From pickleball to kabbadi: Magnifi discusses how AI-generated short videos are making unusual sports popular
By Vinayak Shrivastav, Magnifi by VideoVerse CEO.
In today’s crowded media scene, emerging sports like longball, pickleball, and kabbadi find it tough to grab attention at a global level. They compete with well-known sports like basketball and soccer, trying to capture the interest of audiences who might not be familiar with their teams, players, and rules.
It’s also a challenge to ensure that fans will know where to watch these sports’ matches. While for the majority of sports, in-person viewership is important, emerging sports must first focus on attracting the masses, getting them to know that those sports exist and converting them into real fans.
A combination of short form highlight videos and social media push can be the answer to help these non-traditional sports get wider coverage and exposure to big audiences, but in order to do so in a cost effective manner, they need to effectively maximise technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
The rise of short videos
Highlight videos have always been the cornerstone of bringing new sports into the mainstream. It was evident in the 1990’s and 2000’s when video helped popularise extreme sports, from skateboarding and snowboarding to free running and base jumping.
Short form video highlights provide a convenient way for audiences to gain exposure to new sports. For example, if someone has never seen a sumo wrestling match before, a short video clip highlighting the most exciting moments can help them understand the sport’s rules and dynamics quickly, encouraging them to follow the sport more closely and ultimately become a fan.
One of the best examples of the above is pickleball, a combination of tennis, ping pong and badminton, considered the fastest-growing sport in the US, with 36.5 million players from August 2021 to August 2022, according to the Association of Pickleball Professionals. This sport is also becoming very popular in the UK, aiming to attract 25,000 players in Great Britain by 2025.
The recent rise in popularity of pickleball can at least in part be attributed to the pervasiveness of short-form video highlights, that became popular across YouTube and social networks.
AI is key to the growth of emerging sports
By July 2022, videos under 60 seconds constituted 57% of YouTube views, a sharp increase from 11% two years earlier. A HubSpot marketing report also revealed that the popularity of short-form video content continued to surge in 2023, with 90% of global marketers increasing or maintaining investments in this format.
It’s very clear that for niche sports organisations aiming to stay competitive and boost awareness amidst limited budgets, creating engaging short form content is crucial. The good news is that the once arduous task of producing high-quality short form video highlights is now simplified by AI and machine learning (ML) solutions. These tools facilitate easy, cost effective, and time-efficient delivery of short form video highlights to niche sports enthusiasts.
AI-based video editors, employing meta-tagging – which can work for an emerging sport once the AI model is trained on its data – streamline the production of engaging highlight videos at scale. For instance, in ultimate frisbee, a meta-tag like “interception” enables quick generation of key moment clips. These editors leverage user engagement data to inform content creators, optimising strategies for audience resonance.
Moreover, AI tools play a pivotal role in content distribution across various channels, addressing challenges posed by different dimensions and orientation requirements. Ball-tracking technology employed by AI-based video editors ensures that crucial elements like a ball or disc remain centred on the screen, simplifying distribution.
The branding process is further streamlined by AI tools, allowing producers to imprint logos, opening and closing bumpers, and other branded materials onto every video with a single button push. These multifaceted applications of AI not only enhance efficiency but also empower emerging sports and their leagues to achieve broader reach and effective branding.
Role of social media
Social media companies like Instagram, X and TikTok provide the ideal platform for niche sports organisations to share short form videos with a broader audience.
Fans can easily engage with one another on social media, sharing opinions and contributing to the collective buzz around a specific niche sport. Moreover, by following social media accounts related to specific niche sports, fans can stay up to date on the latest news and events surrounding their new favourite athletic events.
Simply put short form video highlights and their combination with social media reach are transforming the way niche sports are presented and consumed. They are not only a powerful tool for raising awareness among newcomers but also for enhancing the overall viewing experience.
As attention spans will continue to wane and AI investment will keep on growing to reach $200 billion globally by 2025, according to Goldman Sachs, it’s expected that niche sports organisations will take advantage of AI technology and the new available platforms and technologies to draw in new fans, increase engagement, stay relevant, and ultimately bring in more revenue through added monetisation opportunities.