Supercharging Fan Engagement for Euros 2024

By Chelsie Hares

With the UEFA Euros 2024 already underway (June 14 to July 14), entertainment platforms and brands are energising the tournament with new ways to engage, enhancing coverage, participation and interactivity. From Indian streaming platform Sony LIV ’s customisable coverage attracting international football fans to British media brand LadBible riffing on internet culture’s Euros-inspired culinary feuds, we spotlight winning engagement strategies.

Roblox Champions Zalpha Engagement

Tapping into Zalphas’ love of Roblox (81% of global players are under 25, and 21% are under nine; Statista , 2023), British gaming studio Toikido created a virtual football stadium on the platform (running from May 15 to July 14), bringing Euros 2024 to the next generation of sports fans.

Hosted on Roblox’s Football Island, the stadium offers interactivity, including football-inspired mini games like penalty shoot-outs, keepie uppies and an obstacle course around the stadium. A dedicated fan zone within the Roblox stadium displays scores from real-life Euros fixtures. Toikido is the creator of this year’s Euros mascot, Alb?rt. Purchasing an official Alb?rt plush toy outside of Roblox unlocks the exclusive in-game character.

Indian Fans Enjoy Custom Camera Angles & Spotlights on Star Players

With 78% of Indians interested in Euros 2024 (TGM Research , 2024) and the country’s live viewership growing by 350% since the last championship in 2021 (My Kolkata , 2024)? Sony LIV (a Sony subsidiary) has introduced Multicam features users can seamlessly move between – enhancing viewership for international fans without a team in the tournament.

Multicam allows remote spectators to toggle between viewpoints: a tactical angle offers a bird’s-eye view for analysing team formations, while dugout cams enable fans to watch managers during tense match moments. The Star Cam feature follows the movements of preselected fan-favourite players from each national team (including France’s Kylian Mbappé and England’s Jude Bellingham).

Austrian Companion App Amplifies Interactivity

Austrian TV network ServusTV partnered with Norwegian interactive broadcast expert Ease Live to update its mobile app to act as a second-screen companion during its main platform’s Euros 2024 coverage. The app displays real-time stats, highlight reels and interactive fan polls.

When originally trialled during ServusTV’s coverage of UEFA Champions League, 78% of viewers engaged with the app’s live polls, and the interactive features increased viewership time by 35% (SVG , 2024).

Younger generations are fans of second screens when watching sports: 51% of American Gen Zers and 46% of millennials report using social media when watching sports at home (Deloitte , 2023). This companion app delivers a Zillennial-friendly cross-platform experience, offering social-media-inspired interactivity while keeping fans engaged in the tournament.

EA Sports FC Brings Euros 2024 to Virtual Fans

EA Sports FC 24 , a football simulation video game that offers more than 19,000 playable professional footballers, launched a timely Euros 2024 in-game update (available from June 6), revising teams and stadiums to align with the event. Players can compete in game modes including Lead Your Nations, where they can become either a footballer or a manager and lead their national team to victory, mirroring the real-life tournament.

LadBible x Uber Eats’ Internet-Savvy Culinary Feuds

British entertainment platform LadBible partnered with international food delivery platform Uber Eats to adapt its existing Snack Wars series (comparing British and American foods, hosted by a celebrity guest) for Euros 2024.

Three Euros-centric videos star ex-professional players (France’s Thierry Henry and Scotland’s Ally McCoist) as well as prominent sportscasters (the UK’s Kate Abdo and Laura Woods). The hosts taste-test and compare British and European foods, including a quintessentially English Greggs sausage roll against a French quiche.

The series riffs on the light-hearted culinary feuds between Euros fans that have been widely shared on the internet, showing rival countries (playfully) bad-mouthing each other’s national foods at the tournament. Albanian fans snapped spaghetti in front of Italy supporters prior to the Albania vs Italy match on June 15. Meanwhile, Austrians broke baguettes in view of French fans ahead of Austria vs France on June 17.

This article was first published on Stylus.com on 27 June.