A business-minded look at digital and social media in sports
Watch or listen to episode 314 of the Digital and Social Media Sports podcast, in which Neil chatted with Paul Stafford, CEO of Further, a global branding and creative agency.
Paul discusses his work building DesignStudio before its expansion and reformation into Further, rebranding Airbnb and the Premier League, what goes into brand building, what the ‘commitment curve’ means in developing customers and fans, and more.
81 minute duration. Listen on Apple, Spotify and YouTube
Why is sports sponsorship valuable? What factors make it a premium asset for brands?
Sure, the ability to command large, broad, often live audiences plays a major role. But as marketing has matured, the unique value proposition for sports has only grown and has become better understood and appreciated.
Sara Toussaint has seen this play out throughout her career, with experience on all sides of the sports and athlete sponsorship complex. She’s seen fan affinities drive business outcomes through partnerships, she’s been part of tactics that activated partnerships during emotionally charged moments in live sports, and she’s seen new, once vastly undervalued opportunities emerge in women’s sports, which perhaps coalesce all of the above factors in driving the premium value of sports sponsorship.
Toussaint, who today is co-CEO of global women’s soccer-focused athlete management agency TMJ, spent nearly a decade at Wells Fargo driving the bank’s sports sponsorships. Partnerships in sports were not on an island; they were part of Wells Fargo’s overall marketing plans and expected to drive tangible, compounding cross-channel results. Standard wisdom suggests sports fans will support the partners of their favorite teams, especially when it enhances their own fandom. Toussaint explained how this played out for Wells Fargo’s sponsorships in pro and college sports.
“On the Wells Fargo side, it was how do we support the marketing initiatives that the CMO had set in place?” said Toussaint, who spent time at Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer, among other stops, before her tenure at Wells Fargo. “We would use sponsorship as a way to augment the existing media plans and marketing strategies for everything from the websites and store, etc.
“Then, from the brand side, what the property really wanted [was for] Wells Fargo, especially around the Mexican national team and Major League Soccer, to promote those properties here in the US. So to have the Mexican national team debit card on every Wells Fargo ATM was a huge win…there’s a lot of data out there on consumer affinity to brands that support their favorite teams — and we definitely saw that in terms of the number of accounts that were opened, and we could tie that to a Mexican national team card, a Florida Gator card to a new account. Like, we could say on that account that was the card that they requested, and we can presume that we had done marketing there that had caused that demand.”
It’s not just about brand associations and tailing affinities, though. Part of the magic of sports sponsorships is the inherent preponderance of high-impact moments and campaigns. Times when fans are excited, their hearts racing, and their attention focused. That feature of sport is an opportunity for brand partners to make their sponsorships active, riding the wake of the emotional highs, augmented by the real-time nature and inherent connection of sports and social media.
Toussaint had a hand and a front-row view of these opportunities, with Wells Fargo’s partner, the national soccer team for Mexico, competing in the World Cup. She described a clever, provocative campaign that saw American soccer hero Landon Donovan expressing that he’d be cheering for Mexico, and also recounted how Wells Fargo made the most of their sponsorship during the matches and moments themselves.
“We did a lot of live social moments [during the World Cup],” she said. “Our social media team at Wells Fargo had a control room, and there were probably nine screens they could monitor, whether it’s Twitter or Facebook. We had the World Cup up while Mexico played, and we pre-programmed creative and copy as much as possible, so as things happened during a match, we were ready with a post, or we were ready to then supplement, like they just won, ‘Get your Wells Fargo Mexico debit card’ or whatever, and do that in real time. So that social media piece was a really big win for us around the World Cup.”
Social media wasn’t just a way for a brand like Wells Fargo to enter the conversation alongside the properties they were sponsoring, it also gave emerging sports, leagues, and athletes a more level, meritocratic playing field to fuel their rise. These catalyzing elements helped several new sports and leagues find footing, but the impact has been (and continues to be) most evident in women’s sports.
Toussaint recounted to me how a past colleague, at the time, saw the opportunity in women’s sports as a growing and undervalued asset. She looked at the rising National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), and it was the social and digital channels, in particular, which stood out.
“There were so many compelling reasons for sponsoring NWSL,” said Toussaint, who is also a co-owner of two pro soccer teams, the North Carolina Courage in the NWSL and Querétaro FC in Liga MX (Mexico’s top-flight men’s pro soccer league). “For me, the number one reason was the digital footprint and engagement footprint. I was like, Wow, this could be a really cost-effective way to get social media engagement.”
With more women’s sports and athletes commanding attention and audiences on social and digital media, the legacy media began catching up, with coverage going from 4% not long ago to around 15% today, Toussaint noted (citing reports from Sports Innovation Lab, among others). While the early sponsors have been followed by more brands, but the scope and scale of women’s sports still pales in comparison to most of the more mature, generations-old men’s sports properties and its traditional sponsorship assets.
That’s an opportunity, though, said Toussaint.
“With the women, aside from the data, we can also say, Look, it’s not as saturated as men’s sports, so you’re going to have a lot more awareness,” said Toussaint, who heads TMJ’s TMJ Catalyst, which focuses on connecting TMJ’s athletes with brands and business leaders for deals. “You have a lot more white space to play in. We talked about brand loyalty, you’re going to have a lot more of that. You’ve got new categories you can play with. You can try new things, and it becomes even more of a white space because you’re not competing against brands that are typically in this landscape. So that’s a big piece.”
The combination of more media coverage, more brand partnerships, bigger audiences, and more fan interest has turned women’s sports into an asset class that’s increasingly attracting institutional capital and high-net-worth individuals. That infusion and energy will only accelerate the flywheel, driving more growth and more capital in a virtuous cycle of value creation. The bigger fan bases, superstar athletes, and increased cross-channel footprint are all good signs for the continued rise of women’s sports — but it’s that investment that Toussaint cited as perhaps the most impactful factor showing the world, especially the business world, that women’s sports are far from the more charity-driven, corporate social responsibility play the properties may have been a generation ago.
“People follow wherever the money goes, and you’re seeing big money get into women’s sports, and you’re seeing billionaires buying [in],” she said. “And for whatever reason, people think billionaires are like the smartest folks in the room…That news is now on CNBC, and marketers are watching CNBC, right? So you’ve got exponential input that’s coming into the space, and that’s really important. Where the money goes, especially big money names, you’re going to have the media following, and you’re going to have the marketers follow, too.”
The marketers are here. The value proposition for women’s sports is undeniable. And the new paradigms in sports business will favor women’s sports, with its strong social and digital game. As sponsorship further appreciates elements beyond eyeballs, it’ll be the sports properties that can deliver activation and affinities, and the brands that can capitalize on sports’ special elements and emotions that will turn potential value into kinetic outcomes.
On episode 312 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil chatted with Sara Toussaint, Co-CEO of TMJ and Head of TMJ Catalyst. She’s also co-owner of the NWSL club North Carolina Courage and Liga MX club Querétaro F.C.
What follows are some snippets from the episode. Click Here to listen to the full episode or check it out and subscribe to the podcast via Apple or listen on Spotify or YouTube.
I went to the Rodeo Championships at Petco Park in San Diego and took notes on the fan experience, content, and the event overall, with a sports business lens. There were probably ~ 10-12,000 attendees and some good takeaways + opportunities.
Check out some of the visuals below and quick hit nuggets and observations here:
🤠 There were protesters outside the main gates, chanting with a megaphone and handing out pamphlets, speaking against cruelty to animals. It was a small but vocal group (fewer than 10 people)
🤠 One of the highlights was the Kids Fest before the event, clearly positioning this as a family outing and trying to get kids excited about rodeo. The Kids Fest included limited sponsor presence, but a handful of activities, including:
(Padres-branded) bounce houses, a bandana station to decorate your bandana, bouncy horses to ride, a lasso station to teach kids, a cowboy on stilts, and, naturally, line dancing (some impromptu, some planned), not live music. There was also, notably, no beer or food on sale (let alone free food) at the Kids Fest — something like free snow cones or kettle corn would’ve been great
🤠 There seemed to be a good amount of VIP elements and upsells — get up close to the animals and competition area before the event, and premium seating right up next to it
🤠 In addition to the National Anthem, the pre-event ceremony included a prayer, addressing and thanking the lord, and also tinged with patriotism thanking the troops
🤠 The demographics of attendees — mostly white, multi-generational families, young kids, older couples, too, and also a good amount of young adults and college-aged females (who were excited to put on the cowboy gear, no doubt). Also some Hispanics (we are in San Diego, after all)
🤠 There was not much pre-event pageantry overall besides some brief intros and very little explanation of the events and scoring. But this is championship Sunday, so perhaps less necessary
🤠 It’s a competition more than a show, so the competitors did not display much personality. Though I’d love to see more distinct outfits, including their horses. There was also little interaction with competitors until the very end. These competitors have intriguing stories (video vignettes peppered through the event would be cool). Post-event meet and greets would be advisable, too. Have CTAs for their social media accounts…
🤠 There was limited audience interaction or digital CTAs during the event, though if you dug in enough, you could find a live scoreboard website. It would be good otherwise have more interaction, too — predictions, ETWs, merch promos
🤠 While there wasn’t much sponsored elements (the kiss cam, for example, was non-branded, there was solid title sponsorship of each competition with prolonged exposure across screens, including a brand flag ride around on a horse before starting each event
🤠 Some, not all, of the riders’ shirts were decked out in sponsor logos, not quite motorsports-esque in volume
🤠 The co-branding with the San Diego Padres was unmistakable – from the colors and even the paper numbers on the competitors ( a bit tacky like they’re marathon runners) having Padres on them. The staff had sweet baseball uniform jerseys with San Diego Rodeo — sell those! Or auction them autographed autographs
🤠 There was a sweepstakes promoted on the video board, a toolbox ETW — with QR code on the board to enter
🤠 There is a good amount of downtime between events, with ample space to fill with content. There was later some audience interaction with kiss cam, dance cam, trivia, and even a marriage proposal. Sponsorable assets there
Definitely more opportunity for unique camera views — POV of the riders cowboy, of the support staff often right next to the action, a camera on the animals, the accessory riders
🤠 The highlight of the day was an acrobatic trick rider, doing stands and holds while horse riding. Impressive! And the crowd seemed to enjoy it, good fodder for social
🤠 Other random observations:
– Officials throw flags during events to denote fouls like NFL refs
– I saw a couple of cowboys gear-wearing girls filming a TikTok on the side of the concourse
– They emptied the bazooka of singalong songs, with a medley of all of them together during a 3-4 minute break
– There were a couple of times when people were honored on the dirt (including youth rodeo). If they can go on the dirt between events, I’d love to see some simple fun games like a horseshoe toss or something
– It feels like the sport could do a lot in collecting and sharing data — torque of the bucking horse, speed off the horses, heart rates of the riders, height of bucking bulls, perceived difficulty of the moves, etc.
Western culture is having a moment in the US, and that’s part of why I was interested to check out this event. They didn’t invoke the pop culture popularity of cowboy culture and lifestyle, taking a serious approach to a world-class competition. The crowd was impressive and engaged, and the opportunity to grow through content, partnerships, and lifestyle is clear, too. In an increasingly digital, AI world, the timeless nature of rodeo offers something special, taking people back to simpler times.
Watch or listen to episode 313 of the Digital and Social Media Sports podcast, in which Neil chatted with Sara Toussaint, Co-CEO of TMJ and Head of TMJ Catalyst. She’s also co-owner of the NWSL club North Carolina Courage and Liga MX club Querétaro F.C.
Sara discusses the work with women’s sports athletes and brands at TMJ and TMJ Catalyst, and lessons learned from her background working in sports sponsorships with Wells Fargo and experience at Major League Soccer, Major League Baseball, and more.
54 minute duration. Listen on Apple, Spotify and YouTube
The word ‘fan’ is thrown around far too liberally nowadays.
Sports, entertainers, creators, influencers, everyday individuals — they can all regularly reach and engage millions of people every day. However, not every person who consumes, watches, engages, and even shares or saves is a fan. Likewise, not every person who attends a game or show is a fan. Your favorite team’s biggest fan may never attend a game or watch a game, but their closest is full of team swag and merch. That is, if a team is even the focal point of their sports fandom in the first place.
Developing true fans (remember, fan is short for fanatic) requires something more than exposure. Fandom is a journey, and it can manifest in diverse ways. As more brands and properties emerge with dreams of building their own fan base, there’s an increasing diversity of pathways to fandom and definitions of it.
Alyssa Meyers encounters a variety of strategies and tactics to create fans, engage them, activate within fandom, and identify new forms of fandom that are worth paying attention to and exploiting. A senior reporter for Marketing Brew, one of Meyers’s main beats is sports, a broad look at the business of sports and sports-adjacent brands and properties, how they market, how partners participate, how fans engage, and the trends and tactics that play out in this dynamic space. She told me about the avenues to fandom she’s been seeing in her conversations and reporting, as countless leagues and properties seek to earn their spot in the zeitgeist and the fan base that can come from that.
“I hear a lot about [the ‘next gen fan’], see a lot about that, and write a lot about that. I think it’s smart. I’ve been seeing it a ton, especially lately in motorsports,” said Meyers, who picked up the sports business beat only after joining Marketing Brew. “I think after what happened with Formula One in the US, even F1 and teams are still, I think, focused on, Okay, we have this new audience. They’re young, they’re women, they’re from parts of the world that we have not reached before. They’re here, they’re interested. How can we make them a fan of our team? How can we make sure that they will wake up at eight in the morning to watch a race in Abu Dhabi, as opposed to just watching Drive to Survive?…
“Fandom starts so young,” she said, elaborating on the focus to develop young fans. “People say this to me all the time in conversation. I think the sports marketers that are really knowledgeable about this do say things along the lines of, We’ve done studies, we know fandom starts when you’re three, four, five years old, super young, so why would we not think about a fan’s journey from that young age?”
In some ways, it’s never been easier to cultivate fans, with sports intersecting with so many parts of culture. In other ways, however, the competition for fans’ attention, hearts, and minds has never been greater, with fewer barriers to entry and massive audiences up for grabs every day. The result is more creativity and innovation in sports marketing tactics, from collaborations across verticals, unique merch, and even mascots making moves. Meyers described a bit of what she’s been seeing and reporting about, including her personal experiences as a fan.
“I’m so excited about what brands and teams and leagues are doing with mascots lately,” said Meyers, who told me about some of the fun activations with Ellie, the New York Liberty’s feminine elephant mascot. “That has been such a fun story for me to follow, because I do think that brands can play a role in developing the profile of a more rising team or league or sport. There’ve been some really cool campaigns with mascots, and I think that’s so fun.
“Partnerships with musicians, fashion collabs, I think, have been really cool, the NFL’s new partnership with Abercrombie this season.” Meyers also noted. ” It’s been amazing to see merch across the board get a little bit cooler, more stylish. I don’t just have to wear some big jersey that’s not made for a woman. I can spend money on a really cool jacket from my favorite team, or something like that. There’s just so much exciting stuff going on.”
The strategies playing out with various collaborations are the tip of the spear for fan development, very much integral in generating awareness, consideration, and conversion of new fans. And this is where that definition of fandom expands, with a growing number of devotees who may know little about the actual games, let alone the X’s and O’s, but still adopt something of the brand, the team, the athlete, the sport, into their identity. There are fans entering by association, too, who become true fans because an influencer or celebrity with whom they have a parasocial relationship is a fan — it’s a way to feel closer to the community and other fans; fandom by proxy.
Meyers spoke about the brand and influencer relationships, and how there are ‘new types’ of fans developing.
“I think brands do play a role, like doing innovative brand partnerships with big name companies that have an audience, even if it’s not fandom of like a sport. But I think there’s something to be said for that,” said Meyers, whose coverage goes well beyond mainstream sports to even fitness competitions like Hyrox. “I think some of the more lifestyle, entertainment partnerships are really cool.
“In the influencer vein, you think of music — there are creators in the music space, creators in the fashion space, creators in the food space — I’ve seen a lot of teams invite those people outside of sports, invite them in, have them come to a game, they do content that now their followers, who maybe only care about fashion, now they’re saying like, Oh, cool; like, we can go to this game and wear this merch. And it’s a whole new type of fan that you’ve unlocked. I think that a lot of organizations have had a lot of success going that route with something a little more unexpected, whether it’s a brand partner, an influencer partner, whoever, just branching out and getting new fans that way.”
Even some of the longstanding avenues to fandom are fading in importance in modern times, too. The primary motivation for fandom was originally local pride. You cheered for the local team, went to the games, watched the local broadcasts (those were often the only games you could watch), fell in love with the athletes, and then fell in love with new athletes as the roster changed over time. But now, outside of the limitation of regularly seeing the athletes and team IRL, there is no friction with being a fan of a team even a continent away, or an athlete, regardless of which team they’re on at the time.
This new reality has created new forms and categories for fandom, and new opportunities for sports properties to explore, Meyers explained.
“I think it’s incredibly feasible [to drive fandom outside of the region] for so many reasons,” she said. “I mean, look at the Premier League, look at how many Man City fans live in the US. I think there are some stats [that say] like 90% of Man City fans don’t live in the UK. You do not have to have that tie. I think the Premier League is an amazing example of that.
Meyers continued: “We already talked about how important connections with athletes are. In this day and age, you can build a team brand and have people root for your team just based on athletes, not based on the city. It’s sort of like the Athletes Unlimited model as well. They are another one that’s kind of doing this…
“I have come into sports fandom in so many different ways. And sometimes you have to pick a team; everyone isn’t going to grow up born into fandom. You don’t always pick a team based on where you live. People move around. So, yeah, I think there’s a lot to be said about building a brand for a sports team that isn’t solely tied to the market or, geographically speaking…Everything is streamed; you could watch whatever team from whatever city.”
It’s not just the aspects of allegiance that are affecting how fandom is formed and manifests. The nature of consumption and engagement is evolving, too. There is no single funnel for sports marketers to work within anymore. The right funnel for every fan doesn’t lead to buying tickets or tuning into live games, necessarily. Particularly as teams and leagues seek to cultivate fans all over the world, they’ve had to adjust their definitions of fandom, aligning with modern fan traits and behaviors. Meyers described some of the ways sports properties are adapting to the emerging ways that fans are formed and want to engage.
“They’re clipping and putting value behind highlights and saying, Okay, people maybe don’t want to watch the whole game,” she said. “Maybe they can’t because they’re in a different time zone. That’s perfectly fine. We’re going to post a ton of highlights. If you only want to watch the highlights, that’s okay. That’s valuable. If you convert into buying a ticket or watching live from that, amazing. But if you don’t want to do that, that’s okay I think is the approach that a lot of marketers are taking, and I think the business case for it is integral.
“I think a lot of women’s soccer, when I think about the business of international sport, because I’m a fan, but also that’s a big conversation in terms of the player talent right now is, US stars that are based here, they can get paid a lot more money if they go play in the UK. and some of the biggest stars are. There are big disputes over their contracts now to keep them in the NWSL and vice versa. There are international superstars who are huge in their countries and on their national teams. Barbra Banda, Marta, like all these people who play in the NWSL. So you have to [develop fans internationally], and the league can monetize its fans in other countries. You just have to, because of that baseline reason that the talent is crossing countries more and more.”
Fan segments are increasingly diverse and complex. The motivations for fandom and pathways leading to one’s loyalty and expression of identity are more varied. The business strategies, in turn, are necessarily evolving to meet the new paradigms, reimagining sports marketing and embracing the cross-cultural nature of sports fandom today. But don’t mistake exposure for engagement, and don’t label engagement as devotion. Fandom is more than just a passing fad or a stop of the scroll; it’s about capturing a part of someone’s heart and mind.
On episode 312 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil chatted with Alyssa Meyers, Senior Reporter for Marketing Brew, who writes extensively on sports marketing stories, backed by interviews with leading sports executives, as well as data and case studies.
What follows are some snippets from the episode. Click Here to listen to the full episode or check it out and subscribe to the podcast via Apple or listen on Spotify or YouTube.
Watch or listen to episode 312 of the Digital and Social Media Sports podcast, in which Neil chatted with Alyssa Meyers, Senior Reporter for Marketing Brew, who writes extensively on sports marketing stories, backed by interviews with leading sports executives, as well as data and case studies.
82 minute duration. Listen on Apple, Spotify and YouTube
The audiences are more accessible. The TAM has never been bigger. And the position of sports at or near the center of culture around the world is clear. In 2026, the aperture is wider than ever for sports and digital/social, so teams must focus on impact with the metrics. The ‘so what’ as a colleague of mine likes to say.
There was once a time when organic reach with one’s followers was 15-25%, but now no reach is guaranteed. But the path to reaching and engaging audiences is simple — create good content that your desired audience will enjoy.
That has changed the equation. Virality is a dime a dozen nowadays, relatively speaking (random accounts go viral on TikTok every day), but creating metrics that matter, building deep relationships, and cultivating (and participating in) engaging communities are where the strategy and the ‘so what’ lie.
Last year, I wrote about a variety of subjects for the sports industry to consider in 2025 (in-game social, community management, micro-communities, niche content, creator strategy 3.0, content franchises, +Experiences, generative AI, games, drops, Live, and much more. Many of those topics and concepts covered last year remain relevant a year later.
But as 2026 kicks off, I want to try something different, quick-hitting sparks that’ll hopefully provoke internal or external conversations or new approaches. The so what and the opportunities in plain sight, if developed intelligently.
Pulling from my day job, I’ll start with ten tips about how to approach data analysis, data-driven strategy, and storytelling more effectively. Then, I’ll highlight ten areas ripe with opportunity, building on behaviors and paradigm shifts playing out as the new year begins.
I’m no expert, and I’m hopeful any prognostications will not be 100% correct (you’re not taking bold swings then!). But the value of these columns is to think about what you’re not thinking about, ask the next-level questions, and stimulate compelling conversations to strive for greatness in 2026 and beyond.
Mean/Median/Max
You might remember those terms from middle school (elementary school?) math class, but it’s important in any job these days to understand and appreciate the difference between the three. Each tells a distinct, data-based story about performance over time and benchmarking, and each can be spun or misconstrued if not dealt with objectively and comprehensively.
Mean is the good ‘ole average. You may think about average reach, average engagement, average engagement rate, etc. — and that’s fine. But don’t be blind to the fact that the same average can be achieved in a lot of ways, and tells a different story. One super-viral post can frost over weeks of subpar performance, or evenly distributed base hits can add up. Which brings us to…
Median. You remember median? The middle number. This is only useful (imo) across a large enough data set. If your median is significantly different than your mean, it means you may be bottom-heavy or top-heavy. It may obfuscate your big home runs (or vice-versa), though (which average an account for), which brings us to…
Max. What does peak performance look like? Is it getting higher every year? All of this stats talk is why I’m a fan of a moneyball approach to metrics. Would you rather be Luis Arraez or Kyle Schwarber? You can end up at the same average engagement/reach, but I’d rather have a higher slugging percentage, even if the batting average is dicey. This all leads to…
Ask the hard questions
Celebrate your increases. Rally around the stories that put performance in the best light. But don’t run away from the hard questions — run towards them. Is that high engagement rate because of lower reach? Did the metrics go up mainly because of a record-breaking performance or something out of your control? That’s fine! But acknowledge it and maybe even compare it to the last analogous predictably high performer. Red team your best data performance stories — what are the factors that drove it besides you and your staff being great at your job? And vice-versa, where was incremental value created where it would be unexpected?
It’s not always easy to be honest and ask the hard questions, but it’ll present a clearer picture and uncover greater insights. Which brings us to…
Ask the next questions
Your numbers are crushing it. Benchmarks are getting surpassed, the highs are higher and the lows are, well, higher. That’s great, but so what? Do the five whys (originated at Toyota) or something like that. Ask why — why did performance improve, why will that ‘success’ matter, etc. etc. This isn’t just about retrospective, but forward-looking, too. It forces one to get deeper into the heart of the matter and think beyond the silo of the day-to-day tasks or departmental job. Don’t turn every finding and insight into something bigger than it is, but ask those next questions about what it means, why it matters, and what action could or should be taken next. And always keep in mind…
Context matters
Nothing happens in a vacuum. There are factors that can enhance, diminish, or dilute performance. Metrics for success, in definition and scale, can differ depending on resources, circumstances, and even vibes. The team with engagement metrics through the roof can get there from the team being unexpectedly great (yay!) or unexpectedly awful (fans are pissed) — that fans are actively interacting is almost always a good sign, but there’s a different story playing out in each case, and, for some brands and businesses, that can mean everything. Similarly, be careful with comparison. An organization with endless resources is probably going to be able to churn out more and bigger metrics than one operating super-lean (but not always, and that’s why context matters and can tell a richer story!). A player receiving thousands of photos from his/her team may end up posting team content more often than another player receiving only a few pics throughout the year. A month-over-month comparison may look different if the team played X more games in that month compared to another month, or one season had a huge trade and free agent signing and one didn’t. This isn’t about excuses, it’s about understanding the full context and not leaning into vanity metrics with no meaning, which leads to…
The Thing About Views
‘View’ counts can be deceiving. Or, at least, they tell only partial stories. In sports ticketing, the industry often talks about FSEs (full season equivalents). You could get to 5 FSEs through sundry paths. One full season ticket and eight half-seasons, a few quarter seasons and a hodgepodge of miniplans, etc. etc., you get the idea. Similarly, there are innumerable ways to think about, say, a six-minute video. The viewers that watch only a quarter of the video matter, so do those who watch the whole thing, and everything beyond and in between. But here’s to taking an FSE-approach to videos to more effectively understand success (among many other ways to slice and dice watch time and trends!). There’s another level to this, too, which is…
Audience matters
Sometimes, oftentimes, who you reach matters as much, if not more, than how many. Audience goals go beyond the highest numbers and once you understand, you can operate on a higher level of strategy. I’d rather my podcast reach the 100 thought leaders in sports business than 1000 random people, for example. The goal of every post, every platform, every strategy is not always to reach the biggest audience, but the biggest right audience. Sometimes that means everybody. Super Bowl ads are valuable for a reason. But some businesses and brands may only care about reaching parents, high wealth individuals, students, Hispanic audiences, subsscribers, non-subscribers, etc. etc. Your audience goals require more nuanced measurement and thinking. As do…
The Unmeasurables
Some of the most valuable impact is simply not measurable. And that’s okay. We can’t measure how often a fan randomly thinks about the team or brings them up in casual conversation. It’s difficult to measure content driving someone from liking to loving a team or player, the degree of emotion and identity one feels. It’s hard to measure a fan or partner perceiving a team’s dedication to a community initiative or project, even if they don’t engage with your content about it. This list can go on and on — and I’d say it’s well worth your time to brain dump and document all the things you cannot (or believe you cannot) measure, and in turn understand the correlations for those meaningful unmeasurables. But also have your eyes open to…
The forgotten measurables
We’re drowning in data, but it’s helpful to consider what you’re not measuring, too. One of the most useful analysis sessions to do periodically is to consider what things you know that you don’t know (as confusing as that sounds). That content that’s flopping on organic social media may be crushing in your app, on paid social, or email. How is the growth and/or virality of your athletes or even your sponsors (especially endemic sponsors) being considered, if at all? Are you keeping track of the composition of your audience over time and across platforms and posts? What’s happening to your contests and sweepstakes when it comes to clicks, conversions, and down-funnel activities and revenue? We can, and do, measure a lot, but there’s also a lot we cannot or do not. But that also ties a bit into…
Compounding measures
We talk a lot about connecting dots and stacking wins. But don’t just talk about it, put it into practice when evaluating results and drawing out actionable insights and plans. When you’re growing or succeeding in one area, it can (and, really, should) lead to success in connected areas. Organic content strategy can success can inform and improve paid strategy. Growth rates beget growth rates — don’t just focus on the growth percentage of X metric, but compare it to the rate of growth from last year, are you accelerating or decelerating in a given area? Are you connecting metrics and tactics so that crushing it one area will lead to crushing it another? Ask more questions about where and how you’re compounding; there are outsized wins and more comprehensive stories toe realize. And that very much leads to…
Know the real goals
The goal is not to rack up engagements. The objective is not reach for the sake of reach. It’s about engagement rate or driving views and shares. That’s all great, but it is critical to understand what we’re trying to do here. That’s how to advance a career, too, learning about revenue streams, data-driven decision-making, and identifying opportunities to drive short-term (and long-term!) goals that are meaningful to the business. Ticket sales (and the various types of ticket sales and ticket buyers), merch revenue (and all its tentacles and variations), sponsorships (again, all the nuances and categories and impact results), community initiatives, new fan development, brand goals, and the list goes on and on. That’s why it’s not about being a sports fan (though that can help!)), but a fan of the business of sports. A student of the ‘so what’ of it all.
A bonus # 11 — Follower counts
Having seen multiple thought leaders and columns all talking about the present and future of followership, it’s more important than ever to consider what follower count and a follower means in 2026. The number of followers for a given account still matters (many can’t quit those optics), but it’s also true that follower count has never mattered less. What can and should replace follower count? What matters more? We’ve talked about hte intangibles, but from a pure data perspective, what’s a good measure of the health and viability of a given account on a platform? Could you look at the aggregate reach or engagement of the last 15 posts, the rolling average or median engagement for the last 30 days or 90 days or 365 days, or perhaps the number of unique accounts, or number of accounts as a percentage of followers, etc. etc.? When you stumble upon an account whose content catches your eye or is growing (in whatever sense), what would you want to know beyond their follower count?
Okay, so that was the data geek part of this post. I’ll try to keep part two shorter. It’s more akin to a strategy, tactics, or (sigh) trends look at 2026. It’s good to see a lot of musings from 2025 come to fruition, or be mentioned now in 2026 trends and predictrions post I’ve seen. If nothing else, if you read the below, I hope it conjures up thoughts and ideas, and stimulates compelling conversations. So, consider:
A face for the team
Real people are more engaging than brands, in case you haven’t heard. And I’ve loved the idea of a team face or quasi-host for over three years, and got the chance to speak to one of the pioneers in this space, Aviv Levy Shoshan a couple of years ago (excellent interview!). Someone who is good on camera and can develop a relationship with fans/followers such that it feels like a friend, just one with incredible access to your favorite team. We’ve seen some teams make moves in this direction, and I hope to see more.
Next-level creators
Ngl, this was also mentioned, in some form, in last year’s column. First, it should be said that there are talented creators in-house everywhere right now, they’re just creating for the team or league’s channels (though some do some fun BTS on their own accounts, too). Most creator activations are one-offs (partly the nature of the maturing creator economy), working with a talented artist or someone who’s more an influencer, to invite them to a game or collaborate on a single content piece. What would it look like to make a creator strategy an all-in, year-round strategy? More teams can hire mature, growing creators full-time or near full-time to create for their own accounts and the team’s. Or, heck, identify or cultivate a young talent and foster their presence, through access and collabs. There’s something to be said for the growth of cross-pollinating partnerships, too (we’ve seen a little of this). I’m not a creator economy expert (I know a guy!), not even close, but there’s even more to be done in the space and I’ll be psyched to cheer it on. Speaking of….
Global local content correspondents
Teams are increasingly national and global brands. They’re trying to develop and engage fans around the country and around the world, growing the relationship with those alreayd coming into the fold organically and expanding the base further. I spoke in the last podcast interview of 2025 about localization with IMG’s digital leader Lewis Wiltshire (watch/listen!) and indeed some properties are working through agencies to help with localized content and accounts. Many European football clubs have native speakers living and working in the team’s home cities in Spain or England or Italy or Germany, etc. Others have seen fan clubs or supporters club pop up organically (or through the team officially). There’s opportunity to turn those flames into conflagrations, establishing more direct relationships with creators on the ground, providing them with content (where applicable), showcasing the fandom in their country, activating around exhibition tours, flying them to major domestic or international events, connecting them with athletes, athlete hometowns (where applicable), partners, and local influencers. There’s a lot that can be done by having boots on the ground part of the team’s operation and org chart officially, and I’ll be psyched to see what can happen in this area. A good segue to…
Co-creation to the nth degree and democratization of content
In conversations with experienced thought leaders in the greater sports space, the phrase ‘democratization of content’ or something like it has come up several times. It seems like every time we’ve seen a league or sport loosen the grip on content, to whatever degree, it has resulted in more engagement, more reach and views, more fandom, and more revenue. The number of eager, talented creators multiplies by the day; how can we open up the barriers (where possible, vis a vis media rights) to enable these creators to get their hands on content and do their thing with it. Remixes and edits, hype videos, commentary and analysis, etc. etc. There have been some agreements here and there, particularly for YouTube channels to create and disseminate endless compilations (‘Best alley-oop dunks of the 2024-25 season’ or something) in exchange for a revenue share or upfront fee. But there is a vast, growing ecosystem of creators who are eager to create and, in turn, grow your brand and fandom. We just have to harness it.
Content production houses for athletes
It was something of a throwaway comment, but certainly revelatory, at the late 2025 Sports Business Journal Intercollegiate Athletics Forum when South Carolina Athletic Director Jeremiah Donati loosely estimated that 50% of the Gamecocks in-house content team’s work could go toward NIL activities for athletes. That’s not even a trend, but more likely just the new paradigm in major college athletics. What could this look like in the pro space? There’s been some activity around letting athletes use podcast studios, or the like, for their content production needs. But what’s the next phase of this, the next level? The partnerships and contracts likely need to evolve a bit to put in-house content teams to work for athletes content for the athletes’ own channels and partners, but there is a ton of value to give and take there. It may not get there in 2026, but it’s an interesting space to watch as the majority of athletes will soon have some content strategy (and one beyond posting Getty Images or AP photos)
Background content
A couple of mindblowing stats to kick off this section — the number of hours that podcasts on YouTube were watched on TVs hit 700 million hours in October 2025, an increase from 400 million hours October 2024. 300 million more monthly hours of video podcasts on TVs in a year! The second stat is from a YouTube video (one of many) that just shows a burning fireplace for 10 hours straight — now has nearly 200M views, growing about ~ 50M views per year (with a rising growth rate)! There’s a demand for background content or background noise for TV sets, whether to accompany someone while they’re working at home or just hanging out or engaging in household chores or reading or whatever. Those are a lot of hours up for grabs. Podcasts are one route that many are already investing in (including Netflix!), but it’s also intriguing to consider what your version of fireplace 10 hours or 3+-hour podcast could be. I’ll save my long list of ideas for another post, but this is a fun one to brainstorm, and the data seems to suggest there’s some smoke here.
More social events (and places?)
We’re all looking for social outings. For experiences to post about on social media, and opportunities to get together IRL. The games are one attraction and event, but teams have vast databases from event attendees (most often attending with friends or family) with disposable incomes, and also have expertise in event production, promotion, and monetization. Sports teams are ultimately entertainment companies; the biggest ticket is the media rights of the show, of course, but they also host millions of event attendees every year. What other events, within but also beyond the game days, can teams host, co-lead, or collaborate on (with partners, influeners, creators, etc.)? This could lean in a more premium direction — wine and cheese and speciality food tastings, art exhibitions, and the like, but the opportunity is vast — local collectibles showcases (collectibles are all the rage!), fashion shows, speed dating, student events, more frequent casino nights and carnivals, pop-up coffee houses, TED-like talks, concerts of varying size, live action shows or plays, and the list goes on. They’re of course renting out their huge venues for traveling shows, but the opportunity in events can be those meant for groups in the hundreds or low thousands, supplementing the games and major events meant a packed stadium or arena.
More mascot, owned IP and character building
The rising value of mascots has been a trend for a few years now. There are mascots who generate massive value and even direct sponsorships, and new teams are making the mascot reveal a big part of the brand building. We’re seeing more mascot collaborations, whether special events across a city or league, or celebrating a mascot’s “birthday.” Mascots are, generally, truly team-owned IP, less shackled and more flexible than most potential content initiatives. What could the next level look like for mascot-led content, including but beyond TikTok skits? Could a team create (or collaborate on) kids-first content that could be the first choice on the iPad and YouTube for parents over Ms. Rachel or Cocomelon or another rewatch of the same episode of Bluey? How can teams leverage their IP, their powerful brands (including parents who want to create mini fans out of their kids), built-in distribution channels and partnership networks, and creative production capabilities to build content and characters and original music/songs? It could be kids-first, it could be adult animation (or non-animation, it could be anime — with AI and recommendation-driven feeds making experimentation less resource-intensive and faster and easier, the opportunity is there.
More prediction-style platforms and games
One of the earliest easy wins in sports social media was the start of the prediction contest. For the hockey world (where I came up), it wasn’t long before pretty much everybody had some variation of a prediction contest, most often guessing which player would score the first goal. (We also tried a ‘Beat The Streak’ game to predict an anytime goal scorer for consecutive games, a la the ESPN contest of the same name). Now, it’s clear 2026 is the year of the prediction, with prediction markets continuing to penetrate sports (and well beyond sports). Many teams have already continued to stand up some sort of prediction games, as they make for good sponsor assets for sports gaming and wagering partners, so expect 2026 to only offer more growth and more opportunity and even innovation in the prediction space, by and in partnership with teams and leagues. Could we go from first goal scorer to also, leveraging some advanced data, top MPH speed of the game? Or funny money-based parlays outside of the $$ wins and losses for the actual gaming platforms and prediction markets? It’s a slippery moral slope, but there’s no doubt prediction platforms, in some form, will be ubiquitous in 2026.
Interest group ambassadors
The internet is shrinking. Well, kinda. There are places for the most esoteric of micro-communities and fan segments everywhere, not to mention the bigger, less esoteric communities. Reddit continues to find new life, while Meta’s Threads (as I was anticipating!) seems to be evolving to something more like Reddit, with its expansion of communities-based features (but, noting that Threads still wants to be somewhat timely). A lot of teams are finding success in activating within these communities, whether through content, collabs, or even mini events and theme nights. How can teams and leagues identify and create ambassadors within these interest groups — power users, moderators, influencers, et al. who can be active liaisons and open up opportunities for unique, value-add content, collaborations, and conversations? This also goes along with another mini trend (not called out in the list above) of elevating and creating content with day-to-day employees within an organization — have the lead grass maintenance person talk about their job with a horticulture community, the team’s nutritionist talk food, the organization’s massage therapist demonstrate what you could do at home — and work with leaders within these interest groups to make these collaborations a success (and potentially cross-sponsorship opportunities). A theme of this column, like localized ambassadors and more ongoing creator relationships, can play out with interest-driven communities and groups, too.
If you made it all the way to end, good on you! You have the same energy and enthusiasm for this space as I do. Message me and let’s connect if we haven’t met before. Let’s have a great 2026!
On episode 311 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil chatted with Lewis Wiltshire, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, IMG.
He discusses his background in leading digital and social sports strategy, IMG’s strategy and approach in growing and monetizing global and local fan bases and partners, the evolving business models in sports, trends for 2026 from IMG’s Digital Trends Report, and more.
What follows are some snippets from the episode. Click Here to listen to the full episode or check it out and subscribe to the podcast via Apple or listen on Spotify or YouTube.