How 5G implementation in sports stadiums amplifies brand value

Since the beginning of the Internet, engagement has been the holy grail sought by digital marketers. In 1994, consumers weren’t engaging with an ad on TV, radio or in a newspaper or magazine. But AT&T achieved a 44% click-through rate (CTR) for the company’s “You Will” campaign on HotWired.com that asked, “Have you ever clicked your mouse right HERE?” Nearly half of the consumers who saw the first banner ad clicked on it. Ten years later, most marketers were happy with a 44% CTR. In the same way that the first banner benefited from the novelty of engagement, marketers now have a new shiny object to work with—5G implementations in stadiums. Beyond novelty, while AT&T’s first banner brought users to a marketer’s landing page, engagement via 5G provides consumers with access to content that interests them, whether it’s critical gameplay clips, player and team stats in real-time or any other content. As stadiums reopened in February, marketers received their first major exposure to 5G at Super Bowl LVI at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs There were new 5G engagement opportunities with the FIFA World Cup in soccer in November and December in Qatar and there will be more at Super Bowl LVII in Arizona in February 2023. Even marketers not sponsoring the Super Bowl will need to begin thinking about how they can use the content opportunities available through 5G to engage with consumers. Verizon and other telcos are investing in bringing 5G technology to stadiums due to the revenue opportunity. According to research technology provider Ovum, live sports/events will account for 53.2% of the projected $4.87 billion in revenue generated by 5G for telcos in 2024. 5G provides marketers with an opportunity to improve the viewing experience. Sports fans love the excitement of being at the game but miss the close-ups and replays they can watch at home on TV. A major benefit of 5G technology implementations at stadiums is the addition of new camera angles and bandwidth that enable 80,000 fans to watch a close-up reply in real time. Beyond in-stadium instant replay, 5G technology can also provide users with real-time player and team stats that fans crave, particularly those tapping into the growing legalized sports betting opportunities. In addition to additional camera angles providing close-up replays as well as gameplay stats, 5G implementations at stadiums also enable marketers to create fan participation opportunities to add to the in-stadium experience. For example, at Super Bowl LVI last February, attendees could choose team-based Snapchat AR overlay filters to support their team via the NFL Ticketholder app. The app also provided attendees with gameplay opportunities to compete against one another with winners able to upload their photos to the stadium jumbotron. That someone must pay for all of this tech is an opportunity for marketers. These camera angles, stats, content and bandwidth come at a cost. For marketers, embedding their brand on relevant and must-see critical gameplay content and stats provides more advertising value than placing a logo on a jersey or on the side of a sports car. With 5G, because the content is on-demand in real-time, it creates a richer in-stadium experience and a more impactful brand value for sponsoring marketers. Though the engagement opportunities described above refer to the attendee in-stadium experience, 5G implementations—as at Super Bowl LVI—also provided an opportunity for users to watch on a device from home. By using Pepsi’s Halftime app, users at home could see 360-degree coverage of the halftime show stage from three different angles as well as watch videos of the headline performers. Fans of the NBA, PGA, March Madness Live and other sports are already benefiting from real-time, personalized videos. Once attendees see the value of the added camera angles, close-ups and real-time player data, they’ll demand the same experience while watching sports from home. This will expand the marketing opportunity of 5G and the value of integrating a marketer’s logo across player stats and must-see close-up replay videos. Marketers will be able to measure the value of these activities based on time-viewed and engagement metrics. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg for marketers. By creating games and contests around team and player data, marketers can create high-engagement opportunities around content that users are passionate about. What brand wouldn’t want to be associated with a contest where users are asked to submit their team’s best play of the season? As users compete by offering their favorite plays, brands benefit from engagement around a topic their users care about. That sure beats sending in two box tops for a branded T-shirt. The competitive nature of sports will encourage high-engagement interactions that provide more brand value than having a logo appear as one of multiple ads on a page of content or a feed scroll. And for the marketer lucky enough to sponsor a game decided by split-second play, a related replay will then run across social media and video platforms with the marketer’s logo prominently displayed. With marketers constantly on the lookout for the next big thing, 5G can provide marketers with an opportunity to place their brand and sponsor contests around content that users are truly passionate about. By running a logo next to that 15-second video clip of the game-winning play, marketers will finally achieve what the Internet promised since the 1990s—active user engagement. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here

How 5G implementation in sports stadiums amplifies brand value

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