Your In-Stadium Digital Rights Are As Valuable As Your Streaming Rights…You Just Haven’t Built Them Yet.

According to an article by PwC, digital streaming & media rights will grow by 9.7% in the next five years.

We are in a wave of a total overhaul in advertising. Brands have access to a better product in digital ads & assets.

It’s where attention is. It’s measurable. It’s overall just better than “traditional” advertising options.

We’re seeing it happen right now in Television. People stream more than anything now thanks to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other OTT options.

In sports, you have arguably the last thing you absolutely have to watch live on these devices. Which brings so much value and attention to that inventory.

Now…putting that game on a digital asset is what brands want, therefore the rights holders will look to pay a king’s ransom to for more access to that content and incentivize viewers to watch on their platform.

The same growth, demand, & value is happening for our digital in-stadium assets…we just haven’t noticed.

People have been focusing a lot on the value of streaming and distributing sports content in the industry lately.

This makes total sense…it is how the sports business model is set up. These leagues grew into MONSTERS of revenue with TV deals.

What often gets overlooked is the assets in the stadium.

It comes down to not enough digital, measurable inventory.

If you knew that a highway billboard ad could allow you to measure usage, collect data, and allow you to re-target them…would you look at that asset in your ad budget?

I would assume yes.

Many brands see in-arena sponsorship assets as glorified highway billboard ads.

With that mindset, the decision is an “A or B” one for brands:

A. Do I spend this money and risk buying something I can’t measure?

B. Do I take the money I was going to spend here and put it to digital options (Facebook ads)?

Right now, from what we’re seeing in the industry at SQWAD, the answer is B.

Even though they love investing in sports and its ability to build brand…they need to be able to measure the results directly.

In the immortal words of Dr. Dre: “what’s the difference between me and you? You talk a good one, but you don’t do what you’re supposed to do.”

In-arena assets talk a good awareness game… but they don’t, or can’t prove that they do what their supposed to…which is drive purchases.

The solution: Completely overhaul our in stadium assets to have measurable assets.

If we want to see the growth that OTT is seeing…we need to do what OTT did.

We need to shift our assets that fit the way our fans consume, engage, and ingest our sponsorship messages.

We need to shift our ad products to ones that have the measurability we compete with in digital ads.

If we add these assets, quite simply we will see the same growth.

If we totally overhaul our pricing and the way we think about selling digital assets as not a side asset but as the MAIN asset, we will explode in revenue.

We’re seeing it with our clients at SQWAD. Our assets like Mobile Scratchers and Scoreboard Trivia can’t stay on the shelf. Sponsors are buying, at a high price, because it takes in-stadium assets like the scoreboard and brings measurability and data collection into the mix.

Six and seven-figure deals saved with the introduction of digital assets.

We need more of this. We need to turn our stadiums into immersive digital playgrounds where sponsors can connect with fans.

We have no excuses. We can’t keep blaming the fan, phone, or economy.

There are two options here. We either shift and thrive or don’t and watch as sports sponsorship suffers the same fate billboard newspaper ads have.

Those who shift will win.

If you need an indicator that this is the case. Look no further than what is happening in streaming.