Beyond an app: Why the next frontier of fan engagement is bigger than owned channels

The first article in this series argued that sports organisations need to move beyond broad definitions of the fanbase. The second explored how better audience understanding can reshape the commercial model by designing propositions around what different audiences actually need. 

This third article looks at where those audiences are choosing to engage today, and where that might move over the next five to ten years. 

For the last decade, much of the digital conversation in sport has centred on owned digital channels and experiences: websites, mobile apps, membership portals, ticketing journeys, CRM programmes and content platforms. These still matter. Sports organisations need strong digital foundations and direct relationships with their audiences. 

But it feels increasingly unlikely that the next frontier of fan engagement will simply be won by improving one owned channel, such as a mobile app.  

Fans are already engaging across a wider set of environments: social and creator platforms, messaging communities, gaming and fantasy products, streaming services, betting and prediction ecosystems, participation platforms and increasingly AI-enabled interfaces. For many audiences, especially younger and more casual audiences, the relationship with a team, league or event may be shaped more by those environments than by the official destination. 

Sports organisations still need strong owned channels. They also need the intelligence and operating model to stay relevant wherever audiences choose to spend their time. 

Fans may see the key moment in a group chat, watch a player reaction on TikTok, catch a tactical breakdown on YouTube, check a fantasy update or engage through a prediction market before they ever visit an official channel. 

Sport is moving beyond spectatorship 

Live sport remains one of the most valuable forms of entertainment. It creates urgency, emotion, jeopardy and shared attention in a way few other products can match. 

However, the engagement around live sport is becoming broader. IMG’s 2025 digital trends analysis argues that sports organisations are seeing strong growth from vertical video and short-form content across platforms such as TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, while the next challenge is turning that consumption into meaningful commercial return. 

The same direction shows up in EY’s work on sports engagement, also covered by Sports Business Journal. EY’s 2026 US Sports Engagement Index found that 86% of US adults engaged with sport in some form over the past year, with engagement increasingly extending beyond professional leagues and broadcast viewing into participation, community and lifestyle behaviours. 

That matters because the route into fandom is changing. A person might discover a sport through social content, try it with friends, join a community, buy equipment, attend an event and only later become a regular viewer. In some cases, the relationship may not start with the team, the league or the live product at all. 

Formula 1’s 2025 Global Fan Survey points in the same direction. Based on more than 100,000 responses across 186 countries, F1 found that Gen Z, women and US audiences are leading a new era of modern fandom, with fans increasingly drawn in by the breadth of stories and the variety of ways to engage.  

The core product still matters. But highlights, reactions, creator content, social debate, behind-the-scenes access, participation and personalised clips now add to the value of the sport itself. For some audiences, those formats are becoming the main way they follow sport. 

The future audience may not arrive through the front door. They may come through content, creators, participation, gaming, fantasy, data, markets or AI interfaces before they ever become a regular viewer. 

The next interface may not look like an app

AI was always going to come into this conversation. It is the hottest topic across almost every industry at the moment, and sport will be no different. 

The more interesting question is whether sports organisations are simply AI-enabled, using AI to improve existing channels and processes, or whether they are becoming genuinely AI-native: building their data, content, propositions and decision-making around the ability to learn and adapt continuously. 

For years, the mobile app has been treated as the primary owned digital channel through which fans engage with organisations. But I am not sure we can assume the next fan interaction will always happen there. It could sit inside a third-party AI ecosystem, a social platform, a messaging thread, a creator environment, a gaming platform, a broadcast layer, a venue experience, or somewhere that is not yet obvious today. 

A fan may not want to search through menus, pages or feeds. They may just want to ask a question, get a personalised recap, compare players, understand a tactical shift, find the best clip, plan a matchday or receive a tailored recommendation. 

PwC argues that data analytics and AI are helping sports organisations understand and anticipate what fans want before they ask, including personalised highlight reels, real-time offers and attendance prediction. Deloitte’s 2026 sports industry outlook also points to AI bringing fans closer through real-time analytics in live broadcasts, personalised and AI-generated highlight reels, near-immediate responses to fan questions and improved accessibility and safety inside stadiums.  

For sports organisations, the point is not to bet everything on one interface. The real challenge is building the capability to move as the technology moves. That means better data, better content architecture, better technology integration and a clearer view of what different audiences actually need. Otherwise, every engagement channel – whether a mobile app, website or AI interface – risks becoming another generic channel, rather than something that genuinely improves the fan experience. 

From owned channels to adaptive engagement

The next phase of fan engagement is not about choosing between owned and third-party channels. Sports organisations will need both. 

Owned channels matter because they create direct relationships, first-party data, commercial control and brand consistency. Third-party environments matter because they are where much of the audience’s attention, culture and behaviour already sits. 

The stronger model connects the two. Use owned channels where they add value. Use platform and partner environments where they create reach, relevance or cultural participation. Use data and insight to understand which audience needs which experience. Use AI carefully to reduce friction, personalise interaction and make content more useful. 

For sports organisations, engagement has to be designed into the product, the proposition, the content model, the partnership strategy and the operating rhythm of the organisation. 

Elixirr’s view

For sports organisations, the next frontier is not about predicting which engagement channel or interface ultimately dominates – whether that’s a mobile app social platform, creator ecosystem AI assistant or prediction market wins. It is about building the commercial engine that lets them understand where audiences are moving, decide where to show up and adapt propositions as tastes and technology evolve. 

We see this through three connected capabilities: understand value, decide where to play and build capability. That means helping sports organisations understand who creates value and why, prioritise the audiences and propositions that matter most, and build the data, AI and operating foundations needed to keep learning over time. 

The organisations that get this right will not just have better channels. They will build stronger relationships: more personal, more useful, more commercially valuable and more resilient as the way audiences engage with sport continues to change.