In a modern world where content is king, it’s no wonder that social media has had a profound impact on how we interact with the sports we love.
Society has a high appetite for high-quality content, which in the sporting world translates to real-time updates, highlights, and analysis from key industry figures or anyone with an outrageous opinion they aren’t afraid to hold back on. On most platforms, we can find a sports-related topic to be trending daily with millions of people debating below in the comments.
Sports has become more than just broadcasts, with a handful of commentators debating the same one-sided opinions. It has become a worldwide affair, where anyone from an athlete, superfan, or couch jockey can be invited into the conversation, playing a huge role in the narratives delivered. If we look at human psychology and our innate need to be a part of a community, it’s no wonder that social media has simply taken over as the preferred method for fans to follow sports.
When we look at traditional sports media, we see broadcast and newspapers as the main mediums; both are typically ‘owned’ by the same governing body and operate under strict values and opinions. But as we introduce social media, podcasts, and blogs, we gain a more diverse insight into the sporting world, with anyone able to open up their phone, sit in front of a microphone, or jump on a computer.
This easy accessibility has also opened the door for global viewership, which we have seen noticeably in Australian interest peaking in US sports. If we overlook how fun the NFL is to bet on, no one does content better than US institutions. When we see the NFL, NHL, NBA, and NBL all investing in their content productions and each team having healthy budgets to include full-time content creators to travel with the teams, the value of on-demand, high-quality content is evident.
Society’s hunger for this level of content has paved a path for careers that wouldn’t have even been considered more than a decade ago. With full-time creators, podcasters, producers, schedulers, and marketers for social media alone. There’s also a whole new market for athletes, staff, and superfans to capitalise on with the value of being the face of the brand.
Social media has simply taken over as the preferred method for fans to follow sports.
