When Facebook Connects With Sport

Live Streaming has done a lot for the word of sports, whether it be legal or illegal streaming, viewers can watch their favourite games live no matter their location. The demand for streaming of Australian sports is an issue the local market is beginning to face too, and with a couple of the major digital rights deals coming up for renewal soon, live streaming in sport will be a key talking point.

If you were to look to overseas leagues,  I can legally watch MLB on the internet or on my iPhone, as long as I pay up. You can even stream MLB games on your PS3 if you so desire. The AFL dipped its toe slightly into this with their AFL iPhone app, but they only offer video on demand highlights after the game, there’s no live streaming just yet.

Over the weekend Tennis Australia, one of the best sports organisations for social media and digital technology in Australia, streamed live coverage of the Australia v Japan Davis Cup series.  With regular host TV broadcast network Channel Seven not contractually obligated to showing this particular series, they didn’t, so fans flocked to the internet to see their heroes. They offer their own commentators (with some borrowed from Channel 7) and offered round the clock coverage of the matches.

This is not the first time they have used live streaming as a communication channel, they also offered it during the ‘December Showdown‘ which was a playoff for entry into this years Australian Open. It was a week long tournament watched each day by only a few hundred people in person, but a few thousand online, thousands that wouldn’t have been able to watch it otherwise.

The tournament is held only for Australian players, and is a great place for tennis fans to see the up and coming stars of tomorrow that don’t get regular matches on the top-level tour around the world.

Not only are Tennis Australia one of the leaders in giving their fans a great web experience of their sport, they also open up the conversation to the fans. With the recent Facebook Developer news about how Facebook wants to open up the web, the implications for developers are endless, especially for those in sport. Tennis Australia took these changes and ran with them, heavily integrating Facebook into their live stream over the weekend.

Once you logged in to the Facebook chat, your questions weren’t only displayed on the site, but also on your Facebook profile and would also appear on your friends’ news feed.

In down time between points, the commentators regularly answered questions sent in on the Facebook chat. They often mentioned that they wanted questions to come in via Facebook connect, and encouraged dialogue between the stream and the commentators. After noticing the surname of one Facebook user, they asked her “Are you related to a member of our team here today?” And she was! This is another great example of way social media connects sports to their fans, and it’s only going to become more popular.

With the way Facebook is opening itself up to the web (just look at the ‘like’ buttons on this page) and Twitter attempting to go anywhere and everywhere, expect these social media integrations to become the norm

About author

Anthony Alsop
Anthony Alsop 9 posts

Anthony Alsop is a blogger and consultant at sportspiel.com.au. He has worked previously in both the IT and Sport sectors, so working in the niche of social media and sport was a natural fit. Anthony is from Melbourne, Australia was was recently named the sporting capital of the world and has consulted with sporting organisations both in Australia and in the United States. You can find him on Twitter @anthonyalsop or via email anthony@sportspiel.com.au

You might also like

SPORTEL 2021: Day One Recap

This year’s prestigious SPORTEL convention kicked off in sunny Monaco today, welcoming a host of familiar faces as well as plenty of new ones. Doors opened at 8:30am with businesses

Six Founding Riders Set To Bring The Vision Of The UCI Track Champions League To Life

Olympic Champions, UCI World Champions and World Record holders join the new track cycling competition debuting in November 2021 The UCI Track Champions League is delighted to announce that six

Sports related spending to soar this summer as pre-pandemic life resumes

New insights from eBay Ads UK reveal the potential for brands to engage with an excited but nervous nation as sports events get back on track  As pubs and indoor