Digital transformation is a process that touches and reshapes every industry. Although we usually think about more obvious examples like music streaming (Spotify, Apple Music), taxi (Uber, Bolt), TV and video streaming (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video) or banking (Revolut and other digital banks), digital technologies disrupts also sports industry. In this blog article, I will focus on the subject of new, disruptive technologies in one of the most popular, and the most broadly watched sport disciplines – football.
Digital football experience
It is clear to see that more and more digital natives, that means people who grown up with smartphones and tablets in their hands are now becoming the biggest share of football fans. Their behaviour differs, as they require a full and high-quality digital experience. They are able to buy tickets online, but also instead of going to the stadium, a great share of them may prefer to watch football sports competitions online. However, the sport experienced is not limited to 90-minutes of the match. Fans are in constant contact with their favourite clubs via social media, consuming video clips or discussing with other team supporters etc. There are also special club mobile apps that help fans to be updated all the time.
Commercial use of data
With such intense interaction, the clubs are able to collect an immense amount of customer data, especially about their fans. It might enable them to work on a more personalized experience – what digital natives truly expect. Part of English clubs does think about introducing dynamic pricing solutions enabling them to maximize their profit. Many of the top-leagues clubs have already started working on multi-platform data-analysis tools that help them to enhance the user experience by targeting proper content and purchase offers. The future of the club-fans interaction lays in “hyper-targeting” that will bring user engagement to a higher than ever level.
How to win using data analysis
Anyhow, digital transformation in football doesn’t impact only the commercial level, but it also strongly influence the club’s sports competitiveness. Special systems are used by coaches to evaluate players and team performance and seek strategy enhancement. Furthermore, some special microwave systems, advanced biometrical kinetics and position measurement technologies help to track players and ball position in real-time The top sports clubs not only measure footballers behaviours on the football pitch but also day daily activities, nutrition and sleep habits or even psychological states. It is later used to improve individual and group training sessions and even to avoid injuries.
To sum up, the world of football is changing rapidly. Clubs are in need to excel in data analysis to still be competitive. They will use it not only at the sports leagues and tournaments but also to economically compete with digitally-enabled rivals.
References:
1. M. Beetz, B. Kirchlechner and M. Lames, “Computerized real-time analysis of football games,” in IEEE Pervasive Computing, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 33-39, July-Sept. 2005, doi: 10.1109/MPRV.2005.53.
2. PwC, “Football’s Digital Transformation. Growth opportunities for football clubs in the digital age”, 2014
First of all, I would like to mention that one should not underestimate how useful big data analytics and digital transformation can be for – also – football clubs. It is nice to see that you emphasized the differences in how football clubs can use data for both better customer/fan experience as well as better game results. After reading your interesting blog, I would also express my thoughts on this topic. There are two points that I want to notice: Firstly, although data analysis actually can result to positive results (e.g. Premier League Title win of Leicester city in 2016), one should not underestimate the vulnerability of using big data. What is the data of football players falls into the wrong hands? It can have serious consequences for players who’s every heartbeat, breath or daily gym routines look like. These information could help other teams or sport agents to develop transfer strategies or to exploit a player weaknesses to the masses. Secondly, despite the bright future of data analysis in the football world I really wonder whether technology will be able to also find the right talent with the best fitting human element, or able to find if the concerned player has the right mentality. I still see some significant gaps in adapting data analysis in football in the same way we humans can do. All in all, a really nice blog with every important element elaborated!