Highlight Reel: Juventus Break Convention with Female-Focused TikTok Partnership ⚽️
Plus, Chiliz and LFP collaborate, and Derek Heyswiver, age 9, announces his retirement from sports
Welcome to Sports Pundit, the sports business newsletter delivering insights from across the industry.
In today’s email;
Juventus and TikTok Agree Game-Changing Partnership ⚽️
French Football League Develops its Own Fantasy Game 🇫🇷
Nine Year-Old Kid Announces his Retirement from Sport 🙅
No podcast this week as I’ve been away at SportInnovation in Dusseldorf. However, the good news is that I was able to record a few good conversations whilst I was away which I’ll be sharing with you in the coming weeks.
Remember, if you’re in Manchester or New York, there are events happening on Wednesday (27th)!
Happy Friday!
Andy 😊 🙏
P.S. The Women’s Six Nations starts this weekend. Make sure you’ve joined the prediction game ahead of kick-off tomorrow afternoon.
The Highlight Reel is brought to you by the Global Institute of Sport!
The Global Institute of Sport is the leading destination for Master's degrees, executive education and professional qualifications in sport around the world.
They count world-famous stadiums and surrounding venues among their state-of-the-art campus facilities across the globe, including London's Wembley Stadium, Miami's DRV PNK Stadium and Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Ready to master the global sports industry? Enquire today about their in-person and online courses.
SHOOTING YOUR SHORT
Juventus Break Convention with Female-Focused TikTok Partnership ⚽️
Juventus and TikTok Italia have joined forces in a partnership to bolster support for the club's first team and promote the growth of women's football worldwide.
As part of this collaboration, Juventus Women will have a dedicated profile on TikTok, featuring exclusive content and behind-the-scenes glimpses. A team of native creators will contribute to enriching the profile with engaging content. Additionally, a special TikTok Corner will be established at the Vinovo Training Centre.
TikTok will also become the sleeve partner for Juventus Women, with their logo featured on team shirts starting from the match against Fiorentina on March 30.
The initiative aims to engage both the Bianconeri global fanbase and TikTok's community, enhancing the interaction between fans and the team.
With over 30 million followers, Juventus solidifies its status as the most followed Italian brand on TikTok and one of the top football clubs globally in terms of social media presence.
This is especially important in the eyes of Jo Redfern (Managing Director, Wind Sun Sky Entertainment), who believes traditional media no longer understands young people.
What she said:
“It’s clear that the new media age is defined by audience power, and not the power of gatekeepers that used to dictate younger generations’ content habits - from controlling the creative they were going to watch, to the how and when they were going to watch it.
Young people don’t see value in paying subscriptions, not long term at least. Neither do many of them see a public service licence fee as relevant. Subs growth at the big streamers has stagnated, churn has increased and around 1 million fewer BBC Licence Fees were paid between 2018-2022 according to inews. Young people are key drivers of that change.
A lot of it has to do with traditional broadcasters and studios looking inwards.
The obsession with looking at past successes, and trying to recreate them over and over no longer works, not when young people are more actively curious than ever.
Traditional media is driving a car but only looking in the rearview mirror.
Young audiences behave in a way that suggests the exact opposite. They look outward, they explore, they cast around [and] across platforms in search of content to satisfy their voracious appetite for new, and which speaks to them - and which often means created by someone like them (not created by committee or C-suites in a west coast HQ or New Broadcasting House).By acknowledging this huge pull factor, we have an opportunity to truly reorient our content and IP building strategies around audiences.”
This, in my opinion, is exactly why Juventus and women’s football more broadly, needs to be visible and authentically presenting itself on platforms like TikTok.
Not yet a subscriber? Join over 2,000 sports business leaders, from Formula 1 to the Premier League, that read Sports Pundit every week to get impactful industry insights.
Ahead of the Women’s Six Nations this weekend, I’m delighted to have worked with Hunch to create Sports Pundit’s very own Women’s Rugby Predictor Game, proudly supported by Veo.
By joining, you’ll be added into the Sports Pundit main game and leaderboard where you can battle it out against other readers to win bragging rights, as well as a fresh replica jersey of your choice.
You can also set up your own mini-leagues among colleagues and friends. I know how competitive sports agency fantasy leagues can get!
The deadline to enter is mid-day on Saturday 23rd (tomorrow) ahead of France vs Ireland. And it’s completely free, so why wouldn’t you?!
Let’s see who comes out on top… 🏆
HIGHLIGHTS
JPMorgan Chase has created a new sports-focused investment banking team to tap into what is becoming an increasingly lucrative asset class 🏦
Liverpool FC and Google DeepMind have developed a full AI system called TacticAI which can advise coaches on areas such as corner kicks ⚽️
Roblox launches a $35 million fund for creators of new kinds of apps as the gaming platform looks to expand its reach beyond kids’ gaming 🚀
Uefa has launched a process inviting bids from prospective sponsors in the crypto exchange category to fill its Champions League sponsorship portfolio ⚽️
The Professional Women’s Hockey League and e.l.f. Cosmetics will be teaming during the league’s inaugural season as the first beauty brand of the PWHL 🏒
Seeking up to US$100m a year in its next media cycle, the WNBA could unbundle from NBA’s ESPN broadcast deal to increase revenues 🏀
NO CHAIN, NO GAIN
French Professional Football League Kicks-Off own Blockchain Powered Fantasy Game 🏟️
Chiliz, a leading blockchain provider in sports and entertainment, has announced a strategic partnership with game studio Unagi and the French Professional Football League (LFP) to launch Coach Ligue 1.
The first fantasy football game developed by a football league, Coach Ligue 1 enables fans of Ligue 1 Uber Eats and Ligue 2 BKT to build their dream teams using digital trading cards created on the Chiliz Chain.
By creating its own assets, the league eliminates the risk of license expiration and establishes a sustainable connection with fans.
The game offers a gamified experience where fans can compete weekly, climbing national and global leaderboards by using in-game currencies to acquire player packs and improve their teams.
A long-time proponent of blockchain and its use in sports, Michael Broughton suggests that there is a big opportunity, as highlighted by this partnership, for leagues to take control of their product development and reimagine partnerships with third-party platforms, placing greater emphasis on direct product creation.
What he said:
“One of the key [opportunities for blockchain technology has] always been on how [it enables] sports to change the business model to have a closer more transparent relationship with its fans and participants - and as a consequence build a business model where the IP holders are generating direct revenues from their fans rather than it going out of the game to third parties.”
Commenting on Michael’s post, Charlie Boss (Chief Commercial Officer, Southampton FC) added:
“The experimentation with NFTs in sport (in many cases unsuccessfully) has impeded the adoption of blockchain technology in the industry by eroding fan trust. But the blockchain has so many potential transformative applications beyond NFTs - great to [see] the next wave of experimentation start!”
P.S. It’s well worth listening to this podcast with a16z’s Chris Dixon where he discusses the need for the separation of the computer and the casino within the world of web3.
FURTHER READING
Watch: 9-year-old announces retirement from sports By ESPN 🙅
Why Marketing Needs to Make Rugby Less Relatable, Not More By Sam Hurley, LBB 🏉
No Such Thing as Plastic By Michael Broughton 🏟️
NBA Should Cooperate with Linear Broadcast Partners to Protect Golden Goose By JohnWallStreet 🏀
The Money Behind Building a Golf Course By Jared Doerfler, Perfect Putt ⛳️
Suddenly, Guinness is Everywhere By Alex Dalman 🍺
The Sports Pundit Social Club (SPSC) was designed to enable you to hang out with other readers (i.e. exceptional folk from across the industry) without the heavy cost that often goes with traditional sports industry events.
This month, we’ve hosted an event in London, and have ones coming up in New York, and Manchester👇
JOB BOARD
Sr. Manager, Partnerships - WTA Ventures (UK, US, Remote)
Partner Content Manager - Red Bull Racing (Milton Keynes, UK)
Director of Broadcast Operations - National Women’s Soccer League (New York, US)
Creative Director - Ladies Professional Golf Association (Florida, US)
Director, Hospitality - TKO - Ultimate Fighting Championship (Las Vegas, US)
Do you have a job you’d like to promote to the amazing readers of this newsletter? Email me 📩
Today’s Newsletter is brought to you by the Global Institute of Sport!
The Global Institute of Sport is the leading destination for Master's degrees, executive education and professional qualifications in sport around the world.
They count world-famous stadiums and surrounding venues among their state-of-the-art campus facilities across the globe, including London's Wembley Stadium, Miami's DRV PNK Stadium and Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Ready to master the global sports industry? Enquire today about their in-person and online courses.
Not yet a subscriber? Join over 2,000 sports business leaders, from Formula 1 to the Premier League, that read Sports Pundit every week to get impactful industry insights.