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- I spoke with PT SportSuite’s CEO Rich Cheary about the huge rise in sports teams becoming like media houses
- The company provides technology to sports teams to manage their media
With the onset of COVID-19 it seemed like every sports team was trying to fill the void of live action with witty posts, or content to keep fans engaged.
Yet one thought I had while looking at this was that every sports team, regardless of size has, in effect, become a publisher itself. from videos, pictures, graphics and more, as sports fans, we now expect our clubs and athletes to provide high quality, media-grade content.
Long gone are the days of just having an official club magazine, or TV channel.
This is where companies like PT SportSuite comes in and why I wanted to speak to a company specialising in this area. I interviewed CEO Rich Cheary recently to find out why this has become such a crucial part of clubs’ arsenal to engage with fans and other stakeholders.
So what does PT SportSuite do?
In a nutshell, it is a suite of digital products and platforms specifically tailored for sports organisations, enabling them to operate like modern, digital-first media houses in the way they capture, collect, manage and publish digital media to their fan communities.
As Rich tells it: “We were fortunate early in our journey to find a partner in Bristol Sport – and have had great success in collaborating with them to roll out our technology to their three brands – Bristol City, Bears and Flyers. Our work with them really validated our belief that we had a platform solution with the potential to forever change how sports organisations operate from a media management perspective.”
“Our vision from the beginning was to partner with organisations of all shapes and sizes. The unique scalability of our branded platform architecture allows us the freedom to work with anyone from school sports teams all the way up to national and international sporting federations.”
The size of what the company is doing is seriously impressive too.
“Our largest global media account under management, comprises over a thousand content producers, four regions, over 80 digital brands and properties, and the smallest is an independent hyperlocal newspaper outlet,” said Rich.
Mor recently the company has launched SportMojos private media collection product – a simple way for clubs to establish content creation teams of players, internal staff, coaches, scouts, club ambassadors. It standardises how those teams are commissioned for content, how that content is collected, stored and managed – all with one simple mobile-first platform.
Yet this profound change to how sports clubs coincide with the explosion in use of social media.
According to Rich “Sports communities no longer exist solely inside a stadium; supporters are engaging on social media 24 hours a day and expect fresh content on a continuous basis. Clubs have had to evolve and find new, creative ways of generating media as well as transforming internal media workflow to become digital-first organisations, with the ability to grow and sustain their digital communities with fresh, engaging content all the time.”
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In Rich’s view, sports teams can really benefit from having control over their media output both with fans and also, crucially, with sponsors.
“A well established digital content strategy and infrastructure will allow clubs to bring their digital diaspora of fans into their own platform – in the shape of a branded mobile app for instance. Not only does this allow clubs to increase direct engagement with their fans, it also facilitates the monetisation of their digital content more effectively, while allowing brand partners or sponsors to directly target these fan communities with compelling content and unique brand experiences, and then reward them.”
The key thing here is not just output though, it is management of the channel or platform.
“I do question the over-reliance on social media platforms as a means for clubs to grow their digital communities and revenue streams. From our research, sports clubs are relying on external platforms over which they have little control; and while it’s a great way to be discovered and engage with the fans, the effectiveness of how revenue is generated is questionable,” according to Rich.
“Club media departments are telling great stories and should be looking to maximise earnings by publishing that content on a platform in which they can offer premium member access, dynamic advertising while enticing sponsors, who can more effectively reach your fan community through incentives that result in some form of reward and return for value.”
With clubs of all shapes and sizes jumping into this area, what does the future hold?
“I think fans really resonate with player and community-driven media, the real world, behind-the-scenes content that lifts the lid on the players’ lives off the field and also shares the voice of the greater community. The role of the player has always been simply to perform on the pitch, but perhaps more community outreach initiatives would satisfy the social responsibility objectives within the surrounding community and mutually boost the top players’ brands in their own right.”
“You saw during the Covid-19 lockdown and suspension of games how much clubs were relying on player media to be able to put out new content, and so from a technology standpoint, I think many clubs will be looking at how to increase media output from their players, coaches to leverage their brand power and make a positive impact on the community they serve.”
Given the insatiable appetite that sports fans seem to have of any content related to their beloved teams, I don’t think they’ll complain in the slightest.
