WINNING IN THE FOR YOU ECOMONY

Over the past two decades, there has been a seismic shift in the competition for human attention and in how we engage with media. At its core, sport, like all other forms of media, monetises the attention of its audiences and is therefore a key player in the modern ‘attention economy’.

As the supply of new content explodes and total media consumption per person begins to plateau for the first time in history, human attention has become the ultimate scarce resource. Yet amid this intensifying battle for attention, sport is uniquely positioned to win.

In this article, Alastair Hunt and Imogen Thom explore the dynamics reshaping the attention economy and outline what sports properties must do to stay ahead.

Alastair Hunt

Strategy Consulting Director

ATTENTION IS BEING SQUEEZED

We live in a world where human attention has become one of the most valuable currencies. The supply of content and information continues to grow exponentially, while demand is limited by our finite capacity to pay attention. As in any economy, the tension between supply and demand determines value, and attention has become the defining battleground.

Yet today, it is no longer just an ‘attention economy’; it is a hyper-personalised ‘for you’ economy – one where algorithms shape what we see, when we see it and how long we stay.

Demand: Reaching Peak Screen Time

For the first time in history, our demand for media is beginning to plateau.

Drawing on a range of data sets, we modelled how much time the average person around the world spends with media, across print, radio, TV, computers, mobile and more. In the US, time spent with media has risen steadily since 2008, the year the Apple App Store launched. As the chart below shows, the average US adult’s daily media consumption grew by 32% between 2008 and 2024, driven largely by the surge in mobile use.

Yet what is most striking is that this long period of growth has now stalled. Between 2022 and 2024, total time spent with media did not increase at all – a first in recorded history. This pattern is playing out around the world too. The Financial Times recently asked, “Have we passed peak social media?”, noting that usage appears to have peaked in 2022 and is now in gradual decline, especially among younger audiences.

The logic is simple: there are only so many waking hours we can spend in front of screens. But the implications are profound when considered alongside what is happening to supply.

Supply: 114,000 Years & Counting

As demand for media plateaus, the supply of content continues to explode.

In 2008, it would have taken around 15,000 years to consume all the new video, audio and text created that year alone. Consider how different the media landscape was then – Netflix were still sending DVDs in plastic wallets and there were no podcasts and no TikTok. Suddenly, that 15,000 years no longer seems like so much.

By 2024, humanity created an astonishing 114,000 years’ worth of new media – an increase of more than 7.5x since 2008. And the pace is still accelerating. In July this year, 9 of the world’s 100 fastest-growing YouTube channels were entirely AI-generated.

Fuelled by new formats and supercharged by artificial intelligence, we project that by 2034 the world will produce over 200,000 years’ worth of new content every year.

DEMAND IS PLATEAUING SUPPLY IS EXPLODING

The supply side of the attention economy is exploding, just as our demand for media, for the first time in history, begins to plateau. Demand is finite, while supply is effectively infinite. And that imbalance is creating an unprecedented squeeze on human attention.

This squeeze is making it increasingly difficult for creators to reach casual audiences. Each of us is being pulled in countless directions by this extraordinary competition for our attention. Yet we believe that sport is uniquely placed to buck this trend, powered by the deep, emotional connection fans feel towards its IP.

THE OUTLOOK FOR SPORTS

Even as attention becomes scarcer, affection is in ever greater demand. In a world saturated with content, sport remains one of the few shared experiences capable of commanding both the time and the emotional investment of its audiences.

That power is reflected in the numbers. In 2024, people around the world spent an estimated 3 trillion hours consuming sport, up from 1.3 trillion in 2014. And despite the broader plateau in media consumption, 82% of sports fans say they watched as much or more sport this year than last. Sport’s share of total media time has risen from 6% to 10% since 2008 – a remarkable gain in an era defined by fragmentation.

At a macro level, this shows sport’s resilience in an attention economy where most other categories are fighting for scraps. At a micro level, it highlights the challenge, and the opportunity, for every property: to continue earning that affection, deepening engagement and staying relevant in an increasingly competitive landscape.

Imogen Thom

Lead Content Strategist

HOW WILL SPORTS WIN

As a business, we work with properties around the world every day to grow their audiences, turning attention into genuine affection and, ultimately, fandom. We produce more than 10,000 hours of live broadcast and market it to drive tune-in. Across social platforms our work delivers 160B engagements per year on behalf of our clients, and through the 1.6B data records that we process, we drive direct and personalised fan engagement at scale.

A key affection building play I want to highlight though is one that’s perhaps less intuitive. Properties need to lean into the modern dynamics of the attention economy and create more content. The ‘For You’ nature of modern consumption demands it. At a macro level, we believe that for sports properties to win on social they need to double their content and triple their genres.

DOUBLE YOUR CONTENT:

What’s the play? 

Sports properties need to double the amount of content they create. That doesn’t just mean more volume for its own sake, but more variety — giving fans fresh ways to engage across different contexts. Every game, every storyline, every player moment can be stretched into multiple creative outputs with creatively distinct cut-through content. And when the truly big moments arrive, goals, trophies, records, content should be multiplied fivefold. These spikes in attention are your most scalable assets, but only if you’re ready to meet the surge in attention with the right formats, on the right platforms, for every type of fan. The “For You” economy will reward it.

Why does it matter? 

We are living and trading in the “For You” economy: fans experience the world through personalised feeds where content is not only competing with other sports, but with music, fashion, and culture. In this environment, one size no longer fits all. These are the same dynamics that have driven the 7.5x in content production since 2008. By doubling content, rights holders can create more entry points into fandom, increasing the chances of relevance and building deeper, longer-lasting affection rather than fleeting attention.

Who’s doing it well? 

The International Canoe Federation is a powerful case study. Operating across 10 very different disciplines, many of them niche, they faced the dual challenge of low mainstream visibility and high production costs. By redesigning workflows and planning for content multiplication, they have built a plan to double production, increase returns fivefold and did so with only 1.5x the investment. Their approach shows what’s possible: smart planning and creativity can unlock disproportionate returns, even for properties without mass-market visibility.

Add quote from ICF – ADDING IN 30TH OCTOBER

TRIPLE YOUR GENRES:

What’s the play? 

Winning in today’s attention economy also means tripling the genres your IP plays in. Genres here are the cultural spaces that IP shows up: everything from food and music to fashion and national identity. By identifying its “white space”, where growth audiences and the IP owners brand overlap with new cultural genres, properties can show up in fresh, authentic contexts and borrow affection from adjacent passions. This can be achieved in several ways. Widening the aperture of content that IP owners are posting about, and recognising that sports content alone is no longer sufficient for cut through. 11 of the top 20 posts from this years’ Masters, the most engaged golf tournament in history, were non-competition moments. Strategic IP partnerships are another effective way to enter these spaces, amplifying your reach and credibility

Why does it matter? 

At a sports level, 50% of sports fandom are “made by 14” and they’re more or less locked in by 30. It’s no surprise that in this context, building entirely new fanbases is a challenge. But affection travels by association. By intersecting with other cultural spaces, sports properties can meet fans where they already are, borrowing and sharing emotional connection rather than trying to create it from scratch. This same principle plays out in other sectors, from the AFOL (adult fans of Lego) community, where they have quadrupled their adult buyers through strategic and intentional IP association, to entertainment crossovers.

Who’s doing it well?

Wimbledon’s Overheard at Wimbledon series is a standout example of an IP owner doing this well. By stepping outside traditional match coverage and into witty, off-court cultural commentary, the tournament tapped into international audiences and generated over 16 million views and 733,000 engagements. Likewise, the Rugby World Cup 2023 benefited from association with Kylian Mbappé and his IP, with a simple long-lens shot of him celebrating France’s try becoming World Rugby’s most engaged post of the 2023 World Cup.

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