Over the last several weeks, while laid up due to surgery, I found myself consuming a lot of content. That experience helped me come to a realization: there’s an overwhelming amount of entertainment available and prioritizing what to watch is harder than ever. Even when I do settle on something, it’s easy to lose engagement – especially with live sports. With my phone always within reach, distractions like commercials, social media, and competing content are constantly pulling me away.
It got me thinking: How can we reshape the way sports content is delivered and consumed? How can we create a more engaging, distraction-proof experience for fans? The answer lies in a fundamental shift toward micro-content, lean-forward experiences, and AI-powered personalization—and in the business models that will support this transformation.
The Challenge: Keeping Fans Engaged in an Age of Distractions
Sports broadcasts were originally designed for a lean-back, passive viewing experience. But in today’s attention economy, audiences demand more. Short form video sports content is predicted to increase by more than 100% and over 80% of sports fans use second screen while watching live sports. Modern sports fans expect:
- Real-time personalization – The ability to curate content based on favorite teams, players, and stats.
- Snackable formats – Short, engaging clips that capture key moments without requiring a full-game commitment.
- Lean-forward experiences – Interactive, immersive formats that encourage active participation rather than passive consumption.
- Smart curation – A “Spotify for sports content” model, using AI to tailor recommendations and surface the most relevant highlights.
- Multi-screen engagement – Companion apps and second-screen content that enhance rather than distract from the live action.
The industry must move beyond just applying AI as a buzzword and rethink the business models that make AI-driven engagement commercially viable. Simply using AI to cut highlights isn’t enough—we need AI-driven content curation and monetization strategies that drive deeper fan engagement and maximize revenue.
The Solution: AI-Powered Micro-Content & Lean-Forward Viewing
To combat attention drift and maximize engagement, sports content must be designed to be personalized, interactive, and effortlessly consumable. This requires a new approach that combines AI-powered curation with immersive, real-time fan interactions:
- AI-Powered Content Curation – A “Spotify-like” model for all sports, where AI-driven recommendations deliver personalized highlight reels, key play recaps, and dynamic game summaries tailored to each fan’s interests – in a channel-like format.
- Real-Time Micro-Content – Automatically generated short-form clips that allow fans to stay engaged even if they can’t watch the full game. AI can analyze game data to push out key moments in real-time, ensuring fans never miss what matters most.
- Leveraging AI-Powered Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) to deliver personalized, non-intrusive advertising that aligns with peak engagement moments rather than disrupting them.
Presidio’s Role: Enabling the Next-Gen Sports Experience
As this transformation unfolds, Presidio is uniquely positioned to help sports organizations bridge the gap between technology and business strategy. Our expertise in AI-powered metadata, interactive fan experiences, and business model transformation enables leagues, broadcasters, and advertisers to implement cutting-edge solutions that drive both engagement and revenue.
Our focus is on developing next-generation sports experiences that are:
- AI-driven – Leveraging advanced AI models to curate, personalize, and deliver the most relevant content to each fan.
- Business-model ready – Building sustainable monetization strategies that move beyond traditional ad placements and embrace shoppable, subscription-based, and engagement-driven revenue streams.
- Seamlessly interactive – Creating lean-forward, real-time experiences that redefine what it means to be an engaged sports fan.
The Future of Live Sports: AI-Powered Personalization & Engagement
The sports industry must recognize that AI without a business model is just automation—it’s not transformation. The key to sustained success isn’t just using AI to generate highlights; it’s about leveraging AI to create a curated, personalized, and interactive experience that drives deeper engagement and revenue opportunities.
The future of live sports belongs to those who can break free from outdated models and adopt next-generation engagement strategies. This is an opportunity to not only capture audience attention but to redefine what it means to be a sports fan in the digital age.
I’d love to continue this conversation—let’s talk about how we can make immersive sports the new standard. If you’ll be at NAB 2025, let’s connect in person at the AWS booth or in our private meeting suite! Book time with me here.
