The sports media industry is changing. Market disruptions have completely reinvented the landscape, as well as the pathway to survival. The rise of AI has left many content channels without a reliable landing spot, and adjustments to the Google algorithm have further muddled the world of SEO.
To be blunt, success in sports media has become even more challenging in this day and age. An industry that was already known for not being the most stable is now mired by additional uncertainty. And with every evolution that occurs to the industry conditions, content creators themselves have to evolve and adapt as well.
It’s a trepidatious cycle, but it also isn’t without its opportunities. The fact of the matter is, circumstances will always be changing. If you can adapt and change with them, it can be a boon not just for your brand, but your personal growth as well.
Here’s how you can use uncertain market disruptions to progress in the sports media industry.
4 Ways to Navigate Market Disruptions in Sports Media
1) Self Reflect
The first step, when faced with major market disruptions, is to re-evaluate yourself. What is your brand? How do you provide value? And who do you target with that value offering?
These are all questions you ask yourself when you initially develop your craft, and these are questions you have to ask yourself again when the market demands change. If your brand doesn’t have synergy with the market as it currently exists – either through its substance, medium, or audience – then you need to adapt at a foundational level.
2) Reevaluate Your Strategy
This step is similar to the first one, but not the same. First, you underwent introspection and re-evaluated your specific brand synergy within the evolving market. Here, you reassess your strategic framework, taking a bird’s eye view of your strategy, rather than your brand.
A great example of this is referred to in Nieman Lab’s recent piece: “Your Audience team is now your Creator team.” This piece dives deeper into the specific SEO and AI-related market evolutions, and how because of these evolutions, content teams must shift away from audience-based approaches, and focus on empowering creators and influencers who drive audiences, as opposed to cater to them.
This is a perfect example of strategic reassessment in the face of a market disruption. You may have to change your operations flow and your organizational structure based on these strategic changes, but these reassessments can help you survive in new conditions. Keep an open mind on how your strategy itself can shift within your brand.
3) Conduct Technological Assessments
Beyond market disruptions, technological advancements serve as one of the more common drivers of change in an industry. And as the market evolves and experiences sudden disruptions, you should conduct technological assessments to determine if there are ways to become more up-to-date and resourceful.
The rise of AI has granted new opportunities in this regard. There is concern about AI replacing the virtues of effort and critical thinking. However, there’s also a legitimate pathway where AI tools help sports media businesses standardize certain tasks, to become more efficient and cost-effective.
Don’t look at technological advancements as threats. Look at them as opportunities to advance your own brand and platform, if used effectively.
4) Explore Diversification Opportunities
When a market disruption occurs, things change. The environment of your industry changes, and the conditions by which you operate and produce change as well. These developments, in turn, may demand change from you. A way to hedge for this is to explore diversification opportunities – both within and outside of your field.
Were you mainly a written content producer? Explore video opportunities or podcasting, or perhaps gain experience in editing and quality control. Were you an independent content creator? Perhaps you can learn new ways to undergo brand development and actively market your platform.
By diversifying, you add new and valuable skills to your pallet. That not only better enables you to survive and adapt when major market disruptions occur, but it also may afford you more opportunities down the line, if you end up shifting to another platform, or another industry entirely.
Playbook
- Self reflect
- Reevaluate your strategy
- Conduct technological assessments
- Explore diversification opportunities
