1) Does it just mean more ads?
Whenever a big media acquisition happens, it’s always useful for the sports industry to recognise that sport is usually way down the pecking order of priorities, and so it is with news that Sky is acquiring ITV for up to £1.6 billion, a deal which at least in part reshapes the UK broadcast sector. And yet, sport does get a mention in the corporate messaging confirming the deal – a promise of more free-to-air sport on ITV than ever before once the deal closes having passes through the various regulatory hurdles that remain. And if, as is suggested, building an all-powerful advertiser magnet is what this deal is fundamentally about, live sport will, inevitably, have a significant role. Sky and ITV already collaborate, with ITV taking Sky’s coverage of live Carabao Cup games, and it does not feel a stretch to assume more creative approaches and shared production will at some point be on the table. Certainly the dynamics of the UK sports rights market will shift. In Niall Sloane, ITV’s Director of Sport, and Jonathan Licht, Chief Sports Officer at Sky, the combined entity has wise and experienced leadership across its sports portfolio, and that’s before considering the influence of Sky parent Comcast (which itself last month announced a restructuring which will see Sky – and ultimately ITV – sit within a spun-off NBCUniversal division, which Comcast is separating from its telecoms and broadband units).
2) Is 3D actually the sleeper hit of this World Cup?
It’s a question that could legitimately have been asked at any of probably the last four World Cups, but in 2026 the BBC’s animated, impressive, if slightly crude, 3D Experience seems to be making a bit of an impact. It may not always be for the deep tactical insight the specialists who created it, Paris-based AR specialists immersive.io, might have intended it for, but as the tournament reaches the business end, clips, such as Dan Burn’s heroic defending for England or Lionel Messi’s dramatic equaliser against Egypt, are increasingly doing the rounds and being widely shared across social channels.
3) What’s the next big job title in the sports industry?
It’s almost certain to be Director of AI, of course, but the Miami Heat hunting for a Director of YouTube, as spotted by Greenfly’s Neil Horowitz, is a development worth keeping tabs on as one that may be replicated. Yet another indicator of YouTube’s growing influence on sport and general consumption habits.
4) What’s a sponsorship category you haven’t thought of yet?
If you’re a sports team with premium values and you don’t have a ‘Global Interior Design & Luxury Furnishings Curator’, then are you really doing it properly? Kudos to Richard Sanders and the gang at the Mercedes F1 team, which have this week lured luxury home furnishings brand RH into F1 to, amongst other things, give Toto Wolff’s office a spruce up.
5) How do you further elevate a celebrity fan?
You grant said celebrity ‘Official Friend of…’ status, as F1 has just done with comedian and actor Jack Whitehall, opening up a potentially endless new way for the series to formalise – and very probably monetise – its relationships with the sea of famous faces who often frequent the paddock.
