“Sport hasn’t changed, but the way we tell those stories has” - Tom Guida 

The growth of eSports, and the exponential opportunities for broadcasters across traditional and alternative sports will be discussed in the session Border Crossings: How alternative thinking is taking sports into new formats, sponsorships, audiences and countries. Speakers include:

  • ONE Championship Vice President, PR & Communications Loren Mack is one of the largest promoters of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). He will focus on the phenomenon of ‘alternative sports formats’, which provide exciting, different and lucrative alternatives to traditional competitions. 
  • Jacksonville Jaguars Senior Vice President for International Development Hussain Naqi. The pioneering American football team participated in the popular NFL International Series, which stages regular season NFL games at international stadia including Wembley Stadium (UK), Twickenham (UK) and Estadio Azteca (Mexico), building a following for the NFL outside the USA.

Sports leagues, teams and platforms want to promote and monetise the compelling opportunities for loyal and new fans. Engagement Beats Reach Any Day and Twice on (Any Given) Sunday will examine how content creators and owners can craft, promote and monetise opportunities for fan interaction.

Publicis Media Sport & Entertainment Global Lead of Network Client Solutions Ben Cronin will lead a panel of experts to discuss how engagement has supplanted reach as the ultimate measure of brand and campaign value. 

IBC2017 Platform Futures - Sports programme 

Read more Live sport: the tech driving innovation

IBC will celebrate its 50th Anniversary with a football game against Lucky Ajax, a team of Dutch football legends