The new horizons of immersive fan experiences, in conversation with SailGP - Podcast

When SailGP surfaced in the world of sport, it brought with it a new global championship featuring the world’s fastest sail racing. The objective? Grow the discipline's profile and attract (and maintain) new eyeballs in a very competitive sports ecosystem. 

In this episode of Field to Fan, Daisy Vollans, Head of Digital and Engagement at SailGP, sits down with our very own Jason Bradwell to discuss:

• How to build a loyal fan-base by leveraging the sport's dramatic live shows
• The challenges of creating an immersive, fan-first experience within a growing sport – and how to overcome them
• The use of live data to enhance on-screen graphics for sailing enthusiasts and newcomers alike

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Highlights

• [05:55] Daisy Vollans on engaging existing and new audiences: "Since the proposition came to life, it's a two-fold approach. The objective is to open sailing up to an audience that was not there before... As a sport, sailing can be quite elitist, but we want to show how accessible it can be for people who are genuinely passionate about sport and athleticism. The second key aspect is not only the exciting racing proposition, but also the data and insights that back that."
• [12:38] Daisy Vollans on what SailGP's digital ecosystem looks like: "We have quite a complex ecosystem where every little part has its place within different messaging and different purposes... Digital platforms are our ecosystem for communication, including the website and social channels. And then there's the app, an incredible asset during live events. It's where superfans can go to, to reach an invaluable set of data, on average 30,000 data points per race... Digital channels are, instead, a source of less complex and more digestible information."
• [30:44] Daisy Vollans on learnings from using data to analyse audiences: "A big learning in the past few months was to understand that we don't necessarily have to put every piece of content everywhere... So, for example, with YouTube... we made a decision early on in the year to centralize the channels so the teams didn't have individual ones. That decision was made because people would otherwise jump in between channels and the user journey didn't feel right."

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