Key Takeaways:
–Short-form is getting even shorter. Young fans crave faster, more focused content. But the real unlock lies in flexibility: from micro-clips to long-form archives, format diversity is a winning combination
–The NBA and ATP aren’t just automating highlights — they’re building entire content ecosystems that can pivot across fan segments, platforms, and trends
–The most forward-thinking rights-holders are converting viral moments into lasting relationships by driving fans to owned platforms with personalized experiences
In the last decade, much of the talk in the ATP Tour was about how old its fan base is. After a 2016 Nielsen study revealed that men’s tennis TV audience is the second oldest, (61 on average), in pro sports, the ATP tested multiple innovative rules, aimed at attracting new and younger fans into the sport. And while it’s too early to tell if the rule changes that made the cut helped the sport’s appeal, the tour continues to court the next generation of sports fans.
To that end, the ATP recently signed a content partnership with youth-focused media brand Overtime. As part of the collaboration, Overtime will develop short-form tennis content and distribute it across its social media accounts, which boast over 100 million followers. The goal of the deal, said ATP CEO Massimo Calvelli, “is making sure that we reach the right people at the right time with the right content.”
Why Short-form Content is Getting Increasingly Shorter
Short-form content certainly appears to be the right format for that. Per a recent study by global consulting firm Altman Solon, which surveyed over 3,000 fans across the US, UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and China, younger fans favor short-form and on-demand videos, citing the convenience and the abbreviated “to-the-point” nature of this content.
It should come as no surprise, then, that short-form content is getting increasingly shorter. An analysis of content created on WSC Sports’ AI-powered platform by over 550 rights-holders revealed that:
–The average video length has decreased by 24% since 2020 – from just over 1:30 minutes in 2020 to 1:10 in 2024.
–YouTube Shorts account for over 20% of all videos created on the platform
–The majority of all videos created with WSC Sports in 2024 were in a vertical format – up from 26% in 2022
While short, vertical video content rules the day, rights-holders should not be complacent. For one thing, trends can change in a hurry. For another, a one-size-fits-all approach to content creation has proved to be flawed. “Brands do it because it’s smart from an efficiency perspective,” said Harish Sarma, until recently Global Head of Sports and Gaming at TikTok, “but the challenge is that it just doesn’t land or it just doesn’t perform.”
Breaking the Mold: The Power of Content Diversity
What has proven to perform is a more diverse content strategy. A good illustration of this is the NBA. Ten years ago, the league was focused on creating a finite amount of highlights, game recaps, and player profiles. “It was like ‘here’s the content menu and this is what you get,” said Bob Carney, the NBA’s Senior Vice President of digital & social content. The strategy changed when the league partnered with WSC Sports, in what Carney called an “aha moment.”
With the right technology, the NBA can create an almost infinite amount of content and, just as important, remain flexible when it comes to format. That allowed the league to use Generative AI not only for automated game recaps, but also for content that goes against the grain. “We’re trying to focus on the net-new,” said Carney, “creating a lot of new programming that couldn’t possibly have existed before.”
One example of this programming is long-form content, such as Luka Dončić’s 2023-24 season highlights, a 1:26-hour video that got almost a million views on YouTube:
Archive-based long-form content like this can be extremely valuable in an algorithm-driven world, say industry leaders. According to Jeff Nathenson, formerly the managing director of media company Team Whistle, who worked with the Premier League to bring its archive to life, long-form videos are among the highest-performing videos on the league’s YouTube channel.
“Far too often, rights-holders are trying too hard to create gimmicky, viral videos when it’s just mostly about meat and potatoes,” said Nathenson. “When we were doing the Premier League, we were putting together long-form compilations – just great, edited mashups. They were getting better viewership on the archival compilations than they were from current content.”
Turning Reach Into Paid Subscriptions
The next step for rights-holders is to leverage AI-powered content into something far better than brand reach: paid subscriptions. That can only be done by treating social media accounts as top-of-the-funnel channels, through which you can drive fans to owned and operated platforms (app, website, etc), where organizations can collect first-party data, offer more personalized experiences, and generate revenues.
In other words, the future of sports content lies in building a comprehensive digital ecosystem that serves both immediate engagement and long-term business objectives. AI-powered content solutions make that possible, allowing rights-holders to scale across formats and platforms, capture fans’ attention, and – most importantly – build a bridge from social platforms back to environments they control.