The Future of Fandom

Most media companies are still building for an audience that no longer exists. Demographic boxes - Hispanic or American, soccer or football, Spanish or English - were built for a world where culture moved slowly. The fans those boxes were meant to describe left them behind years ago. Olek Loewenstein, Global President of Sports at TelevisaUnivision, has spent his career serving audiences that live...

Sport's sponsorship model hasn't fundamentally changed since the 1960s. The data most organisations hold about their fans isn't connected to the products those fans actually use. And the opportunity sitting inside every rights holder's fan base - worth more than most balance sheets currently reflect - is still largely untouched. Aidan Cooney has spent 25 years trying to fix tha...

The Football Association wrote the laws of the modern game. It has governed English football for 160 years. And until this year, it had never had a Chief Digital Officer. Alexandra Willis is the person who has taken on that role - and we joined her at Wembley Stadium, with the World Cup imminent and one of the most ambitious digital briefs in sport sitting in front of her. That brief spans the Eng...

Most football clubs are talking about AI. Almost none of them are doing it properly. Stuart Fenton is the first-ever Head of AI at a professional English football club - and he's building something at Reading FC that the rest of the sport hasn't caught up with yet. This isn't a conversation about hype. It's about what an AI strategy actually looks like inside a football club -...

Most women's sports leagues copy the men's playbook. The Netball Super League is writing its own, and it's working. What happens when you have 3 million people playing a sport, but almost none of them are paying fans? How do you convert participation into fandom when your audience has never been taught to be sports fans in the first place? Claire Nelson is the first-ever Managing Di...

NASCAR is rewriting the playbook on how a legacy sport stays relevant in a fragmented media landscape. Struggling to balance a loyal core fan base with the need to attract younger, digitally native audiences? Wondering how to future-proof your media strategy when consumption habits shift faster than your rights cycle? Brian Herbst is EVP and Chief Media & Revenue Officer at NASCAR, where he ov...

In this special episode, recorded at Meta's London office, LiveLike founder and CEO Miheer Walavalkar sits down with Rob Pilgrim, Head of Sports Partnerships for EMEA at Meta, to explore how the world's largest social media company is helping sports organisations move fans from passive consumption to active, meaningful engagement. From the evolving role of Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp a...

Maestro has spent nearly a decade pulling the media industry toward a more interactive, personalized future - often years before the market was ready. In this episode of Future of Fandom, we sit down with Ari Evans, Founder & CEO of Maestro, to unpack his journey from product management to entrepreneurship, and how early lessons from gaming now shape the next generation of sports and media exp...

Sports fandom doesn’t grow behind paywalls. In this episode of Future of Fandom, we’re joined by Brian Lawlor, President of Scripps Sports, to unpack how mass distribution is reshaping local sports, why over-the-air reach still matters, and what the explosive growth of women’s sports tells us about the future of media. Brian shares how Scripps is helping teams reconnect with fans after regional sp...

Sportradar has evolved far beyond being just a data provider, they've become a full-stack experience enabler spanning streaming, betting engagement, and sports analytics. Patrick Mostboeck, SVP of Fan Engagement, takes us inside how the company prioritises innovation across soccer, tennis, basketball, and US sports markets. We explore how COVID forced the industry to rethink everything with a...

In this episode of The Future of Fandom , Samuel Westberg welcomes Laurence Boyd, Chief Content and Product Officer at E1 Series. Laurence shares how E1, the world's first electric powerboat championship, blends entertainment, cutting-edge tech, and storytelling to redefine what it means to engage fans. From AR/VR innovations to powerful social media strategies, this is a behind-the-scenes lo...

What does it take to turn passive viewers into loyal fans? In this episode of The Future of Fandom , YES Network's Vice President of Strategy & Business Development, Matthew Duarte, joins host Miheer Walavalkar to unpack how smart product strategy, nimble third-party partnerships, and data-driven decision-making are reshaping the fan experience. Discover how YES Network's innovations...

In this episode of The Future of Fandom , Miheer Walavalkar chats with Stefanie Rapp, SVP and Commercial Growth Officer at TNT Sports, about balancing authentic fan engagement with monetisation. From Bleacher Report to Roland Garros, Stefanie shares how digital transformation, interactive experiences, and community-first thinking are reshaping sports media and fandom. What You'll Learn in Thi...

How can a legacy brand like Yahoo drive next-gen fan engagement while staying true to its roots? In this episode of The Future of Fandom , Miheer Walavalkar, CEO and Co-Founder of LiveLike, sits down with Ryan Spoon, President of Yahoo Media Group, to explore how Yahoo is rethinking fantasy sports, leveraging community feedback, and partnering with creators to deliver personalised, gamified experi...

LiveLike takes listeners inside SportsPro AI and Leaders Week for a behind-the-scenes look at how AI is revolutionising the sports and media landscape. In this special edition of The Future of Fandom , leaders from LiveLike and major broadcasters unpack trends in fan engagement, workflow automation, and personalized streaming. Discover how rights holders and tech innovators are building the next g...

How can clubs, leagues, and content creators monetise digital assets without pushing away fans? In this episode of The Future of Fandom, Samuel Westberg, Co-Founder of LiveLike, sits down with Andy Meikle, Founder & CEO of Recast, to explore how fintech infrastructure is transforming fan engagement and content distribution. Discover the evolution of microtransactions, smart paywalls, and why s...

In this special edition of The Future of Fandom , the mics are turned around as hosts Miheer Walavalkar and Samuel Westberg become the guests. They dive deep into how artificial intelligence is reshaping fan engagement, from breaking down organisational silos to launching LiveLike's new AI assistant, Genie. A must-listen for sports and media professionals navigating the future of loyalty and...

In this special episode of The Future of Fandom , hosts Miheer Walavalkar and Samuel Westberg sit down with sports media veteran Peter Hutton to explore the evolving business case for fan engagement and gamification. They dive into how fan data, community-building, and interactive experiences are reshaping loyalty, monetisation, and broadcast strategies across the industry. What You'll Learn...

In this episode of The Future of Fandom , Miheer Walavalkar, CEO and co-founder of LiveLike, sits down with Bo Han, Chief Commercial Officer at Transmit, to explore the evolving dynamics of live sports consumption and monetisation. Bo shares insights from his journey at Twitter, Buzzer, and now Transmit, diving deep into how real-time fan engagement, personalisation, and streaming innovation are r...

Kara Baker, Senior Director at TMRW Sports, joins Miheer Walavalkar, CEO and co-founder of LiveLike, to unpack how TGL (Tomorrow's Golf League) is redefining digital fan engagement. This new indoor golf league created by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy crafts immersive experiences to monetising user journeys, and Kara shares what it takes to build a next-gen sports league for younger audiences....

Today on The Future of Fandom , we present the finale for our 2022 run of episodes. And hey, what good is a finale without a little Firework show? On this episode, we explore how Firework envisions the future of truly connected community-based live commerce in partnership with their Chief Business Officer, Jason Holland. Jason thinks like a modern content creator. From a long form, he builds for t...

Today on The Future of Fandom , we serve up an open conversation about tennis. On this episode we explore how the US Tennis Association, or USTA, is crafting brand love (get it?) for next-gen fans in partnership with their Chief Brand Officer Amy Choyne. Amy's been a lifelong tennis fan. She's attended the US Open ever since she was four. And in 2016, after various tenures stewarding bra...

Today on The Future of Fandom , we get out on the pitch ahead of the World Cup. On this episode we got to sit down with US Soccer to think through their approach to a domestic football fandom, basing the frenzy of international action coming up this winter. And we got to do it through David Wright , who is their Chief Commercial Officer. Did you know that there is more soccer content consumed in t...

Today on The Future of Fandom , we get to read a few pages from a sportsbook via a content juggernaut. On this episode we look at PointsBet and the way it innovates within revenue-driven content to grow a responsible diehard following. Joining us on the show will be their Senior Vice President of Content, Liam Roecklein . This isn’t Liam’s first rodeo when it comes to shaking up an industry via co...

Today on The Future of Fandom, we dive deep into the behavioral mechanics of purchase. You’ll enjoy an ever-so-slightly nerdy illustration of the next-gen, couch to cashier journey with our guest Brittany Billings . Brittany is the EVP of Marketing & Strategic Markets at Shopkick , and brings some commerce insight to the show that most can’t even provide. When you think about learning who your...