“We have created a place where our fans can see everything all the time, at one place, on demand. This is a great solution to have a place for all the quality content we have to bring to our friends and internally,” Feyenoord chief commercial officer Ruud van der Knaap told Adweek.
Launched with a subscription model and free from advertising, van der Knaap outlined the potential audience reach: The club’s 33,000 season ticket holders have free access for the rest of the season, plus a supporter base of 60,000 fans who will receive a discount of half price.
International audiences and fans of players such as Mexican striker Santiago Giménez, who has 5 million social media followers, will also be able to subscribe, offering a revenue stream for sports organizations to exploit the use of major social media platforms where previously there was little commercial benefit beyond fan engagement.
The route to success for any club is to find a balance between scale, revenue and strategy when it comes to streaming to grow the audience, engage super fans, acts as a sponsorship platform and to offer a data-capture vehicle that can help sell more tickets and merchandise, said James Lamon, evp of content and operations at FootballCo Media.
The more you can build it out and the more knowledge you have about your fan base, that’s where the marketers are starting to get smart.
Phil Lynch, CEO of D2C products and experiences, Manchester United
“OTTs are not significant revenue drivers or hot ticket items for brand partners,” he added. “For every club looking to diversify revenues, the opportunity to solve this challenge and deliver value is seductive.”
The opportunity for clubs and marketers
Other clubs to team with Endeavor Streaming to launch their OTT propositions in the last year have included Spanish giants Real Madrid as well as the National Women’s Soccer League. Beyond soccer, the Rugby League, New Zealand Rugby, the European League of Football Partners, WWE, TNA Wrestling and The Super Motocross League are all recent sign-ups as well.
Pete Bellamy, chief commercial officer at Endeavor Streaming, believes that things are only beginning for most sporting properties, which learned valuable lessons during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and the physical restrictions placed upon fans. He is already seeing an evolution in the OTT subscriptions on offer by its partners within six to nine months of launch.
Within that evolution is the understanding of measurement and monitoring the behaviors of fans through platform analytics to guide the design of a more engaging viewing experience.
Sports have long been a go-to area for brands of all sizes around the world, and this new era of football-owned streaming will doubtless offer both sides new opportunities.
Phil Lynch, CEO of D2C products and experiences at Manchester United, cited the importance of its 22-year-old 24/7 linear OTT platform MUTV but warned that it had to be integrated as part of the wider fan outreach experience across other parts of the club’s media empire, including its app.
As younger people are less likely to watch streaming platforms than older fans, Manchester United has realized that it must cater to all demographics wherever they choose to engage with the club.
