Football’s impact on society is undeniable. Culturally, it is important to many people around the globe in many ways, and the way it is consumed has changed greatly.
To that end, as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations, LiveScore released a report called ‘Evolution of Fan’ looking at “changes in the way football is experienced, consumed and loved,” as it looks at its own ongoing role to contributing to the future of football fandom. Gambling Insider was present at a live event, held at LiveScore Group’s London office, involving Sport Business podcast Unofficial Partner, with Richard Gillis conducting a Q&A session with LiveScore CEO Sam Sadi as part of the report’s launch.
As we harness the power of AI to capture the individual essence of each fan, we can then anticipate the emergence of new sub-communities centred around niche interests and preferences, who will then be able to connect and celebrate their individual nuanced love of the game - Sam Sadi
The report features a timeline throughout of significant events in football and wider society, including LiveScore’s own journey, with data from nearly 25,000 surveyed football fans and LiveScore users. The key stats scattered throughout the report highlight fan attitudes towards football viewership and how they have shifted and the differing attitudes between ages.
Overall, the report underlines how fans have become more connected to the teams and players they care for most, driven by a greater variety of methods to consume content, including through social media, and increased broadcasters and streaming providers. The origins of LiveScore go some way to explaining how noteworthy the group has been in creating the next wave in football fandom.
Founder of the company, Peter Jerie, was on a trek in South Africa, but wanted to keep up with his (and many people’s) team, Manchester United...
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
As someone who was a programmer, Jerie had the skills to create a code which would send Teletext score updates to his mobile phone via SMS, so he wouldn’t miss what was going on in the match. This proved popular with Jerie’s friends and eventually led to LiveScore’s website being launched later that year, in 1998. Since then, as the report conveys in great detail, technology’s advancements through the years has shifted the way in which fans consume football content. From the gradual decline of Teletext to smartphones’ widespread usage, social media’s influence and the changing face of broadcasting rights, this report really does call attention to how much change has taken place in such a short space of time.
Football fans today are almost completely different to what they were 25 years ago and much of this has come from the opportunity’s technology has provided. What the report shows most of all is that not being present at a game doesn’t mean fans can’t feel attached to it, with more chances to interact and be involved with football fandom.
Within the data from LiveScore, it highlights that 81% of people agree that technology has improved the sense of community among football fans, while 84% of fans feel more connected to their favourite teams since the emergence of instant score updates. This is further emphasised with 93% of fans claiming that social media has enhanced their match experience.
Overall, the report points to technology being a positive driving force for football fandom, with 93% of those surveyed believing technology, and the ability to keep up to date with football news and results in a real-time sense, has positively impacted the game of football off the pitch.
With the methods of football consumption changing all the time, it makes for interesting viewing on what technology will bring next. How will fans continue to engage with the beautiful game – and how may this even change the game of football itself?
BETTING HAS CHANGED, TOO...
Betting is, of course, included within theLiveScore experience, something it integrated into its app for users of 18 years or above in the UK back in December 2020. Sports betting has continued to grow in that time, with more US states going live and other regions including LatAm seeing more countries gradually introduce legislation surrounding it. Mobile sports betting may have become more popular in recent years with smartphone development, but its relationship with fan viewership has clearly grown incredibly in that time.
In total, 56% of fans said the integration of betting features within football related apps has improved their fan experience. With sports betting operators bringing more features to the table that go beyond a simple match result bet placed before a match, such as bet365 becoming one of the first major operators to offer inplay betting or Sky Bet’s newest feature ‘AccaFreeze’, the involvement of betting within the fan experience of watching football will no doubt continue to grow.
This subject was touched upon briefly during the podcast event, with Sadi explaining how the betting industry gives another layer of excitement to sport itself. During the Q&A event, LiveScore’s CEO was asked what the future may hold within the sporting industry. The idea of ultra personalisation within the LiveScore app was something that could become reality seen sooner rather than later, whereby content is filtered in such a way that each person using the app will have their ‘own’ LiveScore in some way. The technology for this would recognise what each person wants from their app by way of content such as news, highlights, etc. to tailor it accordingly.
In some ways, Sadi suggested that the plan for LiveScore in the coming years was to become the main source of information in the world of football. A tough ask, though... Nowadays, most football fans have multiple apps for different angles of content. The aim for LiveScore, it was suggested, is a future where all the content fans currently consume surrounding football would be accessed through LiveScore and that there would be no need for any other apps. But, again, that is an ambitious goal.
An interesting point made during the podcast session was surrounding young fans and how they consume content. Sadi noted that many of the younger generation generally rely on short clips from social media to consume football content. In some cases, they don’t even watch full matches... citing an example of a young basketball fan not understanding that players actually missed shots during matches – until they watched a full game.
Football fans today are almost completely different to what they were 25 years ago and much of this has come from the opportunity’s technology has provided
LOOKING AHEAD
Sadi also left some closing remarks in the report itself, looking ahead to what the next 25 years may hold for football fandom. “The landscape of football broadcasting has undergone significant changes over the past quarter-century, from exclusive rights holders Sky delivering Premier League games, to the complete fragmentation of subscription-based services, with multiple streaming services all vying for subscriptions. Looking ahead, we anticipate a rebundling of these rights, with a renewed focus on delivering a streamlined, user-centric experience through direct-to consumer platforms.
“These platforms will prioritise fan experience, offering flexible subscription models tailored to individual preferences, with fans having the flexibility to choose subscription levels, unlocking various features and content, and offering a seamless and consolidated viewing experience. Additionally, the emergence of the Metaverse offers the potential to connect fans globally in virtual stadiums, creating a shared sense of community across countries and continents.
“As we harness the power of AI to capture the individual essence of each fan, we can then anticipate the emergence of new sub-communities centred around niche interests and preferences, who will then be able to connect and celebrate their individual nuanced love of the game.”
Football fandom’s development in such a short time span has been remarkable, and technology’s advancement has played a key part in this. With the methods of football consumption changing all the time, it makes for interesting viewing on what technology will bring next. How will fans continue to engage with the beautiful game – and how may this even change the game of football itself?
