Yahoo, Lifecasting and Sports
According to Mashable, Yahoo is testing a lifecasting service called Yahoo Live with its employees. According to Wikipedia, lifecasting is “is a continual broadcast of events in a person’s life through digital media.” As we’ve seen with blogs, social networking and YouTube, people love sharing their lives. Whether it’s for fame, fortune or just to be noticed, people are more and more willing to let others into their lives. With the rise of online video (and the number of laptops that are shipping with webcams), lifecasting should continue to become more popular with the younger crowd.
Lifecasting seems to have a few potential applications in the sports world. It’s really just an unfiltered blog (with video). What if teams provided an outlet for passionate fans to post videos of how dedicated they are. Offer an inside look at the life of a superfan, from what they do each day to keep up with their team, to how crazy they are on game days. This could be turned into a video series or show and teams could tie-in sponsors to generate more revenue.
A brand could sponsor a season-long lifecasting contest to identify the best superfan.
Teams could get players involved in lifecasting to offer an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to be a professional athlete. This could be tested around a player’s All-Star game appearance and could be continued depending on the interest it generates.
These are just a few ideas. What do you think about lifecasting opportunities in sports?
January 30th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I definitly agree that lifecasting will become a increasing piece of social media in sports. With fans taking centerstage online, and more athletes engaging with their fans through blogs, personal websites, etc.. this seems like a logical next evolution. Major brands and sports teams are creating social networking sites dedicated for fans and are spending more and more dollars to understand behavior where “they live”.
There are facebook aps for fans (gillete - show me your game face) from all sports and levels. There are sites focused on connecting sports fans and provide the tools for self promotion and showing how they contribute to the legacy of their sport or favorite team. There is definitly a shift to more one to one engagement with fans and athletes and lifecasting falls right in line with that.
Some other ideas…
Fans: videos about bow became such a fan, or why they love a specific player, or jersey number.
Athletes: day in the life training camp, or tryouts, or the combine, etc…,or typical day for your favorite team, or how they chose that sport, jersey number, school, team, etc…
January 30th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Great thoughts Christian. Thanks for your comment
February 4th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
[…] Over at Take A Peck, Jason looked at Yahoo’s new “lifecasting” service, and how the service could be used as a sports marketing/brand strengthening tool. Definitely something to keep an eye out for. Details can be found here. […]