The way we connect with live audiences has changed a great deal over the last few years. No matter where you broadcast your shows, engagement is key. Your audience expects it, and if they don’t get it from you, they’ll find it elsewhere.
In this article, we explore the many ways sports broadcasters can use a fan engagement platform to create immersive experiences that help to connect with their live audiences.
What is a Fan Engagement Platform
A an engagement platform is a digital platform that enables fans to interact with live broadcasts in real time. This interaction comes in many forms, including:
- Direct social integration (pulling comments from fans’ social media and heroing them directly on your broadcast).
- Interactive polls.
- Custom web apps that create a branded environment you can tailor to your needs.
- Live messaging displays that automatically update.
The platform’s main objective is to provide broadcasters with a new and unique way to engage their audience, improving your broadcast and ensuring people come back time after time.
3 Ways Fan Engagement Platform Maximises Audience Participation
Sports fan engagement platforms provide a wide range of benefits for both fans and broadcasters. Here are just a few ways that these platforms can help you to connect with your live audience:
1. Personalise the Fan Experience with UGC
Engagement platforms include a variety of interactive features that keep fans engaged throughout the game, especially those involving social media.
When ProSieben was broadcasting the 2022 NFL, they encouraged viewers to share their reactions on social media using hashtags. These social media updates (UGC – User Generated Content) were then featured on a lower-third broadcast graphic during the game, with images and videos heroed on a full-screen carousel during pauses.
This personalised experience is incredibly satisfying for the viewer, making them feel that their opinions are valued, while it becomes far more likely that they’ll return for the next broadcast. It also allows broadcasters to connect with fans worldwide.
2. Drive Real-Time Interaction and Increase Reach
A fan engagement platform provides a way to connect with fans on multiple levels. Not only can social media updates be shared in real-time during the sporting event, but presenters can also cue, publish, and interact with them during a live sports broadcast.
For example, for The Rest is Politics coverage of the U.S election, they brought fan comments and questions, as well as live news updates into their content, giving fans all the information they needed to follow along throughout election night, leading to more than 70,000 live chat messages across the livestreams. This real-time interaction from presenters incentivises fan engagement, making viewers more likely to share their experience of the event. More people commenting on social media means more exposure for your broadcast.
3. Nurture Community and Grow Your Audience
The ability of a fan engagement platform to seamlessly integrate UGC and social data directly into the broadcast strengthens the community around the sport.
During their extensive coverage of the 107th Tour De France, the Australian broadcaster, SBS, created a broadcast centred around the social media engagement of a whole community of avid racing fans. Their live content featured fan reactions, acting as a reward to those who stayed up each night to view the four-hour show.
The interactivity of their coverage had a tremendous response for SBS, resulting in a highly interactive community of cycling fans (over 500,000) tuning in to connect with the broadcast. This proves that a well-executed fan engagement platform strategy is key to increasing reach and long-term audience growth.
- Tags: Broadcasters, Sports
