The rising influence of athlete and fan led content... can club's compete?
The current state of club content and why clubs should collaborate with athletes and fan creators to engage Gen Z.
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I’ve not watched United’s YouTube channel in ages. Every week it’s the same and rinse and repeat formula. Training ground, pre and post-match interviews and match highlights. It’s too reactive. The issue with this is that the content is heavily dictated by what the story is on-field. And watching United this season has been pain. I’m not trying to relive the experience on the YouTube channel.
However, this content challenge isn’t specific to just United. Scroll through most of the Premier league clubs’ YouTube channels and it’s a similar story. Club’s copying each other’s homework. There’s a severe lack of identity. I mentioned this a few weeks ago when discussing the rise of grassroots football.
The match highlights viewership from global audiences skews the reality of the situation. What % of a club’s Gen Z audience regularly engage with their YouTube content? I’ve seen figures internally when working at clubs and it’s not great.
Whilst clubs lag behind, athletes are filling this creative void.
Gen Z baller Jude Bellingham is now on YouTube. The golden boy has released a documentary into life behind the scenes in his first season at Real Madrid. He’s narrating his story in real time. A Netflix style production, on his own channel. Usually fans have to settle for reminiscing on careers once athletes retire. It’s a bit too polished for my personal taste. But I like his vulnerability in documenting whilst playing at the highest level.
However, if you want a raw approach to content, there’s an athlete for that too. Alex Iwobi has been active dropping weekly vlogs on his channel. As a viewer it feels like a more natural way of capturing content. Something that feels relatable with a friend following them around with a camera. It replicates the vibe from an old school YouTube style vlog. It might not be of interest to the masses like Jude’s content. But it builds a strong connection to his existing community. Chuba Akpom also dropped similar videos this summer.
Now if you want funny content? There’s an athlete for that too. Ola Aina’s been vlogging the behind the scenes content from the Forest Training Ground. Featuring Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi. Every few days I’m seeing something hilarious from the trio trending on socials. I don’t follow Nottingham Forest. But through watching Ola’s content I can get a feeling of what the vibes are like.
These examples represent players proactively taking the creative lead. They’re competing for the same Gen Z attention club’s are competing for. Whilst athlete-led creative is on the rise. Fan-led content has been a mainstay since the formation of ArsenalFanTV (now AFTV) in 2012. These platforms give fans a more authentic reflection of their experience. Some can be guilty of being performative, yet the platforms are fan favourites amongst Gen Z.
Club’s are now competing against fan creators and athlete content. Gen Z fans will be ranking club content at the bottom of their tier lists.
However, there is hope for clubs to turn this around. Clubs shouldn’t be competing with fans and players. Clubs should be collaborating with them on content.
Not every player wants to create a YouTube channel like Jude. But there will still be some within your squad who want to share their story with the fans. Take a look at the ‘Park to Pro’ video below from League One club, Leyton Orient. They’ve profiled the journey of young player Zech Obiero in collaboration with him. In the video they also get his best friend and family to share experiences growing up with Zech. This creates evergreen content that lives beyond the reactionary football season.
When looking at incorporating fans in content regularly, there’s untapped potential. The likes of Arsenal and Manchester City are the only clubs that consistently nail this. Manchester City have hired creators such as FG and Elz The Witch to bring Gen Z influencers into the fold. Whilst Arsenal have been working with Football Twitter personality Frimmy in recent years. This has now evolved into the ‘Live From N5’ show which is live streamed on YouTube pre and post game.
Just last week they had the OG football fan podcasters, Filthy Fellas, on the show. Too often with clubs they place themselves on pedestals. Most clubs distance themselves from the majority of fan creators. This give young fans a choice to make. You either watch the fan content or go to the club content. Just bring them all into one space. Let us enjoy both together.
Arsenal’s Guess The Gooner is a prime example of what can be created in collaboration with fans. This is a Beta Squad series, which Arsenal have reworked for their own channel. They’ve created the series with Sharky, 1/5 of Beta Squad and huge Arsenal fan. No doubt Arsenal will have led on Sharky’s creative input for this. To ensure this series remained true to the original. A fan favourite amongst Gen Z. The output speaks for itself. Engaging content that young fans can watch regardless of the score.
These all highlight the growing importance of fan and athlete voices in content. They bring personality to content. Something Gen Z crave and something most clubs currently lack.
The new wave of creators and athletes have shown their creative expertise in engaging Gen Z. Lets stop directing content briefs at them. It’s time to use them as creative producers and collaborate with them on content.
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