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How Reach PLC Caused Sports Fan Engagement To Skyrocket Online

Due to the pandemic, sports teams and media companies worldwide have an all-too-familiar challenge in common: They’re unable to engage with audiences in person. Organizations that want to grow and retain their now-digital communities of sports fans must pursue new ways to get fans excited for content and sports games online.

By equipping themselves with the right tools and engagement strategies, sports organizations are successfully building thriving, loyal communities — directly on their digital properties.

In fact, after working with Viafoura for just three months, Reach PLC achieved 150% growth in sports fan engagement while reducing the workload for staff.

Interested in finding out how Reach is unlocking meaningful engagement with sports fans online? Learn about Reach’s quest for higher engagement below.

The Growing Need for Powerful Engagement Tools and Moderation Services

Reach had an engaged audience before the pandemic ever started; however, it had yet to perfect a way to boost sports fan loyalty and related engagement metrics online. As soon as COVID-19 began to ban in-person audiences from sports events, it became clear that digital engagement would have to become a priority to fill the void for fans.

In order to deliver highly engaging experiences, Reach’s audience development team knew that the company would have to overcome some significant challenges.

For instance, most of the company’s sports content only consisted of in-depth articles written by journalists. Reach quickly realized that sports fans weren’t being engaged after they finished reading the content. Instead of connecting with each other and participating in online discussions, consumers would leave Reach domains right after reading content without becoming registered users.

The company also realized that its staff members were spending too much of their time moderating comments and trying to encourage positive and meaningful discussions on its properties. The lack of an automated moderation system meant that trolling behavior could easily overtake any productive conversation.

Since 50% of people will leave a situation entirely after experiencing incivility, Reach’s engagement tools needed frequent human intervention to create a safe space to nurture its community.

Ultimately, Reach turned to Viafoura to help engage its sports fans and build loyalty through civil and interactive experiences online.

Benefiting From Rich Engagement With Digital Visitors

Using Viafoura’s conversation-based tools, Reach has been able to interact with sports fans in an extremely engaging way while gaining first-party user data.

At the start of the pandemic, when sports games were all on hold, Reach put these social tools to use by creating a space to discuss milestone anniversaries, gameplay strategies and pandemic predictions in the sports world. That way, fans could satiate their hunger for sports engagement, and Reach could keep its community active and loyal to its brands — even without in-person games.

Keep in mind that sports fans would need to register for an account to participate in these discussions. This gave Reach a steady stream of user behavioral data that helped inform its business decisions and improve the fan experience.

Digital visitors to Reach’s sites continue to participate in live chats with their favorite sports journalists, so they can get excited to discuss teams, games and players.

“Viafoura has helped us tap into new and better ways to keep our audiences engaged and build more loyalty,” says Kristian Walsh, head of sports audience engagement at Reach. “With Community Chat, we’re delivering more value to the fans, while also increasing engagement.”

In general, Reach’s use of Viafoura engagement tools led to a 117% increase in comments across its digital properties.

Building an Active Community Through Civil Conversations

Media organizations that host positive and productive social spaces can access a wealth of audience engagement data and encourage strong relationships to form between users.

To prevent trolls from destroying the benefits of these social spaces, Reach decided to take on Viafoura’s automatic moderation system, which instantly blocks up to 95% of toxic comments. Together, Reach and Viafoura adjusted the moderation algorithm to support the unique community guidelines built around Reach’s audience and understand the nuances of language used by visitors.

The addition of an effective moderation system ended up saving staff 120 hours of work each month. Now, Reach’s sports journalists no longer have to spend their time scouring comments for toxic behavior and can refocus their efforts on higher-value tasks instead.

Because Reach’s digital users have a safe space to voice their opinions and form connections with each other, there’s more reason for users to return and engage with its brand regularly.

Whether sports fans can return to stadiums or not in the near future, Reach PLC will continue to build positive, engaging experiences that captivate sports fans online.

The Importance of Engaging Sports Fans Online in a World Without In-Person Audiences

In a world where people can no longer attend in-person games, the value of online engagement is growing for sports fans.

The world is slowly but surely crawling out of its isolation from the pandemic. While some countries are easing lockdowns faster than others, one thing’s for certain: sports competitions are finally returning… just not in the way most people are used to.

In most cases, fans won’t be allowed to watch any games in person. It’s for our safety, of course. But this leaves sports media companies in a strange place. They’ll be able to share sports events and related news online; however, driving loyalty and excitement among fans may continue to be a struggle.

For this reason, Reach PLC — a U.K.-based media company — has chosen to use Viafoura’s live community chat tool to engage their loyal football fan base. In lieu of live football, they have pivoted to using the tool to engage their audience in past events and anticipation of the season rebeginning. Once the season begins, it will provide a great avenue for fans to interact with each other with the absence of in-person audiences.

“We are delighted to be in partnership with Viafoura in order to enter this brand — and brave — new world of building deeper relationships with our readers,” says the head of audience engagement for football at Reach, Kristian Walsh.

In a world where people can no longer attend in-person games, the value of online engagement is growing. Here’s why Reach is using our live chat tool to hook sports fans and build a community of loyal supporters around its brands.

Fans Crave Engagement Around Sports

As professionals in the sports media industry, you’ve probably seen how starved of engagement sports fans are right now.

“There is no bigger gateway to a passionate, opinionated audience than sport,” states Walsh.

The Chicago Bears American football team even came across a fan who claimed they would start a hunger strike if football was still banned by the fall. Thankfully, football is now on track to resume in certain countries in the coming weeks.

So what does all this mean for sports media companies?

“Sports are coming back, and audiences are going to want to participate more than ever because they’re so hungry for sports,” says Alex Lea, Senior Account Executive at Viafoura. “Our community chat tool allows them to have a forum to communicate even if they can’t interact live in arenas.”

By giving fans an outlet to interact together online, companies can help satisfy their need to engage with the sports world and build strong connections to others with similar interests.

Reaching the Community Through Live Chat

Before partnering with Viafoura, Reach had a large number of anonymous and loyal readers that would visit their sports brands over 20 times a month. But there wasn’t an effective way for the publisher to convert this traffic to registered users.

Viafoura’s community chat tool offered Reach’s sports brands a solution: Fans can register to interact with others in real time around special online events. As a result, Reach can collect critical details on its most active audience members and continue to build up their loyalty.

“It allows us to chat with those who have been so loyal to us for years,” Walsh explains. “We have always listened to them via audience data, but now we can interact with them one-on-one on this platform.”

Media companies have an opportunity now to engage audience members through live chat tools and drive registrations on their websites or apps. These registration details can be used to send content offers to highly active audience members and boost subscriptions.

Discussing Milestones, Industry Updates and Players

Two of Reach’s brands have already used our community chat tool to host interactive events on major sports milestones and events within their digital properties.

Liverpool Echo, for instance, ran a live Q&A for registrants with a Liverpool Football Club correspondent.

Audience members had the chance to discuss their memories and questions from a monumental game where Liverpool defeated Barcelona four to zero:

Another Reach media brand known as The Chronicle also ran a live Q&A powered by our community chat tool, giving football fans the chance to debate the possible takeover of an English football club by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

Both chat-based events successfully encouraged community members to participate in the sports world and connect over topics they all shared a common interest in. Now, Reach is in a planning phase to leverage this functionality with other brands as well.

“With the current ongoing crisis, it is more important than ever to ensure people feel important and engaged with, which is what our community chats will do with football fans across the world,” Walsh highlights. “I’m excited to see where else we can go, and what else we can do, with Viafoura in the future.”

Here’s How Sports Broadcasters Can Keep Fans Engaged Amid the Pandemic

Protective measures against COVID-19 are currently in full force around the world, causing all types of events and public areas to shut down. Among the businesses affected by closures, sports media companies now find themselves in an unfamiliar space — trying to earn revenue and engage audiences without in-person competitions to fuel fan excitement.

Although many sports broadcasters are now relying on reruns and archived video to fill the gap, their ability to excite sports fans seems somewhat limited. But many companies are beginning to learn that there’s more to sports than in-person events.

“We spend half our time watching sports, we then move onto digesting them, discussing them with friends and then preparing for the next game,” sportswriter Mike Wood states in a Forbes article.

In other words, conversation and human interaction have the power to delight audiences. So in the absence of in-person competitions, here are a few simple ways for sports broadcasters to engage audiences, boost morale and build long-term loyalty virtually.

Watch Parties

By now, you might have heard of the Netflix Party tool, which allows friends to chat together and watch content on the platform in unison. Not only does this tool allow consumers to socialize safely, but it also boosts their excitement towards the platform.

Sports broadcasters can use Netflix’s audience engagement solution as inspiration to get their own sports fans chatting over videos. And with so much careful planning being put into which old games and events should run in place of canceled ones, fans will certainly be tuning in.

Just look at ESPN, which is airing old WrestleMania events.

According to Burke Magnus, ESPN’s executive VP of programming, “WrestleMania is one of the most popular global events in sports and entertainment and the spectacular content it provides will be a treat for fans.”

If fans had a live chat to discuss programs like WrestleMania as they air, viewers would be able to do more than just watch: they would work each other up for matches and reignite the spirit of sports culture.

Q&As and AMAs

Another reliable way to engage fans is by hosting live Q&As and AMAs that feature sports leaders and athletes.

For instance, a U.K. sports club known as Barrow AFC is currently keeping fans connected to team members through Q&As.

Since Q&As and AMAs can be conducted remotely and in real time, they’re effective ways for sports broadcasters to maintain healthy connections with consumers. Just imagine how excited sports fans would be to engage directly with famous players like LeBron James, Serena Williams or Lionel Messi.

Esports Games

While esports isn’t anything new for gamers, there’s been a surge in players due to the worldwide lockdowns caused by COVID19. With such a large consumer base already existing in the esport world, it’s the perfect place for athletes to compete and attract fans.

Some sports companies have already started their journey into esports.

In fact, Spanish soccer league La Liga ran a virtual FIFA tournament with nineteen professional soccer players on March 22 of this year, bringing in over one million viewers.

NASCAR drivers also turned to a connected gaming platform to race virtually last week and engage audiences, and plan to do so every week until the pandemic ends.

Will Hershey, the CEO of an esport investment company, explains that he “[expects] traditional athletes, many of whom are gamers, to look to [esport] streaming as a way to engage with fans and build their personal brand while leagues remain suspended.”

Adjusting Podcasts

Many networks already rely on podcasts to connect with their audiences. However, sports broadcasters hoping to keep listeners interested must adjust their strategies in light of recent sports cancellations.

“Ninety-five percent [of sports content] now is about being creative and testing the waters of what the audience wants right now, taking liberties with your creativity,” states the host of TalkSPORT’s show Going Global.

Instead of focusing on sports closures and postponements, some media companies are getting creative by discussing the past sports world, athlete interviews and upcoming virtual events.

As long as sports broadcasters find new ways to engage consumers remotely, fans will continue to rely on them for information and entertainment.

Audience Engagement Data is About to Amp up Sports Media

Just last week, Adam Hodgkins, the senior business development manager at Genius Sports Media, published an insightful article that dug into why audience engagement data on-site is the key to growing revenue in sports. And we couldn’t agree more.

“There’s an awareness in the OTT space that sports companies have lost control of their audiences to social media,” says Michael Shewchenko, Head of Business Development for Sports and Media at Viafoura. “But they now have an opportunity to engage their audiences on their properties in a positive and highly valuable way, and use their own data to put a name and a face to their users.”

Audience engagement data is the money-making factor that many sports companies are missing out on. Any sports company that wants to significantly boost revenue would, therefore, benefit greatly from connecting with their audiences, learning who their community members are, and then using that information to create and send highly relevant content and ads.

Unlocking a Premium Experience for Sports Fans

To connect with audiences on a more direct level, sports companies need to turn their digital properties into engaging communities — through super-exclusive spaces that capture valuable insights on users. This can be accomplished through ‘premium experiences’ that can be offered to encourage users to register or subscribe.

“Engagement tools can open up the premium experience,” says Shewchenko. “Tools that encourage on-site interaction increase the likelihood of passive sports consumers becoming active and highly engaged users. It’s all about building the two-way communication between users and brands.”

A premium experience can include anything from participating in live chats, real-time commenting and blogging to following favorite teams, players, authors, topics or getting regular updates.

In his article, Hodgkins explains that “unique behind the scenes footage, exclusive interviews and easy access to detailed statistics have handed sports leagues and teams a golden opportunity to turn their websites and social channels into valuable destinations for information-hungry fans.”

Techcrunch even conducted a recent survey, which found that 78% of industry experts believe that fan engagement tech will have the largest impact on live streaming and esports in the next year.

Sports fans are already excited about players and upcoming events — they’re practically itching to interact with one another and around related content. The more opportunities you give them to engage on your platform, the more data you’ll be able to gather on who they are and what kinds of content and experiences they like.

Not only can sports companies sell this consumer data to advertisers, but “by knowing that their audience are, say, mostly men aged between 18 and 25 who read about basketball on a daily basis, advertisers have a huge strategic advantage when choosing where to spend their budget,” says Hodgkins.

Targeting Content to Known Users

As sports companies learn who their audience members are and how they react to different types of content, they can create content and experiences that delight their communities. For instance, knowing which player is your community’s favorite can help you generate extremely high-performing, related content that your audience will devour and generate conversations around. Plus, the more engaging and relevant your platform is, the more likely your community is to grow.

By serving up a premium experience to fans, sports media is able to capture meaningful data, which can significantly improve conversion strategies, grow revenue and increase consumer loyalty.

Stop relying on third-party news aggregators and social media platforms to run your ads off of, and instead, become the primary destination for consumers.

Get to know your fans on your own properties. Give them the content and experiences they love. Then use their data to inform business strategies and grow revenue. It really is as simple as that.