LONDON—A new research report from Graybo found that nearly two thirds (64%) of those who watch sports in the U.S. would exclusively watch sports on online streaming platforms if they could and that 56% of sports fans in the U.S. said they want more live events streamed to social media. 

In addition nearly half (46%) wanted more instant highlights published to social media. 

The survey also found that 42% in the U.S. would pay up to $10 to watch sports on a streaming platform and that 37% would pay up to $25 dollars a month. 

Globally the “Sports Video Trends 2021” report surveyed 15,000 consumers in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, India, Japan, Thailand, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

In terms of the global data, 73% of global sports fans are men, but there has been an 18% increase in female sports fans since 2019. 

Overall, more than one third of global consumers regularly watch sports, ranking it as one of their top three most viewed types of video. 

Globally the survey found a notable shift in sports viewing from traditional TV subscriptions to streaming, with the number of sports fans watching games via TV subscriptions declining by 9% since 2019 while streaming services increased by 41%. 

The global survey data showed that many sports fans are cutting the cord, with 23% saying they’ve dropped pay TV service and another 27% saying they planned to drop those services in favor of online video services in the next five years. 

Smart TV and smart phones (each with 56% of sports fans around the world) were the most popular way to watch sports, according to the survey. 

Globally, the survey found that 65% of sports fans would like to see more live sports and events on social media. 

The report can be accessed here. 

NEW YORK—Many ingredients go into building fan interest and loyalty, but among the most important is that special bond with a team or players that promotes a sense of personal investment in their successes and failures.

Central to that connection is communications—not simply the call and color of broadcast game coverage, but also the rapport nurtured through two-way fan interaction.

The Big East Conference earlier this year took a new step in that direction when it deployed a cloud-based video production platform from Graybo to promote fan interaction.

“We’re always looking to increase fan engagement through our live video production,” says Rick Gentile, senior associate commissioner, broadcasting, at the Big East Conference. “Grabyo’s interactive capabilities, specifically regarding Big East Shootaround and our other live shows, has helped grow overall engagement.”

The Graybo platform is used to create interactive shoulder content for the conference’s weekly Big East Shootaround, a digital-first production focused on men’s basketball. Men’s and women’s basketball content from around the conference and perspective given during the #BigEasthoops Q&A are integrated into the Big East Shootaround show.

The platform allows producers of live conference streams to add custom graphics and engage fans with tools like native polling and real-time data visualization driven by audience comments.

“Making the experience interactive with live content on social and digital platforms has been shown to increase engagement and drive more viewership for publishers,” says Graybo President Mike Kelley. “It allows fans to feel like they are part of the show when they see their questions appear in the show.”

“The Big East is trying to quickly evolve with the times in terms of trying to reach their fans in real time on these social platforms as well as their OTT services,” he says.

The platform also gives the conference the ability to go direct to fans, reaching them whenever they want without having to rely on a broadcast channel, says Kelley.

Graybo licenses its cloud-based video production platform using a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. The platform allows organizations like the Big East Conference to manage video content, create real-time clips and highlights and produce and deliver live shows to multiple social channels as well as via their own websites and apps.

The IP-based Graybo Producer platform allows entire video productions to be done in the cloud. It supports switching of up to 10 different video feeds in real time as well as overlays of graphics and up to eight layers. Run from a web browser, the product also offers producers a comment moderation tool to screen fan input to make sure it is appropriate.

“Engaging sports fans in real-time across social channels is paramount to any college’s marketing and distribution strategy,” says Kelley. “As these fans look to access video across a variety of platforms and devices, this partnership will ensure the Big East’s content will be top of mind for them.”