Short-form content has grown rapidly within sports in recent years as organizations seek to capture the attention of younger audiences in the digital age.
The power of short-form content cannot be ignored. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are at the forefront of digital marketing and revolutionizing how brands connect with their audiences, providing a tool for sports properties to build fan engagement.
Go deeper with GlobalData
It is no longer a trend but a key component for marketing and commercial teams as changing consumer behavior demands concise and engaging content.
Content creation platform Greenfly is a leading player in this space and works with over 1,000 sports organizations, including the DFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WPLL, Six Nations Rugby, European Tour Golf, and SailGP.
Sportcal spoke to Nick Shaw, Greenfly’s managing director of EMEA, and Gabby Vidal Castillo, the company’s senior sports partnership manager of EMEA, to look at the importance of short-form content and how it is being used in sports to drive value.
Can you explain the rise in short-form content and why it's become so valuable in sports?
Vidal Castillo: “When you look at the shift in media consumption, particularly amongst younger audiences, there's a huge shift in interest in short-form content, and engaging, authentic content that isn't necessarily always captured within the broadcast or the 90 minutes, and you're seeing wider trends.
“Even though the 90 minutes is still important and is the key and core product, over recent years, it's become increasingly more important for sports organizations, whether you're a league, team, rights-holding broadcaster, or even from an athlete point of view, to engage with fans differently and that's where short-form content plays a key role. It’s become from a nice to have maybe a few years ago, to now an essential. Organizations need to pay attention and cater to that to connect with audiences across the board.”
Shaw: “Short-form content has always been a thing, but it was never perceived internally or potentially at a senior level as being important because, ultimately, the revenue was coming from the broadcaster, and that's still the case today. But the audiences, and the fragmentation of audiences and content that people can consume, not just sports content, but general content, you're fighting for their attention and 90 minutes, 80 minutes, or a whole day if it's cricket, is a long time for somebody to be sat there watching it, you've got to be pretty enthusiastic to do it.
“Sports organizations are trying to look at the lifetime value of their audience and you need to get them when they're younger and that younger audience is not necessarily as passionate and as engaged as the more mature follower.
“Therefore, you must have a more strategic approach to how you're engaging them in that sport, and that's where short-form content comes in because the attention span of those individuals and their enthusiasm for the sport is not necessarily going to be as high. Therefore, short-form content is a great way of capturing them at a younger age. If you don't have a hardcore strategy around your short-form content, you're going to fail.”
How do sports organizations monetize short-form content and get a return?
Vidal Castillo: “Organizations are beginning to realize and understand the value that short-form content can bring from a sponsorship point of view given that we're seeing more demand for that type of content and there are more eyeballs on it. That then becomes a monetizable asset for sponsors that want to connect with those younger audiences that short-form content is appealing to.
“The 90 minutes and broadcast rights deals are still the ones that are driving the millions and billions and that's not going to change soon, but there is a shift in trend where you've seen more sponsorship revenue, or at least there's more emphasis for organizations to drive more sponsorship revenue, given that in some markets you see shrinking broadcast deals, that's a reality. So it becomes increasingly important for those organizations to understand how to drive commercial value, work closely with commercial sponsors, and leverage the value and the power of short-form content and digital audiences that they have at their disposal to do so.”
Shaw: “There's another layer within all of that, which is the type and style of content that you are creating and the value that is associated with that. With three-to-five-minute highlights packages, there are loads of different organizations now that have the rights to show them. Essentially, there is saturation and when you get saturation, the value tends to drop in certain situations, whereas a lot of the content that we see and that Greenfly helps facilitate, and one of the main reasons they do that is because they see the value in this more exclusive, shorter form content which is being captured. That becomes valuable because nobody else has it, and they haven't sold it to anybody else at this stage, whereas the highlights are everywhere.
“If they're creating and capturing this content, and have a strong strategic viewpoint on how they're capturing that content and why, whether that is for an existing commercial sponsor or trying to create a new theme or category within the content they're creating, they're the only ones that have access to it. By definition, the value of that increases more than a highlights package. Many organizations that we work with have got incredible access to their athletes. Therefore, if you've got that access that nobody else has, you're creating content that nobody else has seen and that people want to see. As the team and the league, one of your USPs is your access, and by creating the shorter form content that nobody else has access to, you're increasing the value.
“That's one area that can be packaged up, sold to sponsors, or added into a sponsorship deal, or could be part of renewal conversations. From the broadcaster's point of view, and we see this working with organizations like the DFL or the Premier League, there is a squeeze in certain territories on media rights and broadcasters are demanding in terms of getting value for what they're paying for. Their demands and needs are increasing, and leagues are creating this type of content that their broadcast partners can use. That's more indirect revenue because it's adding value to that relationship. Then when it maybe comes down to renewal, they [broadcasters] can potentially demand an increase, because this content can either be used in their linear channels or on social.”
Leagues are now carving out digital clips packages within media rights tenders, allowing broadcasters to put out short highlights immediately after matches. Will this put linear broadcasters off from bidding for traditional highlights packages in future and is it a threat to long-running shows like Match of the Day for example?
Shaw: “There has been lots of debate around Match of the Day. With that show, you get more of the contextual stuff around it, and the insight and analysis, and that's where it has a huge amount of value. When we watch those clips on YouTube or wherever it is, we don't get that. The BBC probably needs to have a balance between the two, in terms of that shorter, snappier, and more engaging and exciting element to it to cater to the differing audiences, there must be some sophistication around how you appeal to them in different ways.”
Vidal Castillo: “There must be a level of balance, but equally, it can be complimentary. There’s always a debate around long-form content versus short-form content, and I don't think it's just one or the other, they both need to coexist, and they both cater for different needs to different audiences as well.
“With media entities – be it sports organizations, broadcasters, leagues, teams – there's more competition. Our time spent watching a particular channel or following a particular page will evolve over time as the offering available to us becomes greater. That will evolve and the time that we spend on each will decrease. Naturally, that's just part of the digital age. What makes you stand out from all the different outlets will help you retain the most.”
You recently expanded your relationship with the DFL, can you outline some of the work they’ve done in this space and what you’ve seen from some of your other partnerships?
Vidal Castillo: “The DFL is a great example of a major league in Europe that is doing things well and is innovative. We've been working with them for nearly five years and they've been pioneers in terms of short-form content, driving value to rights-holding broadcasters, and being able to develop and evolve. The program that they started with five years ago is not the program that they have today. It has evolved as needs and trends have evolved.
“They're constantly considering and thinking about how to continue developing their offering for the media rights-holding broadcasters and continue to drive value for them. They're looking at ways to develop the content offering, different themes that they can tap into, and build on what they've previously done.
“Another organization to mention is WPLL, the women's professional league. Women's sport is massively growing and tools and technologies like Greenfly are well positioned to be able to support them across that growth and also make sure that we're helping elevate and support the entire ecosystem, and that all stakeholders work together, whether it's broadcasters, clubs, teams, or players. The WPLL has been doing a great job adopting some of that mindset into what they've been doing across the WLL and the Women's Championship.”
Shaw: “What's in common with both of those [DFL and WPLL] is that it's from a leadership perspective. If you've got a leadership group that understands this marketplace, and that they have to innovate, change, and push the boundaries, not taking stupid risks, but evolving and developing as consumer trends and technology change, it does take the leadership team to be bought into that. If they're not, these things can just stagnate. Where we see our partners doing well is when there is a very forward-thinking leadership team that gets it and understands it, that's both here and in the US.”
How will short-form content evolve further in the coming years?
Shaw: “It's going to be interesting to see the role AI plays. Wearables, I think, are going to be interesting particularly when you think about how stuff is created at the moment – mainly on mobile phones. In five or 10 years, wearables is going to be the place that you do everything, and that then gives a completely different perspective on that type of content that you are creating, because it's going to be very different and we have to be cognizant of that.
“The AI element is going to have a big role. But in everything new that comes out, there's always a negative side to it, but I do think that's going to play a big role. But wearables is going to be a really interesting area to look at when it comes to short-form content, and that also opens it up, but it can also be a challenge as well, because if everybody sat in the crowd is wearing wearables, how do the broadcasters deal with that from a rights perspective?
“Another element is the power of the athlete. We're beginning to see that now, and we're helping fuel that, and will increase more. What you may see over time is potentially what the athletes have access to be able to utilize becomes greater because they're part of the brand, whichever brand they are associated with, as well as their own individual brand. When organizations start to think about the athlete as part of their digital and social ecosystem, that then becomes really powerful, not just from a commercial point of view, but also from a reach and growth and different territories and geographies, the athlete is going to become incredibly important in all of this. They already are, but I think their importance will grow.
“Also, the more authentic the content is, the more successful they will be. Authenticity is super important in everything that happens here, and that's why the content that tends to come through Greenfly is so powerful because it tends to be authentic.”
Vidal Castillo: “From a consumer point of view, we'll want to get closer to the action. If you look over time, that has evolved. You've got cameras now where you didn't have them two or three years ago, and that will get closer to the athletes. We've seen tests around body cams and mics etc. We're probably a long way from those things being implemented as normal, but you'll see fans demanding to get closer to the action and innovative ways of supporting organizations, bringing fans closer to everything that's happening.”
