Ten digital trends that will shape the future of sport
The recent health crisis has accelerated digital transformation in sports. Finding new ways to keep users engaged yet safe and reinventing stadium services to comply with social distancing. Agility and flexibility remain essential.
Events will become more digital and contactless than ever. Medical certificates could become a routine part of the accreditation process in liaison with local and national public health authorities.
The goal posts have changed
Sports teams and governing bodies are seeking direct engagement with fans. Rights holders are facing more competition from other entertainment sources for fans’ very thinly spread attention, while globalization is growing their market.
Increasing global engagement comes at a cost: strict observation of local and global data protection legislation, such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) data protection laws, to protect fan intimacy.
Cybersecurity is also topping agendas: fake news, brandjacking, impersonation, trolls, or even organized violence could destroy a brands or player’s reputation. Smart security technologies can help police and sports ecosystems eradicate these activities.
Reinventing for the future
Digital is transforming the fan experience while changing the way content is produced, distributed, and consumed. Mobile and social media allow fans to dip in and out at any time, from anywhere and on any device.
Supported by High-Performance Computing, Big Data and artificial intelligence (AI) will change the world of sport, delivering the compelling phigital fan experience based on the information obtained from fan interactions. The challenge is not how intelligent we can make machines, but how well the machines can ingest and use the deluge.
We believe that sport is an extremely powerful way to bring people together across the world and, as worldwide partner to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, we have much research and knowledge of the emerging technology trends that will shape the future of sports.
Here we look at the ten digital trends that will shape the future of sport across the world.
