A Comprehensive Report on Youth Sports, Augmented-Reality NBA Broadcasts and What Makes Gen Z Sports Fans “Tik”

Each week, we sift through a ton of content and then debate it ad nauseam at FEVO HQ. And since good content, like the mind, is a terrible thing to waste, we are also sharing it here with you, our fans, in the form of this weekly blog post on e-commerce, media and life on the internet.

Ad Age: Inside women’s sports marketing – How Gen Z is fueling brand interest

We highly recommend reading this well-reported article about how Gen Z approaches sports, how teams are catering their content offerings to this new generation and how advertisers are responding to both. Some key takeaways: teams should be experimenting with both the form and function of the content they create, testing out different platforms (especially YouTube and TikTok), and giving their players a voice — above all, fans want to connect with them! This stat from the article is pretty revealing: “39% of Gen Z sports fans reported watching more women’s sports, compared to 29% of millennials, 23% of Gen X and 19% of baby boomers.” And another interesting insight from Gatorade’s Head of Brand Strategy: “Highlights, documentaries and social [posts] are just as important to Gen Z as live [games], if not more.”

SVG News: Trail Blazers become first NBA team to broadcast augmented reality graphics from a handheld camera

The live-sports-viewing experience, as old as it is, is one that should be constantly progressing forward. While it ain’t necessarily broken, it should account for newly available technologies and fans’ evolving viewing habits. With AR (augmented reality) becoming more prominent, the Blazers have partnered with graphics company Disguise to create and broadcast graphics that appear as if they are being projected onto the court alongside the players. It required a robust retrofit of the arena that allowed the Blazers to provide relevant stats to fans in a fun and engaging way.

Project Play: Annual report on trends in youth sports

This in-depth analysis conducted by nonprofit think tank The Aspen Institute draws on research provided by a wide variety of sources to study how youth sports are changing across America. While team participation is down slightly, children are increasingly apt to try their hand at new, unfamiliar sports. Pay attention — it’s important to know where the future of your fanbase is coming from and what motivates and interests them. Some very useful insights in here.

And a few more nuggets of assorted internet wisdom:

New women's pro volleyball league just doubled its funding, thanks to famous investors (NPR)

Chelsea’s Emma Hayes to coach U.S. Women’s Soccer — at record salary (WSJ)

PUMA launch AFCON 2024 ftblCulture fanwear collections (SoccerBible)

Amazon and TikTok leave opening in next e-commerce boom (Bloomberg)

Netflix reportedly interested In NBA In-Season Tournament rights (Front Office Sports)

Division-I conferences unite to advocate for federal NIL legislation (Fan Nation)