of user-generated content for rightsholders

The focus was primarily on reaching both existing and potential fans, especially concerning user-generated content for sports events.

“You can have the best editors and content producers you want, but 99 per cent of meme content spread around the internet will be produced by your fan base,” explained Lonati. “This is something federations need to encourage and drive. It is something you need to provide to a specific group of fans, and give them content that they can use for the production of content themselves. It is very important as it allows [federations] to speak to fans in their voice.”

The move towards more gated content for sports fans was also discussed as a potential new method for monetising a fanbase. However, those looking to create subscription models in sports need to find the right balance.

“First of all, you have to provide something for free, something [people] can have access to without a barrier. You need to reach as wide a fanbase as you can possibly reach. But on the opposite side, you need to have quite a high-quality proposal if you want your fanbase to pay.”

And the secret to keeping fans addicted to your sport according to Lonati?

“[Rights holders] need to provide them with the content they want, in the moment they need it. That means maybe sometimes anticipating it.”

You can watch the full panel with Alessandro alongside European Handball Federation Director of Media and Communications Thomas Schoneich and International Hockey Federation Senior Communications Manager Nicolas Maingot below.