Going Beyond the Gate

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3 Ways Data Can Drive Over-the-Top Fan Experiences and Engagement in the Digital Age

Let’s step into a time machine and think about what the “ideal” fan experience looked like 15 years ago.

For many professional sports leagues, franchises, and organizations, the ultimate goal was to drive as many people as possible to live events. Whether it was a Yankees-Red Sox game, the Masters Tournament, the Daytona 500, or the FA Club Final, the fan experience was at its best—and engagement was its finest—when people could witness those events in-person. Even better, those live events also gave leagues, franchises, and associations like the PGA and U.S. Olympic Committee total control over the experience (and the revenue generated by it).

That said, there’s always been one very big problem with the live experience: It’s only one part of the broader fan experience and, at the end of the day, it’s difficult to scale. After all, there are only so many tickets to sell, which leaves a large pool of fans who might want to engage with an event but aren’t able to attend. And while radio and television deals help address this problem, they come with one big caveat: Networks—not the teams or franchises—control that part of the fan experience (and the revenue generated by it).

Now, let’s set our time machine to today.

While marquee events like the ones listed above still rank high on many fans’ bucket lists, the modern relationship between a sports organization and its fans has changed dramatically. A golf fan today doesn’t just want to watch The Masters. He wants to control his experience—deciding which holes or players to track. Likewise, a San Francisco 49ers fan doesn’t just want to attend a game. She wants to track her fantasy team, view replays on her phone, and engage in real-time with other fans at the stadium.

In short, modern sports fans demand the power to dictate their experience across multiple channels and platforms. And, increasingly, they’re gravitating toward the sports experiences that give them new ways to do that.

Going Beyond the Gate

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The Future of Sports: Over-the-Top, Multi-Channel ExperiencesThe trends driving this shift are clear.

As mobile technology and over-the-top digital content have reached critical mass, both have amplified the modern sports fan’s access to—and craving for—on-demand multi-channel experiences. In fact, according to Adobe’s Video Benchmark Report, online video consumption grew 388% year-over-year from 2013-2014, an uptick that was fueled by online viewership of one of the world’s biggest sporting events: the 2014 FIFA World Cup.1

That example of multi-channel sports engagement isn’t an outlier, either. Consider these numbers:

• According to CBS, Super Bowl 50 saw a record increase in online streaming in 2016, including an average audience per minute of 1.4 million2 (up 75% from 800,000 in 2015, which itself was up 52% from 528,000 viewers per minute in 20143).

• On any given night, nearly 30% of fans at a Brooklyn Nets game access the Barclays Center’s WiFi network and in-house app to view instant replays and access multiple camera angles.4

• Research from the Global Trend Index projected that 85% of likely viewers of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil would use multiple devices as they watched the games on TV.5

So, what does all of this mean for your organization? As NASCAR Chief Operating Officer Brent Dewar told USA Today in a July 2016 interview:

“ Attendance is a very important metric, but it’s just one important metric. What will drive the sport to grow is for the fan to be as deeply engaged as possible. In the broadest sense, you grow by expanding the engagement.”6

1 Adobe, “2014 Video Benchmark Report”2 CBS Sports, “Average of 111.9 Million Viewers Watch CBS’s Coverage of Super Bowl 50”3 Sports Video Group, “Super Bowl Ratings Roundup: NBC Scores Most-Watched U.S. Program Ever, Record Streaming Audience”4 TechRepublic, “Stadiums Race to Digitize”5 Global Trends Index, “Why Smartphones Will Be Crucial to the 2016 Olympics”6 USA Today, “NASCAR looks beyond declining attendance, TV numbers”

20132014

388%Year over year growth for online TV video consumption.

ONLINE VIDEOCONSUMPTION

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This paper will explore three ways your organization can leverage technology and data to:

• Identify and segment fans, and drive them to customized experiences on team, club, or league channels

• Understand how fans engage by recording their activities and content consumption patterns, and use that intelligence to make smarter investments and decisions

• Create recognition programs that drive involvement and reward your most loyal and passionate fans

At the end of the day, acquiring this level of digital sophistication will deliver a number of key bottom-line benefits—not the least of which is a bigger, more engaged fan base that allows your organization to deliver (and capitalize on) over-the-top experiences in the digital age.

Chapter 1: Using Customer Identity to Create a Framework for Powerful, Personalized Fan Experiences Formula E, the world’s first fully-electric racing series, fully grasps the role that rich customer identity data plays in experiential innovation. As Tom Halls, Head of Digital at Formula E, puts it: “Effectively leveraging customer identity data is integral to . . . creating memorable and engaging experiences for our fans.”

So, how exactly does Formula E deliver those experiences?

It starts with the brand’s commitment to being a leader in digital content. In March, Formula E announced that it would begin offering computer-generated re-creations of its races in virtual reality, with the ultimate goal of allowing fans to watch the races in VR in real-time7. Through its digital properties, Formula E fans will be able to experience the race from a specific driver’s perspective or through several virtual camera locations at each race. This technology is the first of its kind in motorsports, and it’s just another fan experience-driven investment from a brand that has a track record of forward-thinking digital initiatives.

That said, having those digital technologies in place is one thing. Making their experiences feel uniquely tailored to a specific fan’s interests is quite another. That’s where customer identity data comes in.

By developing a customer identity framework that delivers insights into fan behavior and preferences from the beginning of their engagement with the brand, Formula E is able to evaluate and understand the fan experience at a uniquely individual

level. This allows it to personalize offers, promotions, and content to very specific personas—from dedicated motorsports fans to technology enthusiasts who are interested in electric vehicles.

7 The Verge, “Formula E Will Let You Experience Its Races in Virtual Reality Using CGI”

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What technologies power that framework?Without giving away all of its secrets, the organization says it relies on several several customer identity and engagement tools, including registration-as-a-service, social login, and profile management—all of which enable it to achieve a single view of the customer while maintaining privacy compliance.

Here’s a high-level overview of what this process looks like in practice.

• Piece together data points that bring clarity to each fan’s journey. What types of content do fans engage with on different days of the week? Does someone prefer video or audio content? Do they care about statistics, human interest stories, or both? Registration allows Formula E to collect critical behavioral and demographic information about each fan and use that data to segment fans by certain characteristics.

• Tailor content, live streams, product offerings, and event experiences to each fan’s unique digital identity. Whether it’s exclusive behind-the-scenes pictures or video of a particular driver, or personalized updates about specific drivers, teams, or races, customer identity data allows Formula E to serve highly relevant and personalized content to each and every fan.

That said, getting that experience right requires two things: Having access to the right data, and removing any friction from the fan registration and log-in procedures. If your registration or log-in processes feel cumbersome or clunky, you won’t achieve the conversions you need to drive meaningful digital engagement at scale.

Key takeaway:

The notable thing about Formula E’s approach is that it isn’t the sports organization you might associate with being a leader in digital fan experience. After all, a huge part of the sport’s draw is the raw live experience—the sound of the cars, the speed of the race, the excitement of a crash. Despite that, Formula E is a shining example of how customer identity data can be responsibly used to create the personalized, multi-channel experience that many modern sports fans crave.

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Chapter 2: Recording Fan Behavior to Observe Key Trends and Generate Predictive Intelligence Talk to a Major League Soccer (MLS) fan, and they’ll tell you that attending a game is unlike most other sports experiences.

It’s rowdy, exciting, and engaging—an experience that’s due in part to the pace of the game and fans’ adoption of European soccer culture (think: repetitive chants, smoke bombs, and the occasional brawl). That unique experience is just one of the reasons the MLS is experiencing a rise in attendance (the league set attendance records in 20158) while most other major sports leagues are suffering through a decline.

CONNECT Incentivize new

registrations with seamless traditional

and social registration workflows and on-site tools that encourage fan engagement, as you collect valuable

permission-based data.

COLLECTSecurely consolidate, organize and manage identity and behavioral data at scale, to build unified profiles that drive more relevant fan experiences, all

while remaining in full compliance with regional

data protection and privacy regulations.

CONVERTSegment fans by key characteristics and

integrate first-party data across marketing and service applications to

drive valuable fan actions and provide personalized

experiences.

3 Steps to Intelligently Leverage Fan Identity Data

8 MLS, “MLS Sets Attendance Records”

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That said, the MLS digital experience is unique in its own right, as well. In fact, over the last few years, some of the league’s more innovative digital investments have included9:

• Data trackers embedded in players’ uniforms that encourage coaches and fans to track player activity in real-time

• League and team-specific in-game apps that allow fans to buy and redeem tickets, access and share social media updates, and track specific teams or players

• Virtual reality seating maps that encourage fans to visualize their experience through the lens of different areas of the stadium

Why are these investments valuable beyond the game experience? Ultimately, MLS’s investments in the digital experience serve a dual purpose. First, they enrich the game experience by giving fans access to the real-time information they crave, including updates, highlights, fantasy sports data and more. And second, they serve as critical entry points for recording meaningful fan behavior and generating predictive insight into changes that could dramatically improve fan experience.

By tracking onsite behavior and engagement with various digital properties, leagues like the MLS and its individual teams can begin to see behavioral trends (i.e. which athletes, teams, and content fans are most interested in engaging with) that dictate where and how the organization invests its resources going forward.

Key takeaway:

Intelligence generated from behavioral analytics can impact virtually every decision a sports franchise, league, or organization makes. From ticket packages and merchandising, to content formats and team branding, data aggregation and analytics through a multi-channel digital strategy allows sports teams to better serve fans, create smarter marketing messages, and drive stronger business results.

9 Grantland, “Scoring with Soccer: Analytics Come to MLS”

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Chapter 3: Inspiring Loyalty to Drive Fan Involvement and Commitment One of the biggest challenges facing the health of live sports going forward is competition. Fans today have more choices and sources of entertainment than ever before, which makes setting aside time to attend a three-hour baseball game or to watch to a 6-hour round of golf less of the “mark it on the calendar” experience it used to be.

Thankfully, this is where improving the digital experience—and all of the peripheral sources of entertainment it can provide—can have its biggest impact.

When your organization’s digital experience far exceeds what fans can find elsewhere, they’ll be more inclined to come back for more. And if that fan is rewarded for his loyalty, he’ll be more likely to invite others into that experience and promote it among his network.

The benefits of creating a fan recognition programLoyalty and recognition programs aren’t just a great way to increase broader fan engagement. They can also create unique ways for teams to provide new and exciting experiences to specific subsets of a fan base, while also collecting valuable data from those experiences.

A good example of this is the Canadian Olympic Committee’s use of a loyalty program that gamifies fan engagement by incentivizing users to take valuable on-site actions. The program—what the COC calls “The Olympic Club”—is branded as an all-access club for Team Canada’s biggest fans, and it delivers a number of important strategic benefits, including:

• Direct, identity-centric intelligence into the interests of Team Canada’s biggest fans, which allows the COC to optimize campaigns that target less engaged fans

• Rich insight into on-site behavior, which can be stored and easily queried to build custom fan segments based on a number of attributes

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This approach isn’t unique to the COC, of course.

In 2011, the New Jersey Devils launched what it called “Mission Control,” a digital command center in the team’s corporate offices that is staffed, in part, by the Devils’ most passionate fans. Several NBA teams have created similar promotions to engage loyal fans across multiple platforms. The San Antonio Spurs and Sacramento Kings, for example, have hosted an in-game promotion called a “Virtual T-shirt Toss” to engage fans who are streaming the game at home or engaging on a second screen (through a Google Hangout or the team’s in-house app).

Key takeaway:

Loyalty and recognition programs and incentives can run the gamut—from campaigns that invite a franchise’s most active fans to choose a baseball player’s intro music, to promotions that invite a college football team’s most passionate fans to redesign its uniforms.

The key thing to remember, however, is that while creativity and the quality of the incentive is key to high engagement, loyalty programs are at their best when they help sports organizations generate actionable, predictive intelligence. This is where loyalty and recognition programs that require fans to register and log-in generate incredible value for both parties. While fans take actions that accumulate rewards, your organization responsibly and securely collects data and generates intelligence that can make your overall fan experience more engaging and profitable.

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The Challenges (and Opportunities) of a Digitally-Driven Sports Future From a technological and competitive perspective, the digital revolution does pose some unique challenges for sports organizations.

After all, building the technical infrastructure that’s necessary to give fans the digital experiences they want isn’t easy or cheap ( just ask any team that’s implemented a high-speed WiFi network in its stadium or invested in the infrastructure necessary to live-stream video). Similarly, the proliferation of third-party digital content does pose a serious threat to the traditional sports business model ( just look at the sports industry’s anxiety around the growth of Periscope and other live-streaming apps10).

With that said, this new era of personalized, multi-channel sports experiences also presents a very significant opportunity for the organizations that embrace it.

Ultimately, the cost to invest in the right technologies and data collection tools is relatively small when stacked against the possibility of developing massively scalable digital platforms that expand and enrich each fan’s experience. And with the vast majority of fans now carrying a smartphone in their pockets, it’s easier than ever to reach those fans and lead them through these kinds of dynamic multi-channel and multi-platform experiences.

Doing that, however, requires your organization to answer two key questions:

• What tools, technologies, channels, or platforms are keeping your organization from taking its fan experience to the next level?

• What are the digital trends or opportunities that will define the next era of your fans’ over-the-top experience?

Address those questions and two things will happen: First, you’ll give fans what they clearly want—the ability to dictate a custom experience with your organization. And at the same time, you’ll regain control over where, when, and how fans interact with your sport—influence that’s very much at risk if you fail to adapt to the demand for highly-engaging, multi-channel experiences.

The opportunity is there. The technology is there. And the fans are there. For your organization, the only thing left to do is act.

10Washington Post, “Periscope and Other New Apps Threaten TV’s Golden Egg: Live Sports”

The Leader in Customer Identity Management

About Gigya

Gigya’s Customer Identity Management Platform helps companies build better customer relationships by turning unknown site visitors into known, loyal and engaged customers. With Gigya’s technology, businesses increase registrations and identify customers across devices, consolidate data into rich customer profiles, and provide better service, products and experiences by integrating data into marketing and service applications.

Gigya’s platform was designed from the ground up for social identities, mobile devices, consumer privacy and modern marketing. Gigya provides developers with the APIs they need to easily build and maintain secure and scalable registration, authentication, profile management, data analytics and third-party integrations.

More than 700 of the world’s leading businesses such as Fox, Forbes, and ASOS rely on Gigya to build identity-driven relationships and to provide scalable, secure Customer Identity Management.

To learn how Gigya can help your business manage customer identities, visit gigya.com, or call us at 650.353.7230.

© 2016 Gigya, Inc. | 2513 Charleston Road #200, Mountain View, CA 94043 | T : (650) 353.7230 | www.gigya.com

Gigya, the Gigya logo, and Customer Identity Management Platform are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Gigya Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Gigya does not own any end user data or maintain any other rights to this data, other than utilizing it to make Gigya’s services available to our clients and their end users. Gigya acts as an agent or back-end vendor of its client’s website or mobile application, to which the end user of our client granted permissions (if applicable). Gigya facilitates the collection, transfer and storage of end user data solely on behalf of its clients and at its clients’ direction. For more information, please see Gigya’s Privacy Policy, available at http://www.gigya.com/privacy-policy/.

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