Fan engagement strategies are evolving rapidly. But how do organizations ensure they are delivering realtime data with real meaning to their customers?
As a veteran of the sports media industry with 35 years of experience at Deltatre, Carlo De Marchis (A Guy With a Scarf) recently gave a keynote at Ably’s fan engagement summit in February, and explored exactly this question - what should companies actually be trying to achieve when building a fan engagement strategy? His answer was concise:
In 2025, successful organizations will need to focus not only on capturing attention, but on creating genuine value.
We’ll unpack what Carlo means below by exploring approaches to creating high-engagement fan experiences, and concrete strategies you can implement to connect meaningfully with your fans.
How to cultivate an engaged fanbase
Carlo argued in his keynote that while most sports organizations are chasing growth through reach, the more valuable strategy lies in cultivating deep, high-value communities. These smaller, more engaged groups are not only more loyal, but generate significantly more revenue per user. And engaging them boils down to two high-level concepts: the right timing and the right audience relationships.
The right timing: ‘picking your moments’ with realtime data
In an age of constant digital noise, Carlo emphasized the importance of designing for strategic realtime moments rather than trying to deliver realtime experiences that technically check the boxes, but don’t add real value for fans. Drawing a parallel to election night coverage, he highlighted how data can create drama, context, and emotional buy-in when surfaced at the right time. Creating experiences where data surfaces at key moments is what drives fan engagement.
The right audience relationships: Value exchange > data collection
It follows, then, that in 2025, delivering data on its own is not enough to secure interest from audiences. What matters now is how that data is used to create meaningful fan experiences. A main message of the keynote was the recommendation to adopt a value-exchange mindset, where fans are clearly given something in return for their data: personalization, exclusive access, or interactive moments that matter.
A strategic framework for effective, value-driven engagement
Carlo bookended his keynote with a practical takeaway: a strategic framework for creating tailored value for a fanbase that no longer settles for generic realtime experiences. In his framework, the keys to this personalization rest with:
Strategic positioning
Carlo emphasized a two-part approach here. First, understand who your most valuable fans are by identifying core audience segments based on their behaviors, values, and motivations, not just demographics. Second, differentiate your owned platforms by creating experiences that aren't possible on social media. According to Carlo's research, organizations focused on building premium communities rather than chasing mass reach generate 3x more revenue per user.
Smart technology
Choose technology that enables meaningful fan experiences at the right moment, like realtime personalization, advanced stats visualization, interactive live experiences, and multi-screen sync. Effective implementation requires infrastructure that can handle massive traffic spikes during crucial moments while maintaining reliable performance. A robust technical deployment helps deliver high-impact moments without overwhelming your systems or your fans.
Targeted content
Design for moments, not just volume. Use storytelling, interactivity, and community creation to add genuine value rather than just content noise. This involves careful planning around key moments that genuinely engage and resonate with your audience, like a high stakes race, a long-anticipated livestreaming event, or an unexpected goal during a match.
Innovative monetization
Move beyond ad revenue to hybrid models including premium tiers, microtransactions, digital collectibles, and dynamic pricing strategies. This requires creativity and experimentation in monetizing fan experiences in ways that align closely with fan desires and willingness to pay, enhancing perceived value rather than detracting from it.
As fan behaviors evolve rapidly, embracing this framework isn't optional—it's necessary for survival. So if companies are looking to level up their fan engagement strategy, proactively addressing each pillar in the baseline will help them maintain relevance and unlock new growth avenues through deeper, more sustainable relationships with their fanbases. To stand out, they need to design fan journeys that deliver realtime excitement, tailored value, and multiple pathways to monetization—without relying solely on traditional advertising models.
Key takeaways for building meaningful fan engagement
The landscape of fan engagement demands more strategic and thoughtful approaches than ever before. Companies looking to lead in the fan engagement space must:
- Shift from generic metrics toward strategic, meaningful fan interactions.
- Prioritize impactful moments and personalized experiences over constant noise.
- Align monetization closely with fan values, focusing on meaningful value exchange.
Have you encountered the tenets of Carlo’s framework in your own business? How are you approaching fan engagement strategy? We’d love to hear your approach - tag us @AblyRealtime on X and LinkedIn with your thoughts. Or if you’re interested in exploring more of what Carlo has to say on fan engagement strategy, check out the other fan engagement keynote he did with Ably in 2024.
