digital fan engagement

Revolutionizing the Cricket Viewing Experience: Team Fanisko Emerges Victorious at the ICC and NIUM Global Hackathon

As the sun began to rise in Ranchi, India, a group of boys gathered on the local cricket ground, dreaming of one day playing on the same stage as their cricket idols. Little did they know that technology would soon revolutionize the way they experience cricket.

One Touch Go! by Fanisko

Thanks to Fanisko’s ONE TOUCH GO, watching a cricket match is no longer limited to a TV screen or radio broadcast. Fanisko’s talented team made it a reality by winning the Global Next-In Hackathon, impressing the esteemed jury members, including cricketing legend Dinesh Karthik and professional Finn Bradshaw. Winning this award showcases the team’s prowess in the field of sports technology.

The Global Next-In Hackathon

The “Next In” Hackathon kicked off in January and saw 12,500 individuals form over 9550 teams from 113 countries, including over 1000 registrants from the USA, a strategic priority market for both the ICC and Nium. Ideas were submitted across four key areas; Web3 & Metaverse, Fintech, In-stadia experience, and Augmented or Virtual Reality (AR/VR).

Winning the Global Next-In Hackathon

On March 15, 2023, Team Fanisko emerged victorious at the ICC and NIUM Global Hackathon, despite being located in different geographical conditions and time zones. They created a revolutionary solution that eliminates the need to switch between multiple apps for live matches, scores, stats, scoring zones, and wagon wheels. The event attracted numerous teams from different parts of the world, with the esteemed jury panel wooed by the innovative product prototype solution presented by Team Fanisko.

Team Fanisko’s winning pitch showcased a prototype of an immersive Augmented Reality (AR) experience that enhances the cricket viewing experience. The AR technology provides real-time data, personalized insights, and more, taking cricket watching to the next level.

Working with ICC to Bring Innovation to Life

As winners of the Global Next-In Hackathon, Team Fanisko has the opportunity to work with ICC to bring their innovative AR prototype to life and implement it on a larger scale. This is a significant opportunity for the team to showcase their skills and collaborate with industry leaders to make a real impact in the world of cricket.

Transforming the Sports Industry

Team Fanisko’s success showcases its ability to transform the sports industry by driving innovation and growth in the sports tech space. They have established themselves as leaders in the sports tech space, inspiring other sports tech companies to invest in emerging technologies that meet the evolving needs of sports fans worldwide.

Adapting to a Virtual Environment

What’s impressive about Team Fanisko’s victory is their digital transformation capabilities, collaborating effectively in a virtual environment. Their success is a testament to their adaptability and resilience, essential qualities for any team in today’s fast-paced, ever-changing business environment.

Meeting for the First Time on the Eve of the Finals

It is worth mentioning that the team members of Team Fanisko had never met each other in person until the eve of the Global Next-In Hackathon finals. Despite being located in different parts of the world and working remotely, they were able to collaborate effectively and present a winning pitch that impressed the judges.

ICC’s Perspective

ICC Head of Digital, Finn Bradshaw said: “The Next In Hackathon has been an incredible exercise in unearthing some of the most innovative solutions from the global tech community. As we went through this journey for the first time with NIUM, what was really exciting was seeing fans from over 100 countries engage with our sport. Today we are proud to have crowned Fanisko as the winner and believe their prototype has the potential to become a favorite product for cricket fans.”

Fanisko’s Perspective

Sathish Chittibabu CEO, Fanisko said: “What an incredible week it was! Team Fanisko won the Global Next-In hackathon hosted by International Cricket Council in partnership with Nium and Hack2skill which saw over 12,500 participants from 113 countries. Our winning pitch showcased a prototype of an immersive Augmented Reality (AR) experience to enhance the cricket viewing experience. We walk away with an opportunity to work with ICC to bring the prototype to life and implement it”

As an emerging leader in the sports tech space, this is a huge recognition for all the innovation we do in fan engagement to help sports organizations across the world to engage their next generation of fans!

Very proud of my team who worked remotely and met for the first time at the grand finale in Bengaluru a true testament to digital transformation!“

Fan Engagement 101: The Best Platform for Diehard Sports Fans

Sports marketing and fan engagement have changed a lot over the past years. It wasn’t so long ago when broadcast TV held a monopoly over sports content and fan engagement, but things are now starting to change. Today’s sports fans are increasingly turning to social media and other forms of digital innovation for their daily dose of sports entertainment.

The multichannel world, offers a great deal in terms of opportunity and diversity. Yet, for all they have to offer, social platforms can become convoluted and somewhat hard to manage. Each of them specialize in only a few types of content, be it short clips, highlights, behind-the-scenes moments, and other such bite-size content.

Knowing how and when to post, what the fans are interested in, or what content should a team be focusing on is hard and needs a great deal of trial and -error before coming close to a good ROI.

Pleasing a fan in this day and age isn’t hard. Because of the almost overwhelming amount of content on the internet, they are very likely to be satisfied with whatever they discover on various social platforms. Some sports teams have developed their own apps in an attempt at funneling in their fanbase. But even if fans keep themselves up-to-date on their team’s progress and upcoming events, they do it almost anywhere else than on the team’s own app.

With the goal of helping advertisers target and engage the right audience, Fanisko’s developers have designed a one-stop fan engagement platform designed to increase mobile fan retention and digital engagement, as well as drive revenue opportunities. Being a mobile-oriented platform, Fanisko Engage is aimed at targeting millennials by combining several marketing strategies into one.

Experience Management

In order for the platform to be an appealing option for fans, it has to deliver on three key components: convenience, diversity, and versatility. Fanisko Engage does this by allowing itself to be personalized by both the team and the user. Fans have the option to filter, save, and favorite content based on their own preference.

Interactive content such as predictive gaming, motion sensor gaming, and Augmented Reality (AR) Gaming are just a few examples that are sure to keep fans entertained. The platform can also be personalized from the team’s perspective, showcasing its colors, logo, and font.

Content Management

Content is also easy to manage, allowing you to customize visibility based on geography for a targeted reach. The platform is also able to choose and present all trending content found on the internet. Polls and surveys can also be used so as to drive engagement and get the answers you were looking for.

Analytics

Equally as important is to understand the fan’s wants and needs, when they’re most active, what their interests are and what trends may be presenting themselves in the near future. All of these can be seen and analyzed with Fanisko’s analytic capabilities. Metrics will be provided to measure subscriptions, clicks, page views, activities, and performance. The advanced features can offer an insight into what works and why; allowing the user to generate the right kind of content.

Conclusion

Fanisko Engage offers some of the best-personalized content on the market. Logged in users provide targeted reach which will enable you to offer personalized advertising based on age, gender, likes, geography, and interests, and much more. Many sports teams have a tough time interacting and engaging their fans over the many social platforms, but with Fansiko everything happens under the same ‘roof’ and under your watchful eye.

Millennial Fan Engagement, Smartphones, and Social Media: What They Mean for Sports Content

The way people are interacting with sports leagues and teams has changed drastically over the past 25 years. If we look back at the 1990’s, most sports content were centered on broadcast TV, with people gathering around the living room or going to the game itself. Radio and newspapers also played a marginal role in fan engagement.

Fast forward to the present day, sports content is now spread over several digital outlets. Fans can now watch full games on demand or opt for smaller, bite-size content. Twitter, for instance is broadcasting college sports around the clock, Amazon is streaming Thursday Night Football, and as of last year, the NFL, the MLS, UEFA, the World Surf League (WSL), CrossFit, and MLB have all signed a contract with Facebook, featuring all sorts of highlights, game recaps, and other similar content.

A Major Shift in Sponsorship Trends

This change from TV to digital is not negligible either. As traditional media platforms are seeing a steady decrease in revenue growth, sports sponsorship is at an all-time high. As compared to 2017, this year has seen a 4.3% increase in global sponsorship revenue, adding up to a total of $65.8 billion; $24.2 billion of which being in the US. Sports sponsorship accounts for a whopping 70%.

One other interesting development here is the increased sponsor desire for an early exit from at least one of their sponsorships. Over 58% of sponsors find themselves in this category. One explanation may be the rightsholders’ unwillingness or inability to change with the times. When asked about their priorities, sponsors placed the presence on social and mobile media, as their second most important criterion after category exclusivity. By comparison to only last year, social and mobile jumped from the sixth to the second place in sponsor-desired priority order.

The Pros and Cons

For the most tech-savvy fans, namely millennials, this steady transition from TV to digital is more than welcome. Instead of queuing behind hundreds of other fans in the hopes of getting an autograph, they now prefer to go on Twitter and engage with their favorite players digitally. With a single push of a button, teams and players can now go live from the locker room, gym, or from home and interact with their fans.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Other trends such as VR and AR technologies can ‘place’ any fan right in the middle of the stadium, or allow them to watch the game from multiple angles while having access to on-demand instant replays. Convenience, versatility, and diversity are what millennials, smartphones, and social media bring to sports content.

For the sports teams themselves, this trend can be seen as a double-edged sword. On one hand, this diversity and room for experimentation will allow teams to be more on par with their competition and reach out to their fans in more meaningful and engaging ways. But on the other hand, however, the tangled web of social platforms, apps, and other technologies may be too much to handle.

Platforms such as Fanisko Engage can help sports teams by bringing all this bite-size content into a more easily manageable form. Instead of posting on all the different social apps in the hopes of engaging with as many fans as possible, teams can now use this one-size-fits-all platform and deliver to their fans the convenience and content diversity they so much desire.

Like all meaningful changes, sports content and fan engagement are now going through a transition period where those who catch on quickly will have the most to gain.

About Fanisko:

Fanisko (www.fanisko.com) offers a one-stop fan engagement platform, Fanisko|Engage, that helps sports and entertainment brands increase mobile fan retention, digital engagement and revenue opportunities. Today’s fans want more from their leagues and teams. We help leagues and teams embrace today’s “SmartFan” demand while maximizing fan potential for sponsors. Our mobile first, one-stop platform targeting millennials with a combination of unique content strategy, product offering including gaming, predictive and behavioral analytics and AR/VR technologies will target and engage the right audience.

So, if you are any sports association, league or a club planning to deliver an amazing mobile based fan engagement platform to build your fanbase, we would like to hear from you.

Role of Sponsorship in Digital Fan Engagement

It is estimated that over 65 Billion dollars were spent on sponsorships worldwide in 2018. That’s a $2.5 billion increase from 2017. Furthermore, 70% of all that money went into sports. In other words, sports sponsorship is a thriving business and here is an example to prove it.

It is somewhat hard to consider soccer as being part of the American sports culture. Yet, interest in the sport has been steadily rising over the past few years. In fact, some 50% of US citizens said that they have at least a basic interest in the sport. The 18 to 29-year-old demographic shows the most interest in soccer, which presented an incredible opportunity for sponsors. In 2006, Red Bull bought the MetroStars, a Major League soccer team from New York. It should not come as a surprise then, that US soccer fans consume 63% more Red Bull than any other energy drinks on the market.

Soccer is the highest-grossing sport in the world and brands flock to it in an attempt at ‘getting a piece of the action.’ The US soccer market is relatively new and still presents ample opportunities for a high ROI. But soccer is not the only sport in this category. Skateboarding, surfing, and snowboarding are just a few other examples of sports whose main fan base are people under the age of 30 and who present an opportunity for high sponsorship ROI. This demographic is also the one most likely to use social media as their main platform for engagement.

Engagement Platform, Sponsorship, and Sports

Sponsorship executives agree that social media will be the road going forward. Over 80% of fans use it from home or even at the stadium. On Twitter, for example, sports-related content is the most popular type of content, and this should not come as a surprise based on the platform’s commitment to live sports streams. In short, brands and sports leagues/teams now have a wider range of platforms from which to generate revenue.

The challenge that remains, however, is to generate entertaining content so as to maximize the potential that social platforms have to offer. A lot of sports teams have digital apps of their own, but because of the wide array of social outlets out there and the diversity in content that exists; fans keep themselves updated about their favorite teams, but do it almost anywhere else except on their team’s app. The potential is there, but the delivery is still lacking in many places.

Platforms like Fanisko Engage are able to address the issue and aid sports teams and leagues retain the attention of their fan base. It does this by providing all sorts of engaging content like live play-by-play predictions, AR/VR games, engagement rewards, or personalized streaming of news and events, among others, all specially tailored to keep fans engaged on the team’s own app. Sponsored content is provided via non-intrusive videos, native ads, surveys, and several other types all powered by analytics so as to not impede fan engagement.

The video below discusses putting a financial value on digital engagement for the sponsors.

The future of sports sponsorship is certain like John Abbamondi, vice president of the NBA’s Team Marketing & Business Operations division, said back in 2014: “Sports is a people business, so we’re looking for ways to use technology to further engage with people.” His statement has since become a mantra for teams and leagues; given the increased attention digital sponsorship is receiving just a few years later.

About Fanisko:

So, if you are any sports association, league or a club planning to deliver an amazing mobile based fan engagement platform to build your fanbase, we would like to hear from you.

Fan Engagement Drives Business and Millennials are willing to pay for it

Platforms like the Fanisko Engage help both teams and fans alike by providing all of this scattered content under the same roof. It increases the fans’ engagement time with the team, it offers live play-by-play predictions, top trending content, AR/VR gaming, engagement rewards, fan behavioral analytics, call-to-action campaigns that draw fans to the stadium, all making up for lost revenue.

The TV Era of fan engagement is slowly but surely coming to a close. People are still watching sports on TV, yes, but it is not the only entertainment provider out there. Now it’s all about social media and the different outlets it provides. In a 2017 interview, Robert Kraft, principal owner of the New England Patriots, said that “[Millennials] don’t watch TV, they don’t have TVs or subscribe to cable. So we have to bring that audience in.”

He is right, of course. A lot of revenue came from TV ads, but since people are no longer watching TV as they used to, naturally, that revenue also went down. Sports leagues are now scrambling to find ways on how to make up for that loss but they feel stuck in the ‘stone age,’ not knowing how to approach the issue.

Fan Engagement in the 21st Century

Millenials and the younger generation are all over social media nowadays. The general interest in sports has also waned a bit, especially with those 24 and younger, but most people still consider themselves avid sports fans. In the US, that number is around 86% of the general population, with millennials showing the most interest in sports.

But since they’re no longer watching TV, what they do instead is to turn to the almighty internet and get their sports content there. In fact, 92% of all those under 24 get their sports information from social media. What they like most about it is the fact that the entertainment keeps on going long after the game ended. Like Brian Hughes, senior VP of audience intelligence and strategy at MAGNA Global USA puts it “[Their] increased interest in short-term things, like stats and quick highlights… has funneled some young viewers away from TV.”

And it’s precisely because of those “short-term things” that sports leagues and teams find it so hard to engage with their fans. Most of them have mobile apps of their own, but millennials are almost anywhere on the internet, looking up their team, except on the team’s app.

The Really Good Part

Statistics show that over 90% of sports fans are willing to pay for sports programming. Millennials, unlike their older counterparts, are willing to pay the most for premium sports content, probably because the older generations got used to receiving theirs for free from TV.

Whatever the case, the market is there waiting to be seized, but the problem still remains with the sport’s teams who can’t seem to find a way of capitalizing on this fan engagement. Platforms like Fanisko can provide this bridge and allow for a streamlined and all-encompassing fan engagement virtual space.