One of the workshop sessions at the Sport Ireland Innovation and Technology Summit this week focused on Digital Media, Streaming and Engagement.
We heard case studies from Niamh O’Shea of Cricket Ireland accompanied by Heatley Tector of HBV Studios on the ups and downs of building out a streaming platform that is now fully established and generating revenue for the sport.
Reference was made to the importance of three key elements, the right cameras, the right microphones and the right people who understood the sport and could talk knowledgeably to explain in commentary.
Nathaniel Cope of Basketball Ireland talked us through the importance of partnering with the right technologies, in their case Joymo, Swish and NBN23 to make the viewer and fan access as seamless as possible.
They now count more than 21,000 active users on the Swish App , almost double the first year of introduction in 2022 and with 288,000 sessions last year, rising again in 2024.
Conor Doherty of Badminton Ireland gave us his experience of starting out small and building the quality of the feed once you knew there was a demand for it.
The addition of scoring and helping officials become fans of the technology has led to a step change in how the sport is now viewed and broadcast to a wider audience than could possibly fill a hall.
From a single court in Baldoyle to simultaneous live streaming ion international competitions, one step at a time.
The final session was a presentation from our friend Stephen O’Leary of Olytico, together with some sneak previews of the September Sport for Business Irish Sport on Social Media Reports.
He gave us seven insights into how to make better use of social media in 2025.
You had to be there to get the full impact of his intelligent analysis and real world examples but everyone loves a list and here it is.
1. Maximising value and repurposing content
2. The best ideas are often curated rather than created
3. Competitions and quizzes do not need prizes
4. Challenge based content continues to deliver
5. Fans crave a behind the scenes view of professional sport
6. Claim the credit with stakeholders for long tail TikTok content in particular
7. Collaborating on Content adds value for everyone
We are investigating demand for a repeat of last year’s Irish Sport on Social Media Conference and please do get in touch if you thank that would be a good idea.
Join us again tomorrow when we will be looking at more sessions in greater detail from a winning event hosted by Sport Ireland, including the presentation of Finbarr Kirwan from the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the idea of collaboration across suppliers that was part of the discussions we had with many of our members that were present in the exhibition space.
The Sport for Business Membership comprises nearly 300 organisations, including all the leading sports and sponsors, as well as commercial and state agencies.