Learfield IMG College launches Fanbase to drive revenue for college sports

Fanbase combines behavioural data sets from official athletics sites with other sources of fan data – including ticketing, digital media, social media and third-party appends. It helps universities better understand their fans’ behaviours – including how they use social media, where they shop and how they consume content – through a comprehensive set of analytics dashboards, marketing solutions and media offerings.

These insights will allow universities to build richer fan profiles, unlocking growth across ticket sales, merchandise sales, donations and sponsorship revenue. Additionally, Fanbase will help brand sponsors extend fan engagement beyond the traditional boundaries of school campuses and radio broadcasts through digital advertising and media, with unique, targeted messages and content.

The data management platform development is being supported by Two Circles as part of the agency’s wider partnership helping Learfield IMG College strengthen its fan connectivity.

“We exist to unlock the value of college sports, and given our connection to so many school partners, we have a unique opportunity to apply advanced data practices to increase fan engagement and deliver greater impact for sponsors,” said Learfield IMG College Chief Content, Development & Strategy Officer Rob Schneider. “Helping our university partners understand their fans holistically is a core component of our offering moving forward, and the early response from schools has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Sam Yardley, SVP Consulting at Two Circles, added: “Across the next decade, the fastest-growing sports businesses will be those that are able to make data-driven commercial decisions, leveraging consumer data intelligence to make smart marketing decisions.

“Given the strength of its business relationships and breadth of its school representation, Learfield IMG College has a unique view of the behaviour of sports fans. We’re excited to be involved in this new industry-defining initiative and we believe it will unlock significant value for schools in a number of areas, enabling them to enter a new phase of business growth.”

Working collaboratively with the company’s many university partners, Learfield IMG College already has begun initial Fanbase integrations at dozens of schools, including Iowa, Northwestern, Oklahoma, TCU and Virginia Tech.