How will brands adapt to rapidly evolving sports content and distribution formats?

Creative Destruction Matrix

Disruption

During Commercials, Fans Are Texting Their Friends
Commercial break advertising during sports loses its effectiveness because every viewer on the couch can just whip out their phone and get busy, ignoring the ad. More than 58% of those viewing a sporting event on television are already using mobile devices concurrently.

Opportunity

Multitasking consumers are not ignoring the ads — counterintuitively, they actually have better recall of the ads they view than those who are only viewing the event, according to Paul Verna, eMarketer Senior Analyst.

Disruption

Who Owns the Ball Makes the Rules
More sponsors follow the Red Bull model, creating and owning original sporting events, diverting sports marketing dollars from traditional leagues. Broadcasters can play this game too: ESPN created and owns X-Games. Others will follow.

Opportunity

The more the landscape fragments, the greater the natural urge for a shared communal experience. Major sports will always retain their ability to bring people together.

Disruption

Loss of Control
Advertisers control every frame of a television commercial — it plays exactly as they shot and edited it. Sponsors lose some control to the improvisation factor of an actual game; they can’t totally control what a sponsored athlete might do or say. But control is completely relinquished on social media. Word-of-mouth publicity is free exposure and can have massive reach, but nobody can control the message.

Opportunity

Controversy is no longer taboo. Certain kinds of controversy are actually healthy and sustain the conversation that engages fans — such as a controversial call by an umpire, or a quarterback controversy, or the debate over a player trade. These kinds of controversies don’t drive fans away, they suck fans in.

Read the Full Sponsorship + Advertising Report