For teams, leagues, and broadcasters the cost of live rights continues to climb. That puts pressure on content teams to maximize every moment from every game. In this article, we explore practical use cases and offer key insights to help you scale your content strategy.
Key Takeaways
-Content demand is skyrocketing and fans expect it faster than ever. Sports organizations are under pressure to deliver more highlights, across more platforms, in less time.
-Manual workflows can’t scale. The volume of games, angles, and channels makes traditional content creation unsustainable. Automation is now essential.
-Speed and scale are the new competitive edge. From real-time delivery to global coverage, automation empowers rights holders to meet fan expectations without compromise.
This story is not just a sports story. It’s a story about content—and no matter what your business is, there’s a high chance that this affects you.
In a recent survey from B2B agency 10Fold, nearly every respondent reported producing 3–10X more content than the year prior (across all industries). What’s more, in the sports industry, platforms like TikTok started positioning themselves as a new “home for fandom,” urging sports organizations to feed the algorithm with moment after moment.
It’s not that fans are watching ‘more’; they’re watching faster. And they’re doing it on more platforms, in more formats, and on different devices. To keep up with the demand, creativity alone won’t cut it. Today’s sports organizations need more than just ideas. They need automation.
What We Really Mean by “Automation”
As the buzzword of the day, there’s a lot of confusion between AI and automation, but they’re not the same. The key difference: automation follows rules, while AI has the ability to learn and adapt. In sports, that distinction matters and a combination of the two can pack a serious punch for your content plan.
From back-end workflows to front-end experiences for fans, AI and automation are quietly powering a new era of content creation. One that’s always on, and giving fans unprecedented access to their favorite leagues, teams, and players. Case in point—automated rules set up by rights holders that allow them to automatically capture key moments and plays from any competition. Or perhaps most common, AI-powered line judges that can rule when a ball is out of bounds or off-sides. For this conversation though, let’s zoom in on technology applied to content creation, because as we’ve seen firsthand, more than 550 of the top sports rights holders in the world are producing twice the amount of content they created compared to four years ago. And the truth is that there’s no way to meet the rising demand without automation.
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Speed and Scale are the Game Now
The expectation from fans is that the biggest plays will be available online within seconds of them unfolding in real-life. The challenge for rights holders is how to deliver that experience to multiple platforms—each with their own set of unique technical requirements for videos. If you’re relying on manual clipping, odds are you’re falling behind. Luckily there are tools that can tailor those videos in a click, while simultaneously delivering them to TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, OTT service, app, or any other O&O platform. Automation is the catalyst that fuels your content team to compete, and publish instant, personalized content to a global audience.
Who’s Doing it Best?
Speed: NASCAR made the decision to bring more real-time content to its fans, they turned to automation. Now, key highlights hit the feed in the NASCAR app 80% faster so fans can stay updated on races no matter where they are.
Scale: FIBA 3×3 is a new sport with a budding global audience. Their challenge: sheer volume. By introducing a combo of AI and automation, the league can capture every tournament, and every team, across multiple divisions—no matter which time zone they’re in.
How to Modernize Your Content Strategy
Fan expectations are only getting higher—which means your turnaround is tighter. At WSC Sports, we’re empowering rights holders with AI and automated rules on our platform used by over 550 of the world’s leading sports rights holders.
Curious to learn how to deliver the maximum amount of moments from one clip? We’re helping teams, leagues, and broadcasters build content strategies designed to serve today’s fans through the power of AI-driven automation.