Adopting AI solutions will be a game-changer for sports organizations looking to keep fans engaged globally, with almost all non-live sports content in the next five to 10 years created using the technology, according to Victorien Tixier, chief executive and co-founder of Scoreplay, the AI-powered asset management platform.
Speaking during a panel session at the Sportel Monaco sports business conference, Tixier said AI has become the go-to solution for sports organizations to increase their content output and keep fans engaged with authentic content.
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He said: “One of the reasons we launched this company is that we saw this big growth in AI and realized that in the next five to 10 years, most of the content we consume will be AI-generated
“Sport, in particular, has a unique opportunity to differentiate itself from all that huge flow of AI-generated content … by helping [sports organizations] invest [their] time and effort on storytelling, authenticity, and capitalize on what makes sport emotional, very human, and then globalize that.
“Content can be generated to perfectly fit your taste and culture and for sport, that means delivering an experience that is compelling but to do so, you need the help of technology and you need to use AI to dub your content, to understand the trends, accelerate your workflows, and be much more appealing with the content that is customized but authentic.”
The panel, made up of Tixier, Matthew Quinn, vice president of media for English soccer giants Liverpool FC, and cloud storage firm Wasabi Technologies’ chief marketing officer, Michael Welts, discussed how sports organizations were quickly adopting AI into their content strategies in the race to keep fans engaged in different time zones and attract new fans globally.
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By GlobalDataQuinn said adopting Wasabi’s cloud technology allowed Liverpool to solve the limitations of having to rely on physical infrastructure and constantly create content from different locations.
He said: “We built a studio and a content team, and it was very much focused around an on-premises, full-time office, nine-to-five, location setting, and that just doesn’t work for sports because ultimately, you’ve got fragmented teams.
“You’ve got teams at Melwood [the women’s first-team training ground], at AXA [training Center for the men's, reserve and youth teams], they’re at away grounds, they’re travelling all over the world, and as we wanted to scale, we couldn’t do this on premise anymore.
“We tried to build out too much infrastructure, so we were managing hard drives, servers, all these kinds of things so we looked at cloud to store assets to decentralize our operation … we had years of images stored under a person’s stairs at home that were unsearchable, and we couldn’t access them.
“[Adopting cloud storage] allowed us to utilize the connectivity to be able to enable content teams, no matter where they are, to work on that content and then integrate it into further things. So, if we want to go tell a story about these things, it becomes so much easier to search for and find it and then create some content that resonates with the fun and emotion and gets people engaged in what we’re doing.”
Quinn explained that Liverpool now work with agencies around the world to operate their social media content and feeds, citing MENA and Southeast Asia, to ensure the content is culturally appropriate for the regional audience.
He continued: “By working with [these regional agencies], we can be a 24/7 operator where, while we sleep in Liverpool, they will be awake in Thailand and those guys can be creating content, jumping on a trend, and trusting people to get on with what they do.
“But technology underpinning that and giving them the ability to access that content and deliver it in a heartbeat has been a huge acceleration.”
Quinn said the technology will also allow sports organizations to build fan communities organically by allowing them access to create their own content, feeding into their engagement.
He added: “On the personalization front, how do you create those relationships with fans? You can use your platform and give them access to these things, and through you, they can become creators.
“You can start to give them a community and a utility where they can share. You can reward them and recognize them, and make them seen as fans.
“User-generated content is huge; it is an untapped resource. You can create some crazy, immersive experiences within the stadium that capture a moment, like a Champions League trophy lift, and have the fans tell that story and that ultimately is a million times more authentic than the clubs can do but you can’t do that without the heavy lift of AI and of something processing that in real time to ultimately make the story come to life.”
Speaking about the opportunity to monetize the content once created, Quinn said: “We have a model where we … focus on content centrally and then we distribute according to different audiences.
“So different age groups, different locations will want to consume content differently, that might come through traditional linear TV or YouTube, or a membership platform. Some of it will be our link to partner-associated content, so there are many ways that we can derive value out of that content, and the opportunities are huge.
“Continuing with that kind of content-centric route and figuring out distribution channels enables us to react to what comes next. A few years ago, TikTok didn’t exist, and these platforms will continue to pop up, and if you’re set up in the right way, you can react quickly and capitalize on those new platforms and opportunities.”
Tixier added: “When you take a step back, the business model is not that complex. You sell tickets, you sell licensing, you sell brand partnerships, and you’re a content business, and content must fuel every single monetization channel that you’re doing.
“It's a matter of thinking, how can I adapt and personalize my content? So, I know that Mo Saleh is a fan favorite. How can I bring these assets with the player on the website to sell more tickets, or how can I use the right moment to drive subscriptions?
“There are so many international players – how can you leverage those stories to adapt culturally to the markets you’re speaking to?”
Isabel Freedman, product marketing manager at Wasabi Technologies, added: “There is a sponsorship piece that could potentially come in that can use footage as a powerful tool.
“Brands can show their partnership over the years that grew with the sport, and I think that kind of content shows value to a brand.”
