Data and analytics are crucial to industries from healthcare to energy to web development and SEO. In sports and entertainment, they are critical aspects of fan engagement and partnership development. Without the right data and a proven way to apply at, promoters and sponsors would have a more challenging time reaching fans.
The question then becomes one of roles. What role does data analytics play in fan engagement and partnerships? How important is that role to the overall financial success of a team, venue, promoter, or sponsor?
To gain some insight, I looked at a variety of sports data intelligence providers, including KORE. I learned a lot. Incidentally, if you are at all involved in fan engagement or sponsor partnerships, you might want to take a look at the KORE website. They may be able to offer the real-time sports data analytics you need to drive your own success.
It’s All About the Fan Experience
From the sponsor’s point of view, successfully reaching one’s audience is all about the fan experience. If fans are not having a positive experience, they will not walk away from an event with a positive impression about its sponsors. So it’s incumbent for everyone involved to make sure that experience is as good as it can be.
Real-time sports data analytics can help in a number of ways. The right data offers deep insights into audiences, further facilitating:
- Deeper Profiles – real time data can break down silos when that data is combined from multiple touch points. Combining data and analyzing it together creates deeper profiles that offer better understanding of the fans.
- Enhanced Experiences – At the venue, real time data can help sponsors better interact with fans in the moment. Think interactive features, targeted advertising, and even optimized concessions.
- Personalized Content – Real time data and analytics enhances a promoter’s ability to provide personalized content and tailored promotions in-game. Each fan can be targeted based on their own preferences and behaviors.
Applying Data to Attendance and Revenue
A big part of sports data intelligence is examining the relationship between event attendance and total revenues. In theory, higher attendance should result in a commensurate level of in-venue revenue, including concessions and merchandise sales. Real time data can bear that out – if it is actually happening.
Real time data also lends itself well to:
- Fan Targeting – Fan profile data can be leveraged to increase attendance by targeting ticket sales and merchandise promotions to fans that have already demonstrated interest.
- Dynamic Pricing – Real time data allows for optimizing ticket pricing strategies based on demand patterns. Dynamic pricing that fluctuates with day-to-day demand drives revenue when tickets for a specific event are hot.
- Better Offerings – Data is the perfect tool to understand merchandise offerings. Insights into fan preferences and behaviors can drive decisions about the type of merchandise to offer, where to make it available, its pricing structure, etc.
There is plenty more relating to real time sports data analytics that I am unable to get into in this post. Needless to say, modern sports data intelligence goes way beyond surveying fans on their way out of the stadium or arena. It is about collecting and analyzing data across multiple touch points before, during, and after events.
Data gleaned in real time, which is to say in-venue, can be analyzed and applied to drive everything from ticket sales to merchandising. If promoters and sponsors understand how fans think and behave, they can meet their target audiences where they are. That’s a sure-fire way to drive sales and build brand loyalty.