The Premier League's constant digital evolution: could online gaming partnerships come next?
As we delve deeper and deeper into the 21st century the sport of football becomes more and more digital based as streaming services, sports books, and online gaming based on football become more prevalent and easily accessible and have become a viable method of expanding the league's global reach further.
Development of online streaming
Initially, when the Premier League in its current format in the 1990s began it was only available to watch on Sky Sports channels via subscription television and streaming sports simply did not exist at that point.
But now with TV rights in the United Kingdom being split between BT Sports as well as Sky Sports, the increase in competition has led to online streaming services becoming available. In terms of BT Sport, the official app allows subscribers to watch Premier League and UEFA Champions League games anywhere on the go, provided they have a wi-fi connection. Sky offers a similar service to Sky Go.
Other ways the brand could be utilised
Football's global popularity could also be used to promote online gaming, an example of this is online live bingo games at Buzz Bingo. The site currently has football-branded casino games including Live Football Roulette and Football World Cup established and this genre would surely be successful with bingo games also.
A Premier League-branded online bingo game could include some of the league's top players being featured in the game, and with the appeal that some of these individuals hold alone in addition to the global reach of the league in general this would undoubtedly be a huge marketing success.
Footballing stars present or past are often used in sports betting advertisements and with online gaming often existing within the same apps as sports books, this would not be a far-fetched possibility to get people from within the game involved.
Making magic happen with the ball pic.twitter.com/oKLoo2Hhju
— Premier League (@premierleague) November 15, 2022
In the opinion of some, online bingo gaming is a much more preferable option to staking money on sports betting, as bingo provides entertainment in itself as well as the potential of a cash prize. Live football can be enjoyed with or without placing a bet on the outcome.
Who are the Premier League's biggest stars?
Of course, the Premier League's stature and growth are largely owed to its greatest and most popular stars that perform on the pitch and these are vital to any marketing endeavours to make the most of the league's enormous brand.
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah is one of the biggest brands as an individual within the league as he has the backing of an entire nation behind him, in the form of his homeland Egypt. Salah has 17.5 million followers on Twitter and has featured in advertisements for huge companies such as Pepsi alongside Lionel Messi for example.
The Egyptian King is here!
— KingFut.com (@King_Fut) November 15, 2022
Mohamed Salah in Egypt's training sessions in Kuwait camp ahead of facing Belgium!pic.twitter.com/m5wd4HcBX0
Ronaldo is undoubtedly the biggest brand in the league right now and he is possibly the biggest footballing brand ever, boasting over 100 million social media followers and having developed several successful clothing brands over his career. Partnerships with Nike and his independent lines have been a success due to his huge loyal following that has been with him since his first Manchester United spell.
The online world is quickly taking over as the most effective area to market a brand, physical real-life advertisements can only reach a limited audience now. The Premier League is far from its maximum capacity as a brand and online gaming is rapidly on the rise, the league could certainly capitalise on that, as it has done with many other digital services.