Here’s what’s shaping the industry right now.
The UK Government announces under-16 social media ban
Keir Starmer announced today that the UK is banning under-16s from social media. Australia did it in December, removing 4.7 million accounts in weeks. France, Norway, Denmark and a dozen more countries are following. This isn’t a children’s safety story. It’s a fan acquisition crisis that most rights holders haven’t started thinking about yet.
Under-16s are the highest lifetime-value cohort for any sports property. The clubs and leagues that built their youth fan acquisition on TikTok and Instagram don’t have an alternative. Rights holders with owned apps, loyalty programmes and direct fan infrastructure are insulated. The rest have a compliance problem that no amount of social spend will fix.
The Sidemen’s manager told Parliament the BBC is irrelevant to Gen Z
Jordan Schwarzenberger, CEO of Arcade Media and manager of The Sidemen, testified at the BBC Charter Review this month. His position: public service broadcasting does not match Gen Z experience, Gen Z won’t pay the licence fee, and the BBC needs to be creator-led to survive.
This is the conversation every rights holder is having internally and most are avoiding. The Sidemen didn’t replace the BBC by being edgier. They replaced it by being more useful, more present and more responsive to how a generation actually consumes content. The question isn’t what the BBC does next, it’s what you do next.
Fanatics is quietly becoming the most powerful company in sport.
On June 12, Jimmy Donaldson became the first individual creator to reach 500 million subscribers.
The man famous for spending millions per video marked the moment with a green screen, a subscriber counter and a chat window. 600,000 people watched him sit there, throw up some polls and rewatch old videos.
The contrast is the point. His biggest milestone wasn’t a spectacle. It was a conversation together for 90 minutes.
Telemundo’s digital strategy for the World Cup
Telemundo launched a continuous YouTube livestream for the full World Cup, with 700 more hours on Peacock and the Telemundo App. Two revenue models, one content infrastructure.
The catch: none of that YouTube audience data flows back to the rights holder. Telemundo builds the audience. YouTube keeps the audience data, so who’s really winning?
Sport card breaking is now worth more than $300 million
Sports card breaking is collectors paying to watch sealed packs opened live on stream. Whatnot hit $6 billion GMV in 2025. The audience is among the most commercially engaged in sport. The Sidemen noticed and knew they couldn’t ignore the opportunity.
Card breaking is proof that live uncertainty plus community equals one of the most engaging fan experiences outside a stadium. Sports built that formula. The collectable commerce around it is worth $300 million and growing fast.
