Who owns the fan relationship?

Brad Vettese, CEO of Tally Technology (www.playtally.com), highlights the importance for sports sponsors to collect and own first party data in order to directly engage with fans.

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By definition, a fan is connected to their favorite sport, team, and player, and the ardent supporter simply cannot get enough. It is why sports sponsorship is a multi-billion-dollar industry, with major companies eager to increase brand visibility with such a vast target audience.

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Over the last two decades, the pathway to engaging with sports fans has been largely dominated by the big five ad giants - Alibaba, Alphabet, Amazon, ByteDance and Meta – which now account for over half of advertising revenue worldwide, according to research by marketing analytics firm WARC.

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All five of these players are technology companies, a testament to the sector’s continued control over advertising. Alibaba and Amazon rule e-commerce, Meta and TikTok-owner ByteDance lead social media, and Alphabet towers over them all thanks to Google’s search engine powerhouse. WARC projects total ad revenue accumulated by this group will grow 9.1% this year and 10.7% in 2024.

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As a result, global sponsors looking to leverage their association with sports are being held hostage by social media. They are struggling to directly connect with fans and reap the true benefits of their sponsorship deals.

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However, we believe there is a better way to improve fan engagement and maximize the return of investment for brands.

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Power of first-party data

It is clear that addressable fan relationships are big business drivers, yet very few teams, leagues, broadcasters and brands have taken the appropriate steps to initiate this one-on-one relationship. Brands need to unlock sports fans from the social media walled gardens by collecting and owning actionable first-party data.

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A brand’s data strategy should be focused on gaining direct access to the fans of the sports they are sponsoring and building an ongoing relationship. For instance, this could include value added gamification programs that reward fans for engagement.

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Tally helps rights holders directly benefit from the sports ‘halo’ by using our modular, configurable, and scalable gamification Game Center platform to gain or regain the fan relationship.

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Experiences that are proven to enhance the fan relationship include prediction and trivia games, which are customized to remain relevant to the target audience. Fans benefit from receiving special offers and prizes, as seen with our most recent NFL partnerships with the Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills.

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To find out more about how Tally can bring you closer to sports fan, or book a demo, please visit https://playtally.hubspotpagebuilder.com/connect-with-tally.