Social Media, and the plethora of platforms and apps we utilize, is a big part of our culture and how we generally market and socialize.However, despite the immense impact on our social landscape and how important social media has become, a gap exists between social media and the sports industry. Where other industries, such as fashion, news, and shopping, have found their respective homes within the social media landscape, sports has yet to be able to carve out its own exclusive place.Studies have shown that people, more specifically younger sports fans, are most likely to follow athletes, according to Marketing Charts. Per their study, 58% of 16-24 years and 49% of 25-34-year-olds say they follow athletes. 43% of each follow leagues, and 26% and 29% follow sports experts.

This begs the question of why there isn’t a sports social media platform, despite strong numbers indicating a demand and an obvious engagement heartbeat.The study shows that YouTube is the platform most utilized by sports fans, according to 52% of whom they surveyed, but YouTube isn’t exactly a social media platform.

Content Demand Is Obvious

Naturally, when any idea is brought to life, a question is asked if there is a demand for said idea. Fortunately, Statista illustrated this demand, as their study showed that even back in 2019, the consumption of sports content on social media was evident.In fact, their study found that 67% of people aged 18 to 27 said they watched sports content via social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook.Still, there has not been a sports talk app that has broken into the marketplace to give fans a home to talk and create, share, and connect with the content they are looking to consume.

The demand and engagement suggest that a sports social media app would be a welcomed addition to the sports talk and social media universe.
With a rise in podcasts, particularly video-based, there is a bigger emphasis on audience engagement than ever before, furthering the need for a social media space, or sports social media app, exclusively for sports.But this world cannot be solely for the sports fan. As the research indicates, there is a connectivity between sports fan → sports content → athlete → league → media (circular) that exists, and this would need to be perfectly crafted into the sports social media model.