I keep coming back to the same question: in a world drowning in content, have we forgotten what actually creates connection?
Everyone wants more content. More clips. More formats. More output. But the truth staring our industry in the face is this: the world isn’t suffering from a lack of content – it’s suffering from a lack of connection.
We are living through The Great Attention Shift. Your audience isn’t where you left them. They haven’t stopped paying attention – they’ve simply stopped paying attention to us. Platforms are the new networks. Creators and athletes are the new media companies. Interactivity, speed, and ownership are the new currency.
Attention Didn’t Shrink. Expectations Evolved.
We cling to the idea that attention spans are collapsing. I think that’s nonsense. Young audiences will sit through three-hour livestreams, if they feel involved. What they reject isn’t length, it’s distance. They aren’t impatient; they’re intolerant of being treated like spectators.
This is the shift so many misunderstand. It’s not a war for seconds. It’s a war for significance.
Broadcast Mode is Dead. Dialogue Mode Wins.
In the old world, media was built on infrastructure for distribution – studios, trucks, satellite feeds. Today, the infrastructure we need is for engagement:
- Systems for participation, not presentation.
- Spaces for community, not just content.
- Tools for two-way dialogue, not one-way delivery.
This is why creators are winning. They’ve mastered what traditional broadcasters never built: infrastructure for ongoing relationships. Look at Mark Goldbridge reading superchats. Look at Icons Series turning golf matches into co-created events for the fans. Meanwhile, legacy brands are still “posting”.
Content Is Cheap. Community Is Compounding.
Every club, league, and brand now has access to the same tools: cameras, feeds, editing suites. But without engagement infrastructure – community platforms, creator integration, interactive formats, first-party fan data – content is just noise.
This is also why traditional vendor models are breaking. You can’t build belonging by selling software and walking away. The future belongs to partners willing to share the risk and the reward through revenue-shares, co-owned projects, performance-based models.
If I’m investing in engagement infrastructure with a client, I believe I should be as invested in its success as they are. If the community doesn’t grow, nobody wins.The brands that will thrive aren’t those producing more, but those enabling audiences to belong. If you treat fans as reach, they’ll treat you as wallpaper.
From Calendars to Ecosystems.
We need a mindset reset.
Stop asking: “What are we posting on Thursday?”
Start asking: “Where does our audience gather, how do we empower them once they’re there, and how do we maximise value together?”
In a landscape flooded with infinite content, exclusivity now equals anonymity. Multi-platform engagement isn’t dilution – it’s survival.
The New Competitive Advantage: Infrastructure for Belonging
The future differentiator isn’t rights or timelines. It’s infrastructure that transforms attention into allegiance. First-party data ecosystems. Athlete-owned distribution. Creator co-production. Real-time feedback loops. Not content plans, but engagement engines.
Brands that invest here will build movements. Those that don’t will keep shouting into the void.
Our audience moved. The question now isn’t ‘how much content can we make?’. It’s whether we’re willing to follow them into a world where content isn’t the product. Belonging is.
Find out more about the Great Attention Shift through the Dizplai report here.
