Intro (00:00):

Welcome to The Taylor Ten. A fast-paced, 10 minute deep dive into the minds of those shaking up the marketing world, bringing you the sharpest insights, boldest ideas and breakthrough trends driving the industry forward. So tune in, get inspired, and stay ahead.

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Salina (00:17):

Hi, I'm Salina Benitez and welcome to The Taylor Ten. I'm here with Jake McGrady, Associate Director Strategy and Native content. Today we're diving into the chaos of sports streaming and how social media has changed the viewing experience for fans.

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Jake (00:29):

Let's get into it.

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Salina (00:30):

Yeah, let's do it. So, I read this crazy stat that last weekend fans needed five apps to catch all of the NFL action on week one. Is this the future of sports or is it a scavenger hunt? Sports rights are scattered, as you know, across a billion platforms, ESPN plus Peacock, Amazon, apple tv.

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Jake (00:49):

It feels like you need a scroll to write – remind yourself where each game is going to be streaming. I mean it, it feels like each year the barrier of entry to be a casual fan feels like, pun intended, the goalpost continues to be moved by the NFL. And for better or for worse, because I'm already subscribed to a lot of these streaming services, so for someone like me, it's not that difficult. But for the older generation and legacy fans, if you want to call 'em that, like my dad, right? He'll oftentimes have to text me and be like, where's this game on? I can't find it. And it's like, yeah, it is such a learning curve. And I don't know, it really has created a divide between casuals and diehards, right? Where it kind of has driven people to consume just through their fantasy sports app. And I know friends that are, yeah, I track the league throughout the season through my fantasy team and my performance, but I don't even know where to begin to watch the games because I'm not paying for Red Zone and YouTube TV and all those different ways to consume the sport.

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Salina (02:09):

Do you think that the leagues are chasing revenue gains at the cost of fandom, or do you think it's actually working to attract newer fans and younger fans that maybe don't have cable like your dad?

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Jake (02:22):

Yes and no. I think the NFL, to their credit, I would say the NBA has been a much, much more progressive league over decades, right? And the NFL has been much more stuck to legacy in the past, but over the past five years or so, I mean, we saw it with the partnership with Nickelodeon for the Super Bowl, and then even what we just saw for the first Thursday night football game of the season this year with the official partnership with YouTube and their launch video using, of course, Mr. Beast and I show speed and these digital creators that have grown such a strong audience on YouTube, on TikTok, whatnot. And I think the NFL is kind of realizing that if they're going to go as far as they've gone with different ips for games, belonging to different networks, they're going to have to make at least one night of the week accessible to the younger generation. And the casual fan who literally is not fans of teams, they're fans of moments and their fans of virality and the NFL tried it last season with the Netflix games and the Christmas Day games and whatnot. So there's a way for them to do it correctly. And I guess time will tell. We saw, I mean, record breaking numbers with the first ever YouTube game, but definitely some pushback. I will say I saw a lot of people saying, of course it's the Mr Beatification of the NFL. This is only the beginning. It starts now. 

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Salina (03:59):

You mentioned the NBA. Did you catch what Adam Silver said yesterday in a press conference?

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Jake (04:03):

I did, it caused quite the stir on NBA Twitter and on my circles of NBA fandom. I will say that.

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Salina (04:13):

Totally, totally. I'll recap really quick for the folks that might have not caught it, but essentially, the commissioner was asked about the rising cost of watching NBA games, and he said that the fans that can't afford streaming services can watch highlights. And that there's a ton of options out there for them to consume content for free. So he name dropped TikTok and Instagram, the New York Times, which was a crazy pull from the bag. I thought.

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Jake (04:40):

That was wild. That was a weird add, that felt dropped in there out of nowhere.

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Salina (04:44):

Yeah, really weird stream of consciousness.

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Jake (04:46):

Content slot by the New York Times.

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Salina (04:48):

And then he was calling basketball a highlight based sport. So, a lot of fans and media, they didn't like that. It does come off a bit tone deaf if you're making comparisons. It's like, don't worry about watching the movie, just watch the trailer. You'll get the whole feel. And I'm not going to lie, I'm definitely that person that watches the game, wakes up the next morning and watches the highlights. But any thoughts on that, Jake?

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Jake (05:13):

I see both sides of it. And to Adam Silver's credit, I will say this, he is one of the first professional sports commissioners that I remember, and this was some time ago that was outspoken about intentionally not copywriting their own material. So creators could utilize it to create content and edits and use it in a unique way to kind of create their own art form, which a lot of other leagues are still very, very strict on cracking down on even using five seconds of a game in a clip or a recap or podcast or whatever it might be. So they face a different battle that the NFL faces in the sense that the NFL is a moment, three nights a week, there's three nights a week that there's football on, and teams have one game a week. And it's a moment, it's a cultural moment, and it's easy for fans to pay attention, especially if you're a fan of only one team like legacy fans, and you kind of tune in and then you tune out and you can kind of focus the rest of the week thinking about the next upcoming game, the NBA, I mean, it's almost 80% of the year if you're a fan and you're dedicated to your team, that's 82 games, then it's the months of playoffs.

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Jake(06:32):

And it's tough because the younger generation of basketball players are kind of approaching it from a different perspective. And we can get into a whole different topic of clip farming. And to what Adam said about it is kind of having to turn into a league of moments. And we see it with the TikTok-ification of sports. And I mean, I am guilty in my own right with some of the sports content that I create, and it's all about the hook, right? It's all about how you can recap a moment in the flashiest you know the 15, 22 second recap? And to some fans, they only know it as a game of highlights, and they only know, oh, I only know Shai's clips from the week and I only know Jason Tatums, yada yada, whatever it might be. And it kind of is creating a new type of basketball fan.

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Jake(07:24):

And with TikTok editors and how big of a role sports edits are changing, players are now intentionally doing things on the court, whether it's physical mannerisms or lip syncs or clips. They're recording in the locker room, they know that they're doing this to get put into an edit that'll be seen by 15 million people on TikTok by a 14-year-old kid who created it in his bedroom before class, right? It's a whole new world. It's crazy. I'm a big fan of the sports edits and the highlight culture on TikTok. I've come from both sides. I've been a fan since before that existed, and I've seized the opportunity and kind of created that content for myself. And I even liken it to teams adapting to the bell curve, where the social media managers of professional sports teams are either doing a great job or lacking a little bit, and how they approach content to then kind of distribute their own teams wins, highlights, whatever I might be to their fan base. And you see the ones that do it correctly and earnestly and the ones that kind of fall flat. And it's kind of like if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. If you're going to be left in the dust, you fans are going to have to learn to stop fighting it and embrace the new way that this younger generation is embracing sports and consuming sports. And if you don't like it, it's kind of like you got to get off social media then and just go to the games live. Like, sorry. It is what it is.

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Jake(08:59):

It is only going to get crazier. And I think we are only on the tip of the iceberg with live streaming, right? So right now you currently, it's against platforms, terms and services to show a game in totality. If you're a live streamer, you can't put the game on your screen showing your reaction to it. You can stream yourself watching portions of it, whatever. But I think we're going to soon be seeing younger fans being like, oh, did you watch the game last night? And when they say that they watched Speed or Kai watch a full entire Thursday night football game through Stream because of the loneliness epidemic and people find enjoyment and watching streamers, you feel like you're in the room. It's like you're in a group chat with friends and you're watching a movie together or a game together.

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Salina (09:51):

Thanks for the convo, Jake.

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Jake (09:53):

Absolutely.

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