Fan Engagement Insider: Why quality beats quantity when it comes to fan data

While the virtues of first-party fan data are well known across the world of sport, many leagues and teams often mistake large numbers for high-quality insights. The latest edition of Fan Engagement Insider looks at examples from the world of motorsport, volleyball and the NFL to show why that’s a misguided approach.??

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Not all fan data is created equal??

A loyal and engaged audience is one of the most valuable assets a sports team or league can have, for relationship-building, fan engagement and commercial growth.???

First-party fan data has long been the secret ingredient to retaining and monetising sports audiences. According to PwC, 79% of fans are open to sharing their personal data if it leads to a more personalised experience.?

But in the same way that entire fanbases cannot be engaged as one, sports cannot afford a one-size-fits-all approach to fan data.??

Basic audience data like age, email address and zip code only create surface-level experiences. The best experiences harness behavioural and psychographic data to deliver sports content that really hits home.?

For a league, understanding how different age demographics interact with the official league fantasy game is valuable, while identifying interests of new fans in international markets, like their favourite team, is increasingly essential.?

To segment and tailor content, sports teams need to know how frequently fans engage on their owned & operated platforms, as well as their favourite athletes and even specific personality traits, like whether fans purchase merchandise and when they login to the official mobile app.?

Capturing fan data of this richness requires a sport to building regular engagement on their owned digital platforms.??

Personalised, fan-centric engagement?

A first-party fan data strategy needs a clear goal. Major League Soccer and MotoGP, for example, find large benefit in delivering gamified experiences that require a registration to glean greater insights from an existing audience of loyal fans, rather than attracting new, but often less committed, audiences.?

Meanwhile, the BWT Alpine Formula 1 team and the Professional Pickleball Association are enjoying great success in capturing first-party data to unlock the monetisation potential of emerging audiences, including international and female sports fans.?

When assessing the quality of your fan data ecosystem, there are certain characteristics that teams, leagues and rights holders must consider:?

Demographic data?

This information relates to specific audience characteristics, such as:??

• Age?

• Gender?

• Income / Job?

Behavioural data?

This engagement data that enables segmentation, retargeting and optimised on-platform experiences, such as:?

• Last login time?

• Last purchase?

• Dwell time?

Psychographic data?

The most valuable data category, this data creates deeply personalised experiences by leveraging information such as:?

• User interests?

• Personality traits?

• Favourite player / team?

More than a game?

Gamification is one of the most effective first-party data capture techniques today. While OTT platforms and D2C streaming services provide fan data, they don’t deliver the same richness and volume of data, particularly behavioural and psychographic data.?

Gamification products like Spin to Win games, Match Predictors, Votes, Polls, Fantasy Games and Personality Quizzes provide unique data in their own way.?

For example, the CEV Play Zone helps Europe’s premier club volleyball competition, the CEV Champions League, to attract fresh audiences and better understand them. The Match Predictor game only requires basic knowledge of the competition to play. The CEV Fantasy game, meanwhile, requires more frequent engagement which appeals to the most dedicated fans.?

MotoGP Fan Club rewards users for interacting with any of the sport’s digital products. This strategy cultivates long-term loyalty, building digital engagement among new and existing through frequent light-touch interactions, including consuming content on their News & Video Platform, and enter daily with the Fantasy game. Bringing all digital touchpoints into one loyalty hub, allows the rights holder to see how quickly users progress along the fan journey from, for example, a casual viewer of News and Video to an avid user of the MotoGP Fantasy game.

When it comes to the NFL, the NFL Team Picker is an easy entry point for new casual audiences. The personality-style quiz suggest which team fans should support based on their preferences and interests, including favourite holiday destinations, preferred beverages, their most-watched sports and how much winning matters to them.?

At the same time, this strategy gathering valuable psychographic data for truly personalised engagement. This data also allows the NFL to segment its audience down to a more granular level, and deliver tailored content and sponsor activations.?

Fan data makes sports engagement better?

Across live streaming, digital media and social media platforms, sports fans today enjoy personalised content delivered straight to them.?

The healthier your first-party fan data, the more a team or league can keep pace.??

A rich set of first-party fan data enables fan experiences like:?

• Tailored email marketing with discounted merchandise relating to each fan’s favourite players?

• Personalised marketing to audience segments based on their engagement level?

• Rewards and prizes like ticket giveaways and behind-the-scenes access for more avid fans?

• Localised sponsor activations delivered to fans based on where they live?

• Tailored onsite content linked to each fan’s recent activity, including time of last login and fantasy picks?

There has never been a better time to invest in the overall health and flexibility of your audience data. A holistic, layered fan data strategy will enhance your fan engagement strategy and ensure you maximise your most valuable asset: your fans.?

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