Kike Levy coordinates for Facebook / Meta, throughout Southern Europe, lo development of partnerships with football clubs and led us on a preview journey through the future developments of this sport in the metaverse, that world that in other latitudes already call footballverso and which will be able to offer fans, brands and professionals scenarios and immersive possibilities that today they are only imaginable.
You stressed several times during your speech at the Social Football Summit that the metaverse is not the future, but it already exists …
The metaverse, which recently became a buzzword also following the announcement of the rebranding of Facebook in Meta, has long been a reality. In essence, it is a natural evolution of the Internet. Already today, we all connect with people who are not in the same place where we are. The real difference is in the mediation. The experiences we live through the Internet, social media, chats, video calls or gaming are mediated through devices, first of all the smartphone. This places a limit in the immersive capacity, that is, in the possibility to fully live an experience that actually takes place elsewhere, but of which we can feel part of it as if we were living it in the same place.
Meta is thinking of a device to facilitate this transition and overcome the limit of the current ones device?
Immediacy and immersion also require accessibility, the third key word of the metaverse. At an experiential level, being accessible implies the need to provide a simple experience from a technological point of view. On an economic level, it refers instead to its price. With the arrival of the latest Oculus model, I think we have really arrived at the first product that will make the metaverse within everyone’s reach: the price is 349 euros, much lower than the cost of a smartphone. The RayBan Glasses themselves, which Meta created together with Luxottica, go in the direction of allowing widespread and non-exclusive access to new non-mediated experiences, an access that will become continuous and part of our actions in everyday life.
Speaking of football and the metaverse, what are the scenarios and possibilities for fans, athletes and teams and why should they project themselves into the football verse?
Let’s start with the fans: they themselves have shown that they are ready for reverse football, through their consumption habits. We are witnessing the growing demand from fans to have a say in the most relevant decisions made by clubs, including through innovative tools such as Nft. It is true that their attention span is decreasing, because they are constantly attracted to a multiplicity of content on multiple platforms; however, it increases when they feel directly involved in the experience. Just think of gaming and in particular of esports, which have accustomed the new generations above all to totally different and more participatory modes of use than that represented by the passive vision of a match from the sofa.
For the athletes, in some cases real brands, new possibilities open up to interact with fans, bringing oneself closer and closer to them, with experiences that are less and less mediated and therefore of value and also monetizable.
What about clubs?
For companies, the possibilities are endless, both in terms of experience and technology. For some of them, the metaverse is not distant, but already reality. Thanks to virtual reality it is possible to watch an NBA game from the front row even if you are not physically inside the building. The experience is purchasable and cannot be compared to any other type of engagement in presence. For some time now, the music industry has also made it possible to attend concerts organized virtually by accessing the show by purchasing a dedicated ticket. These are the forms of entertainment that football has always looked at as points of reference, and this time too it will be no different.
If we think about the stadium experience, there are opportunities to increase the number of appearances: today a fan who lives abroad has no chance to see the game if not passively on TV or on a device. Thanks to the metaverse, and through a VR device, we can also imagine a more immersive experience for these supporters from afar: seeing the game as if they were present. And also the possibility of interacting with other fans, as if you were in the stands.
Football has been hit hard by the pandemic crisis and has accelerated towards digitalization: will the metaverse also offer new possibilities for monetization?
Not only Ar and Vr: among Meta’s priorities there is also ecommerce, thanks to the development of simple tools for brands and clubs that allow them to monetize and create value for fans. An example is given by the opportunity to live a virtual experience at the stadium, but it is also possible to think of extending the participation of the public to other moments, such as training sessions.
The live commerce, in particular, it is among the opportunities of the metaverse: Meta already has a marketplace, which has improved and will be even more so in the future. The same sporting events, as already happens for concerts, will obviously have tickets that can be purchased by supporters of a club or by those who simply want live a different entertainment experience linked to football and will thus open up the possibility of intercepting new audiences.
Finally, in the digital world, the monetization possibilities for clubs also open up through the development of branded content: companies are already using our platforms, Facebook and Instagram in particular, to generate value and engage fans. During the lockdown periods caused by the Covid emergency, i Premier League club have exploited this lever a lot: compared to the month before closing, posts on Facebook with branded content increased by 41%, those on Instagram by 122%. The views of these posts grew more than 162% on each platform. Other partners have used branded content during live matches. Flamengo broadcast the Campeonato Carioca final live on Watch and tagged the sponsor Mrv, increasing its visibility in the world thanks to Meta’s tools. If these are the possibilities of today, let’s imagine what can be done in the future in the verse football.
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