It’s puzzling to many. Why are ratings for live TV sporting events plunging when popularity with the audience is not? The answer may be found within a new generation of fans, as avid as ever to see their favorites in action and to follow team news. Generation “Z” now coming of age as consumers is tied much more to online content sources via devices and much less to content from traditional cable and broadcast television.

Sports networks such as ESPN, sports leagues, universities and professional teams are searching for the new ways to connect with this younger audience. Ratings organizations are also finding that measuring cable and broadcast alone does not provide the whole picture. All are studying Gen Z, how to serve content that fits their preferences, the new types of engagement they want with leagues and teams, and how to locate and measure their content consumption and engagement.

The NFL’s New York Giants vice president of Entertainment, Don Sperling, has been a leader in seeing this shift and adjusting the team’s content production to meet it over the past 11 years. A key to that effort has been using NewTek’s TriCaster multi-camera live production and streaming system, to cost-effectively supply network-quality content via the website and social media. The results have been spectacular:

“Over the course of last year, we had almost 76 million views on Facebook and between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, we had almost 48 million of those 76 million happen during the season. So compare that to TV … I can tell you that the difference between them is monstrous.” - Don Sperling, VP of Entertainment, NY Giants

Read the complete fascinating story at the New York Post: Inside the sports world’s ‘Generation Z’ challenge

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