When it comes to digital sponsorship opportunities, brands’ expectations are increasing.
Sports organisations who can offer not just more digital inventory, but opportunities to connect with highly-targeted audiences through data-led campaigns, will ultimately make themselves far more attractive to current or potential sponsors in the long run.
In our final quick-read D2C Streaming Series, the PT team will be looking at the key areas in which D2C Streaming Platforms should provide opportunities to create more sponsor value and ultimately commercial return.
This month: Sponsorship …
OPENING NEW MARKETS
While most existing broadcast agreements prohibit streaming of live matches in certain geographic locations, sports organisations that have their own D2C streaming platform in place have a powerful means to reach new audiences in areas where their content is not currently available through traditional broadcast channels or where streaming restrictions are not in place.
This can be immensely attractive to sponsors who may be looking to increase brand recognition in specific locations. By targeting these areas through sponsorship placements or branding on the sports organization’s streaming platform, sponsors can reach a new, highly targeted audience that they may not have been able to reach through traditional broadcasting.
TARGETED ADVERTISING
Traditional broadcast advertising is typically aimed at a broad audience and is often not tailored to specific demographics or interests. This can result in lower engagement levels and a lower return on investment for sponsors. However, with D2C platforms, sports organisations can offer sponsors more targeted advertising campaigns that are more likely to resonate with a specific, targeted audience.
By analyzing incoming data – for example demographic information, viewing habits, engagement levels and more – sports organizations and sponsors can gain granular insights into the preferences and behaviors of their audience to create campaigns that are specifically designed to appeal to different audience segments.
BRAND INTEGRATION
D2C platforms provide sports organizations with a lot of new digital inventory to offer current or new sponsors, including product placement or sponsor specific segments or campaigns, branded live streams or sponsored discounts, increasing sponsor recognition and engagement.
Entire platform sponsorships can be offered too, allowing the sports organisation to offset its upfront personal investment by sharing capital outlay with a sponsor in exchange for platform wide branding and “ownership” of the D2C solution.
FAN AND BRAND ENGAGEMENT
D2C platforms provide a more immersive experience for fans, which can increase engagement and loyalty between fans and sponsors through innovative, memorable branded campaigns.
PT’s UGC Challenge module for example is a vehicle for sponsors to create branded competitions that ask fans to share their match experiences from anywhere in the world by uploading photo and video content – transforming at-home viewers into digitally activated content contributors for reward.
This can be attractive to sponsors who want to create more memorable digital connections with a passionate, engaged fan base.
With a mature and proven Video OTT Platform Ecosystem and experienced team, PT is well versed in partnering with platform sponsors to provide innovative branded sports media ecosystems to sports leagues, federations, associations and more.
To learn more about how PT connects fans and sponsors across the PT digital ecosystem, click here
