PODCASTING

Podcasting The Premier League: How BPL Teams And Fan Groups Are Podcasting To Engage Fans

Podcasting in Sports

The Premier League restarts this weekend with some blockbuster matches across the UK and the teams have wasted no time in giving their fans loads of exclusive audio content in the form of podcasts, match interviews and match reports among other exciting audio fan engagement ideas.

In sports, sound can tell a story that images can’t. A broadcaster’s passionate voice over the noise of a roaring crowd creates an immediacy and an emotional quality unlike anything else. That intrinsic power is what offers sports teams a unique opportunity when it comes to creating and distributing audio content.

Today, sports radio continues to maintain steady prominence among fans. According to research from The Neilsen Company, not only is sports consumption increasing on TV and in digital outlets, but sports radio listenership is also on the rise.

With the industry’s long history in radio, it’s no wonder podcasting has become a natural extension of sports storytelling. It’s easier than ever for fans to get content on mobile devices: Neilsen reports that in 2015, over 1.2 billion hours were spent on sports sites via smartphones, up an impressive 22% from 2014.

That means most sports teams have a captive, mobile-friendly audience right at their fingertips—if they can tap into it.

Podcasting is continuing to explode across the globe with advertisers now jumping at the chance to get their brand across this content where click through rates are high and passionate users listen more closely and intimately to audio content.

What makes for good sports podcast content

Exclusivity. Sports teams and insiders have exclusive access that fans want access to. Podcasts should give fans access to content they can’t get anywhere else. The Tennis Podcast does just that, featuring an interview with a big-name player, journalist, or influential administrator each week, giving fans a unique peek behind the scenes—like in this episode where Jamie Murray talks about nervousness before a big match.

Immediacy. “Audio gives people the feeling they’re hearing something they won’t otherwise hear or would have to otherwise wait to hear,” our head of sport at audioboom Marc Webber explains. “That’s a great asset. Get a post-match interview out quickly, and you will get the listens.” That’s exactly what the Western Bulldogs Football Club podcast does with this 3-minute interview with forward Jake Stringer, recorded immediately after his side’s eight-point win over West Coast. Quick distribution is key.

Passion. Broadcasters need to be neutral when reporting on a game, but sports podcasts don’t. Fans want to engage with content that’s passionate, exciting, and made just for them. The United We Stand podcast—”podcast of the independent Manchester United fanzine”—is a perfect example of a a podcast that’s “irreverent and proudly independent,” dedicated to “telling it like it is” in a way fans are hungry for.

Shareability. Not all audio content will automatically engage fans. Sports organizations should consider how to package their audio content in a way that’s unique and shareable. The Leicester City Football Club podcast, for instance, produces weekly episodes of analysis and commentary that’s edited to roughly 20 minutes of action-packed, exclusive content fans can’t get anywhere else.

Ideas for creative soundbites

At audioBoom I created a list of 100 fan engagement ideas for audio producers of which 10 easy ones are listed below:

  1. Captain’s log: Get the captain to say a few words ahead of each week’s match
  2. Interview fans on the ground before or after the game
  3. Player bios: Share player bios, from current stars to past legends
  4. Fans singing club war cry from the stands
  5. Press conference: Pre- or post-game media conferences
  6. CEO’s comments: Have the CEO list five outcomes or positive comments from the week to give fans an idea of what’s happening behind the scenes
  7. Health tips: Nutrition and health advice from the team trainer
  8. Audio tour: Let fans use the app to tour the grounds at their own pace
  9. Fans’ match day report: Let fans record their own reports and share them
  10. Stat check: Quick stats rundown ahead of each game

The full list of 100 can be found here:

audioBoom Fan Engagement Ideas

audioBoom Fan Engagement Ideas

With the Premier League kicking off this weekend here’s a look at what some of the BPL teams that use audioBoom are doing for audio fan engagement:

Leicester City Football Club

West Bromwich Albion Football Club

Stoke City Football Club

AFC Bournemouth

West Ham United Football Club

There’s also an abundance of Premier League podcasts to keep fans entertained as well including:

Knees Up Mother Brown (West Ham United)

Dream Team FC with James Buckley

United We Stand Podcast (Manchester United)

The Fan Feud FPL Show

The Sun Goals Podcast

Club Call (MCFC)

Daily Football Show

The Anfield Wrap (Liverpool)

The Fighting Cock (Tottenham)

Arsenal Worldwide (Gunners)

The Spencer FC Podcast

Chelsea Football Fan Cast (Chelsea)

Alan Brazil Up Front Podcast

 

How Sports Teams Are Using Podcasts To Engage Their Fans in 2016

Podcasting and the consumption of audio on demand continues to rise in 2016 with time spent listening and user growth continuing to be on the up as brands and every day people start podcasts to showcase their passion and insights to their followers.

Podcasts made their biggest splash yet last year with the percentage of listeners being larger than ever before and with greater public awareness you didn’t have to explain what a podcast was before recommending your favourite shows.

Gone are the days when you needed expensive microphones, fully kitted out sound studios or code tangling software as podcasts in 2016 are being created professionally on smaller budgets meaning that it’s more accessible for both major sports teams, every day small businesses and people just like you and I to create. Less time and money spent on expensive equipment and arduous editing means more and more people are coming into this space at a rapid pace. Put simply, podcasting has become available for anyone to get started on a show that interests them.

But why has podcasting become such a buzz medium over the past two years, especially as it’s been around for such a long time? For instance, I remember my Behavioural Studies lecturers at the University of Queensland uploading lecture podcasts to our online portal in 2004. Naturally podcast consumption has risen because of our access to smart phones (and possibly larger data plans!) where we can now access our favourite podcasts on the go when we want, which is also due to podcast apps just like ours at audioBoom. Podcasts also enable a level of intimacy for a listener to drift off and dive into niche subject matter or conversely multi-task with other activities. Finally, podcasting now has a clear avenue for monetisation meaning big and smaller players in this market have a new revenue stream and as we’re seeing first hand, this is growing fast with advertisers realising the potential of audio on demand.

At audioBoom we work with hundreds of global sports teams from big players in the English Premier League and NFL to grassroots clubs in local competitions from all around the world. The benefits of using podcasts and other audio content to engage your fans are endless with the content that is being created often focusing on compelling storytelling and exclusive and intimate access that fans are not often privy to and which in the end drive deeper connections between the team and their fans.

Major international sporting clubs are using audioBoom because not only do we host and distribute their audio we also provide insightful deeper analytics and monetise this content through our diverse advertising solutions involving live reads, video, audio and companion advertising. Moreover audioBoom posts play natively on social media while our crisp custom embeds integrate very well on web pages. We deliver over 30,000 hours of content to over 30m people every month and generate over 35m monthly listens and we do all of this while being free to use.

Below are a few content examples of how teams use audio on audioBoom to engage their fans while this handy ideas sheet I put together details 100 ideas that sporting teams can use to engage their fans with audio.

100 audioBoom Fan Engagement Ideas

100 audioBoom Fan Engagement Ideas

Podcasts

Leicester City Football Club (English Premier League)

Essendon Bombers Football Club (AFL) ‘Bomber Radio’

Geelong Cats (AFL) ‘PodCats’

Carlton Blues (AFL) ‘Two Tones’

Road To The Draft (AFL)

Brisbane Lions (AFL) ‘From The Players Lounge’

West Coast Eagles (AFL) ‘Back Chat’

Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus Blue Jackets

Previews

Rugby.com.au (Australia ARU)

West Bromwich Albion (Premier League)

Harlequins (Rugby Union)

Brisbane Lions (AFL)

Match Reports

Aston Villa (English Premier League)

Stoke City (Premier League)

Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL)

Cricket New Zealand BlackCaps

Exclusive Interviews

NZ All Blacks (Rugby Union)

Birmingham City FC

Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL)

Match Day Audio Updates

Australian Open (Tennis)

FIFA Women’s World Cup

Game Highlights
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)

Warrington Wolves (Super League)

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

War Cry’s

Essendon Bombers (AFL)

ICC Cricket World Cup

Radio Interviews

Collingwood Magpies (AFL)

Adelaide Crows (AFL)

On the go recording

Western Sydney Wanderers (A-League)

Victorian Racing Club- Melbourne Cup Horse Racing

Fan Chats

Jacksonville Jaguars (NFL)

A-League

FIFA Women’s World Cup

Socceroos

Press Conferences

St Kilda (AFL)

Brisbane Roar (A-League)

West Ham United (English Premier League)

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats (Super League)

Fan Engagement

Socceroos

Carlton Blues (AFL)

Carlton also engage their fans with exclusive on demand audio through their audioBoom channel as part of their Blues Wall of Fame at Ikon Park the club have installed a beautifully tiled wall of famous players and moment which each have a QR Code that links back to an audioBoom post therefore meaning that a fan can come out to the club and use their phone to interact with the feature while also hearing interesting insights and sounds from that era as they walk along.

Carlton Fan Engagement audioBoom Wall of Fame

Carlton Fan Engagement audioBoom Wall of Fame

 

Hockey Australia- 12 Days of Hockey

Hockey Australia had fans record in their own piece of audio commentary calling a game as part of their 12 days of hockey in the lead up to Christmas

Hockey Australia

Hockey Australia

 

audioBoom Recording Widget For Fan Interaction

Carlton Blues (AFL) ‘Thank 5’

Gold Coast Suns (AFL) ‘Voice of The Suns’

 Team Speeches

Western Bulldogs (AFL)

Melbourne Demons (AFL)

 Club Songs

Sydney Swans (AFL)

Community Engagement

St Kilda (AFL)

 
If you’re at a team and want to know how we can help you engage your fans through audio get in touch with me at Blair@audioBoom.com and be sure to check out our business site here for more information http://choose.audioboom.com/

Blair Hughes interviews Sean Callanan on Sports Geek Podcast

Sports Geek Podcast

Sports Geek Podcast

Blair Hughes interviews Sean Callanan on Sports Geek Podcast

Last month I had the pleasure of interviewing Sean from Sports Geek for the Sports Geek Podcast.

Sean has helped on my journey from teacher to sports business so it was a pleasure to talk to him about his personal brand, his story into sports and digital as well as his lessons for young people looking to craft a career in the sports industry.

In this episode we discussed:

  • Where Sean’s passion for sports comes from
  • How Sports Geek business card idea came about
  • How Sean nearly started working in sports in 1993
  • Why Sean was behind the first AFL Club TV show – Bulldogs TV
  • How a USA sports trip was a big reason behind #SportsGeekTrip
  • A look back at Mountain West data analysis project
  • Why Sean barracks for Collingwood
  • How Sean secured first Sports Geek clients back in 2010
  • Please count how many times Blair says Fan Engagement
  • How the skills of digital teams has seen Sean working more with ticketing and sponsorship teams
  • How community radio helped build skills for podcasting and radio
  • Why Sean is thrilled that Sports Geek clients are amongst the most avid listeners to the podcast
  • Why Sean is blown away from listener emails
  • Why podcasting is getting so much press right now
  • How Sean is looking forward to pushes more into podcasting
  • What exactly is CHUNKY media?
  • Wait for Sean’s rant on fan engagement

Read the latest in sports business news and sign up here to the Sports Geek newsletter Sports Geek HQ

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audioBoom and the AFL Grand Final

 

#AFLGF 2015

#AFLGF 2015

This week sees the biggest clash on the AFL calendar with the Hawthorn Hawks up against the West Coast Eagles at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the 2015 AFL Grand Final.

At audioBoom we’re working across our content partners, the AFL and the teams to help them record, upload and share with fans as much great quality audio content on the big game as we can.

Our content partners like SEN, RSN, UBET, 3AW and others along with a multitude of our AFL specific podcasters are posting some great content which you can listen to below.

Each day this week, my colleague and I have been posting a daily wrap up of all of that day’s AFL Grand Final content which can be found here:

Monday 28/9

Tuesday 29/9

  Wednesday 30/9

Thursday 1/10

Friday 2/10

The West Coast Eagles who use us are also posting content throughout the week. Their channel can be found here:

On Saturday we’ll be posting content all day long on @audioBoomANZ and @audioBoomSports ahead of the massive clash at 2pm.

If you’re an AFL fan you’ll no doubt enjoy this audio content and if you’re keen to use audioBoom for free and monetise your content then touch base with me and I’ll help you get set up.

All that’s left to ask is who you’re tipping? Eagles or Hawks?

Thanks for reading.

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