Triple Threat on Air: Draining Threes Through Broadcast Assets
Using broadcast assets to drive increases in fan engagement, awareness, and customer acquisition
If you are new around here, here’s why I started writing.
Over the last week, there has been conversation about broadcast viewership, especially for women’s sports. The Women’s Final Four statistics have been impressive, driven by stars like Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, South Carolina’s Kamila Cardoso, UConn’s Paige Bueckers, and NC State’s Aziaha James (who torched my Longhorns in the Elite Eight).
So, high viewership = high awareness, customer acquisition, and/or brand value, right? Not so fast.
Viewership is just one part of the equation when it comes to maximizing the value of broadcast assets, especially with the increased nature of assets on screens. From digital assets to in arena/stadium signage and branding, it’s easy to get lost in the clutter. This is nothing new, though - In the Journal of Sports Management in 2012, Breuer and Rumpf quantified the presence of sponsors during television broadcasts of sporting events. Their findings revealed a significant negative impact associated with each additional sponsor exposed during the broadcast.1
Broadcast assets for sponsors are not going away, so how do we get past the clutter? Fans have so much to keep up on the broadcast that it’s important to think differently on how to approach these assets.
Here’s a simple framework to think about this:
What is the goal of the asset? —> awareness, customer acquisition, brand value, etc.
Which asset should show up (this could be contractual or open to negotiation)?
What should the second screen experience be?
What’s the post-engagement journey?
With the Bird & Taurasi Show for the NCAA Women’s National Championship as our case study, let’s drain some three pointers!
What is the goal of the asset?
No matter the role being played, whether it be that of sponsor, media company, or team/league, it’s key to set the goal and/or target of the broadcast assets.2 As mentioned above, broadcasts bring a scale of access that most marketers dream of for their campaigns.
It’s key to take inventory of what assets are available and work together across organizations to identify the most ideal state. These should be mutually beneficial and aligned with the goals of the journey.
Which asset should show up?
Starting with awareness - which can be a broad term - you simply might want more people to know your logo or asset and ask questions, which is where a logo ‘attachment’ might make the most sense. This does not necessarily require much more than having the logo on screen for a period of time of exposure.
There is a deeper view of awareness where you might want to tie a secondary experience to that logo attachment. In these cases, an asset like a QR code, branded insight, or an engagement call to action (CTA) could be a better fit to begin the journey. Branded insights can be great assets if an organization wants to be attached to a data or strategy insight. I wrote about my mindset on how to display these on air in this blog a few months ago. QR codes and CTAs are ideal for a quick logo appearance or discussion on air.
The QR codes and call to actions can also be used if the goal is to drive customer acquisition. Most of the time, properties and/or media companies do not have a data sharing agreement that allows for viewership personal information to be shared across organizations, making it difficult to capture who is actually watching the event.
For the Bird & Taurasi Show, an altcast similar to the ManningCast on ESPN, women’s basketball legends and stars Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi bring guests on the show to watch the game with them. I chose to watch their show this year, rather than the main game feed, so I tuned in right before the game. In the pre-show, they discussed the controversial foul call during the Final Four matchup between Iowa and UCONN that ended up deciding the game. They kicked off with a replay of the play, then turned it to the fans to vote using a QR code shown below.
What should the second screen experience be?
At this point, we’ve identified the broadcast assets at play - now is the time to determine the next step in the awareness or fan acquisition journey. While a second screen is not always necessary, it’s been well researched that the majority of folks are scrolling on their phones or laptops when watching sporting events.3 There are so many ways to define this experience, but there are a few key aspects that are important to consider:
Traceable - Are there ways to track and measure the impact of the second screen experience on fan acquisition or awareness goals?
Engaging - How can the second screen experience encourage fans to share their experiences or content related to the broadcast assets?
Rewarding - Are there incentives or rewards for participating?
Insightful - Can the experience provide additional content or behind-the-scenes insights that complement the broadcast assets?
Personalized - How can the second screen experience be personalized to cater to each individual fan's preferences and interests?
When considering those aspects, the options listed above to the right showcase just some of the different opportunities for fans to engage and increase awareness or input their information into the database. By including a second screen experience, fans will have a way to learn more about the organization and find ways to engage beyond just the logo attachment on the screen.
Keeping our case study going, the Bird & Taurasi Show created a fan vote to participate in the discussion - even before the game started. Both Bird and Taurasi scanned the QR code to participate - and just a few minutes later, Robin Roberts showed up as a guest and jumped in as well. The QR code led to a page, with a simple question shown below. Once voting was complete, the live results showed up on the phone screen.
What’s the post-engagement journey?
The journey can be over there - especially if widespread awareness is all that’s wanted. That being said, it’s important to have a plan in place for a post-engagement journey, ensuring that the engaged viewer can connect with the broadcast in a deeper manner. If you can drive engagement from a small percentage of fans, the awareness and acquisition metrics can increase in a marked fashion.
The post-engagement journey should be aligned with the goal at the onset. Here are a few questions to ask when determining what that should be:
Is the goal to drive additional interest in the broadcast to keep viewers longer?
Is the plan to acquire a large scale of names?
Is there a reward or points available for fans to gain by participating?
You get the point here - this should tie back to what you’re looking to do after the post-engagement journey - consider it the ‘post, post-journey’. I’ve marked below some ways to think about post-engagement as it relates to the goal.
Let’s close the loop with our friends, Sue and Diana - how did the program decide to close the journey for fans?
They showed the results on air. 55% thought it was a foul. What did you think? Here’s the link to the play again.
What’s our broadcast journey?
We’ve touched on how high sports viewership can be. This can serve as a framework to drive increased awareness and fan acquisition to maximize these assets. Here is the framework again:
What is the goal of the asset? —> awareness, customer acquisition, brand value, etc.
Which asset should show up (this could be contractual or open to negotiation)?
What should the second screen experience be?
What’s the post-engagement journey?
This is how you avoid the clutter and drive value in your assets. Thanks for reading. Please like, share, and comment if you have any feedback.
Breuer, C., & Rumpf, C. (2012). The viewer’s reception and processing of sponsorship information in sport telecasts. Journal of Sport Management, 26(6), 521‒531.
and your other assets as well - stay tuned for that at a later date
https://iupress.istanbul.edu.tr/en/journal/ibr/article/the-relationship-between-fan-passion-and-second-screen-usage-the-mediating-role-of-fear-of-missing-out