- Innovation in Sport
- Posts
- š„ #10: A Content Strategist's take on the Olympics
š„ #10: A Content Strategist's take on the Olympics
The latest in sport & esports media, communications, experience & impact
Adam Reed
August 12, 2024
Welcome to Issue #10 of Innovation in Sport, your regular round-up of the latest innovations and trends in sports & esports media, communications, experience & impact.
Iāll admit to experiencing Olympics withdrawal last week. I was instantly missing the daily flow of captivating stories, the nightly witnessing of pure emotion, and the general spectacle of talented athletes performing at the very highest level of human capability.
Itās maybe the first time in living memory that Iāve approached the first weekend of the Premier League season with an attitude of āI guess this will have to do insteadā.
It genuinely had me wondering if the Paris Olympics has now set a new, extremely high bar for how sports can be experienced as a shared spectacle. Paris 2024 was the perfect storm of a global event, very well run, in an iconic setting, starring athletes with personalities and compelling backstories, then amplified by a generation of Internet creators who have the smarts to spot and share moments that will truly resonate with culture at large.
From Snoop Doggās wholesome and entertaining ever-presence, to Raygunn the Austrlian breaker, Yusuf Dikec the Turkish shooter with strong casual dad vibes, Kim Yeji the South Korean shooter who looked like an assassin had walked off the street, to Femke Bolās incredible 4x400m relay performance, and Novak Djokovicās emotional outburst at finally winning Olympic gold - every day generated a raft of shareable moments and memes.
A colleague asked us yesterday to share some of the top social media trends weāve seen recently. And with the obvious exception of brat summer and demure/mindful/cutesy, it was hard to think of many that werenāt Olympics-related. I honestly donāt recall another sporting event that has had such an impact on social media culture, at least on a global scale.
It will be interesting to see if this remains a new uber tier of cultural impact and engagement that only truly global moments like the Olympics can reach, or whether there are lessons that competitions like the Premier League, or US Open in the coming weeks can take forward to make a similar impact.
Weāre also less than a week away from the start of the Paralympic Games. We already know that the broadcast and sponsor investment isnāt as high as with the Olympics, but will social media work its magic and help make sure that our Paralympians also get to enjoy the attention and support that their efforts truly deserve? We will see.
On to this weekās editionā¦
AI x SPORTS
Researchers have developed an AI model that can identify the emotional states of tennis players with high accuracy by analysing their body language during matches. The AI, trained on real-life footage, can detect positive and negative emotions has potential applications in training. |
Stats Perform have launched OptaAI Studio that leverages AI to help unlock data-driven storytelling within Opta Sportās enormous sports database. |
Google pulled an ad for its AI chatbot Gemini following backlash. The ad depicted a little girl and her dad using the AI tool to write a fan letter to Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. |
MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS
NBC Sports is ālikelyā to enhance its Premier League coverage with the introduction of a new āmultiviewā feature, offering fans the ability to watch multiple games simultaneously. |
SportsPro has profiled the top most marketable athletes who have been competing at Paris 2024 across a wide range of events. |
Sponsor insight platform SponsorUnited published a study on how brands have been activating around Paris 2024 and what marketers can learn for the next Games. |
š¤¾āāļø WOMEN'S SPORT ā¹ļøāāļø
Flavor Flavās support of the U.S. womenās water polo team has been one of the many feel-good stories of Paris 2024. The iconic rapperās long-term financial investment in the team and in womenās Olympic sports in general shows the power that celebs have to drive media coverage and sponsorships to help level the playing field. |
AC Milan have become one of the first football clubs to give a contract renewal guarantee for pregnant players in its new maternity policy. The new policy for players and staff will ensure various protections during pregnancy and early childhood that go beyond current regulations |
The latest edition of PricewaterhouseCoopersā (PwC) annual Global Sports Survey has revealed that 85 per cent of sports experts are predicting double-digit growth for womenās sports revenues over the next three to five years. |
BE FEATURED IN INNOVATION IN SPORT!
Do you have a project, product, or story you think is of interest to the IIS audience of sports & esports industry professionals, brand partners, agencies and well-informed sports fans?
Please get in touch to discuss options such as brief mentions, featured stories, profiles, or sponsorships.
šØš½āš¤āšØš¼ FAN EXPERIENCE šļø
ā½ Manchester United have launched a Web 3.0 fantasy soccer game and player card NFTs. āFantasy Unitedā is powered by the Tezos blockchain.
š IMPACT & SUSTAINABILITY š
FIFA has signed a memorandum of understanding to support the Homeless World Cup Foundation (HWCF), which organises the annual Homeless World Cup womenās and menās tournaments, aimed at supporting and inspiring homeless people to change their lives. |
Industry leaders will come together for the Sport Positive Summit, at the Kia Oval in London over October 8th-9th in one of the largest gatherings of global sports stakeholders aiming to advance sustainability, biodiversity, environmental justice and tackle the climate crisis. |
š® ESPORTS š®
The Esports World Cup has announced a total of 177.5 million hours watched over the first four weeks of its inaugural event. A total of $16.5 million of the eventās record-breaking $60 million prize pool has been distributed across nine of 22 total championships. |
š· PHOTOS OF THE WEEK š·
š„ Photographer Hector Vivas has been creating a series at this year's Olympics called "Layers of the Games" - capturing multiple moments from a single Olympic event and then combining them into one image, with dramatic outcomes.
Enjoyed this?
Please share it with someone whoāll love it too:
I hope you found something valuable in this edition of Innovation in Sport.
If you did, Iād really appreciate it if you were to forward this email to a friend or colleague who might find it interesting or helpful.
And if you've received this from a friend and would like to receive it regularly, you can sign-up here.
See you next time,
Adam Reed
Innovation in Sport
And just one more thingā¦
If you like IIS, maybe you'll love my other newsletter, The Power Up.
The Power Up is a regular digest of inspiration & resources curated to power you through the week, and navigate modern life with more energy, connection & purpose.
|
