Firstly, thanks to everyone who came along to our ‘esports special’ event in London last night. We heard from two great panels who delivered a plethora of fantastic insights. Our next events are in Manchester on 24th April and then back in London again on 9th May. Details on the website soon!

Back to today’s DDD, there was so much to choose from on what has been a busy day or so in the sports tech market. With the big news being Bleacher Report announcing their entry into the sports OTT market with B/R Live. That and much more below…

Small Ball: Micropayments To Play Key Role In Turner’s Ott Game Plan (adage.com)

As mentioned above, BR have become the latest player to get involved in the ever-more-crowded sports OTT space. As a sports fan and viewer there has never been a time of more choice no matter what or who you follow, and it’s only going to get better. Will it all get a bit much, as huge choice isn’t always a good thing, and how will ‘traditional’ broadcasters continue to evolve and react?

Unscriptd: “If You Are Prepared to Embrace Your Vulnerability as a Strength, Then Anything Can Happen” (bullpen.com.au)

Recently the athlete publishing platform The Players Tribune was in the news as they teamed up with Gerard Pique’s investment company to launch into Europe. The Australian version, though quite different in how it works, gives us some insights into how athletes can better connect with fans through their imperfections as much as their sporting prowess.

How Bleacher Report is turning House of Highlights into a business (digiday.com)

House of Highlights has been getting some great coverage recently, most notably from Digiday who seem to be big fans of the work being done by Omar Raja and the team. Now they have a new structure as Turner and Bleacher Report work out how to best utilise this social media beast they have invested in.

Tweets, trolls and time: An inside look at what it’s like to run an MLB social media account (sportingnews.com)

Recently we’ve seen more behind-the-scenes reads on how social media teams – and sometimes just individuals – are maximising the opportunities they get with players and at games. Showing the hard work and relentlessness of getting so much content up onto a growing number of platforms. This time it’s MLB’s turn as we get on board for a rollercoaster ride of fan emotions on social media.

Overachievers: The St Pauli story (mrrichardclarke.com)

Big fan of the work Rich puts in to his talks, blog posts and podcasts. His look at German second division team St Pauli, the 174th most followed team in the world with just over 1m fans, is right up there. For a team that’s only been in the top division for 1 year since 2003, how have they managed to develop such a fanbase?