Driving Interactive Media with Sky Sports News

Challenge

Sky Sports News launched Fan Club with an ambitious goal. They didn’t want another talk show for fans just to watch, they wanted their audience to actively drive the content. Sky Sports News wanted to design and build an interactive media infrastructure that could seamlessly capture, moderate, and display fan submissions across multiple formats whilst maintaining broadcast quality. These included voice notes, text, and imagery, which enabled the production team to react to audience sentiment in real-time.

Solution

Dizplai designed and deployed a comprehensive fan participation ecosystem for Fan Club, integrating voicenote technology, multi-platform social media feeds (including WhatsApp), bespoke HTML graphics, and studio screen displays into a single moderated workflow. Fans could submit content through their preferred channels, whilst the production team curated and displayed contributions live on air through dynamic broadcast graphics. The platform enabled presenters to respond directly to fan submissions, turning reactions into genuine dialogue. Following Fan Club’s success, Sky Sports rolled out the format across other shows including Soccer Saturday FANZONE, which demonstrated the model’s versatility.

Results

The format transformed how Sky Sports engages with its audience by establishing consistent participation to prove fans want agency over sports content:

• Thousands of messages received on launch day
• Significantly high number of messages submitted since October 30th launch, maintaining momentum even during typically quieter international breaks
• Regular shows attract hundreds of WhatsApp messages per episode, creating a reliable stream of fan-generated talking points across both Sky Sports Fan Club and Saturday Fanzone
• Peak engagement hits for marquee shows during launch week and major moments like Manchester United’s shock cup exit
• Sky Sports’ decision to expand the interactive format across additional programming validates both the audience appetite and commercial sustainability of fan-led broadcasting

Daniel Wimbush, Operational Delivery Manager for Sky Sports News, had this to say about the campaign:

“Partnering with Dizplai has transformed the way Sky Sports News connects with our audience across linear and social platforms. We can now capture real-time reactions to the day’s biggest talking points, with viewers able to respond directly to our studio guests through text, voice notes, and video. This collaboration allows us to bring fans and customers even closer to the stories they care about most, helping us get to the heart of the issues they feel most passionate about.”