The Digital Sport Insider

Ian is the Founder and Chairman of the London Sporting Club at Mortons, the first private members club with a permanent Mayfair home set up for an exclusive network of sport and the business of sport. Ian is one of the UK's most experienced national newspaper and magazine journalists, winning nine national writing awards and covering every major global sports event, from the Olympics to football and rugby world cups over the past 30 years. Interviewing many of the world's biggest sports names. He appears regularly on national and international TV and radio, from presenting to reporting to being a guest pundit on channels such as CNN, BBC, Sky, ITV, Channels 4 and 5, to writing and narrating radio sports documentaries on BBC Radio 4. A prolific author of 16 books, two of which have been global best sellers. He launched online sports magazine Sportsvibe.co.uk in 2010 and is also a consultant for various media and PR organisations including KICCA and the Outside Organisation. We sat down at the club in Mayf

Andy co-founded LiveWire Sport with other former BBC Sport colleagues in 2011 after they decided against following the organisation to Manchester. He started out the Sunderland Echo, following his dream of being a sports journalist. One he'd had since the age of 10 and was determined to make it his career. He learned a lot about digital and sports journalism through working for BBC Sport over a period of 9 years. Highlights of his time included covering Wayne Rooney's England debut at the Stadium of Light, his home ground. And in the same week covering one of Michael Jordan's final ever NBA games. LiveWire Sport looked to offer the high quality of live digital content they had been able to produce at the BBC, but to clients instead. The Premier League were their first client but they really came to notice in 2013 when they won a BAFTA along with deltatre for their work for Channel 4 on the 2012 London Paralympics. They since worked with the likes of Wimbledon, the NFL, Rugby World Cup and many other top

Thomas is a football agent and founder/organiser of the ICONS Series,. Events that are made up for of four different types (Icons of Football, Icons of Rugby, Icons of Cricket and The Icons Cup in Las Vegas. Thomas has some really interesting stories about how he switched from life as a Business Consultant in Chester to being Head of Football at an agency based in Sydney, Australia. And working on Nicklas Bendtner's unlikely loan move from Arsenal to Juventus. He also talks about how the event series came about, with the Las Vegas event attracting the likes of Fred Couples and Oscar de la Hoya. With de la Hoya travelling over to one event despite a hectic schedule and a 16 hour flight. It has some serious pull does The ICONS Cup. There's also some great insights as to the shift in technology through the eyes of a rights holder. How sponsors still see being on TV as the big reason for being involved, though this is changing with digital drives more engagement and more viewers. This year will also see p

Archie is the co-founder of mobile fan engagement and sponsorship activation agency InCrowd Sports. A company he co-founded with Opta founder Aidan Cooney in 2015 (Opta was sold to Perform Group in 2014). In the podcast we learn about what InCrowd is all about and how it came into being with Aidan. Where we stand in the UK when it comes to in stadia fan engagement (unsurprisingly lagging behind the UK), what the future looks like for digital fan engagement in his view and what apps/tech they use behind the scenes on a daily basis. InCrowd are a fast growing company of 30 people based in London (commercial) and Brighton (tech), and it was great to catch up with someone who I have known for a few years but never sat down properly with to find out more about him. And to do it at the office based at The Kia Oval was a great setting. I hope you enjoy the podcast - please leave a rating/review if you do and check out the 44 previous interviews. @DanielMcLaren @DigitalSportUK

Anna is a Marketer, Technologist and Entrepreneur focused on experiential new media. With Brizi, she's helping to uncover new methods IoT and augmented reality methods to rethink fan engagement & the future of sponsorship media. Prior to founding Brizi in 2014 she spent time at Apple and Microsoft and has a background in mathematics and computer science. In our chat we talked about; - How Brizi went from idea to award winning company. - The challenges of not only setting up a sports startup, but doing so as an Asian woman. - Winning the 2017 SXSW Accelerator Award in Sports. - Her panel at SXSW called “Dude, who’s monetising my fans' content?" and digging into who is monetising it and how sport can do it better. - Her tips for people starting out on the entrepreneurial journey. - How the experience for fans within sports is still as important, if not more so, than ever before in this digital age and sharing them with friends. - The big question on whether fans pay for digital content? But Anna says they

In this week's show I chat with Alex Coulson, a friend from when we both worked on the Snooker World Championships 10 years ago. He is now Executive Director at Sports Industry Group - a company who are best known for running the BT Sports Industry Awards and the recently set up NextGen Series. We talk about how the NextGen idea came about and the taking of this and making it into a reality. Plus how the BTSIA, now in its 16th year, has become the leading awards and what it means to the industry. We also talk about what makes a leader and how Alex himself has changed in the 2+ years he's been at the helm at SIG. It's a really interesting conversation and some top insights from Alex about the industry he's clearly so passionate about. The BT Sport Industry Awards take place on Thursday 27th April at Battersea Evolution. And you can find Alex on LinkedIn and on @Alex_Coulson. If you enjoy this podcast please leave a rating/review and take a look at the 42 previous interviews we've recorded since last summ

With South By South West (SXSW) having taken place at the start of the month, I thought I'd bring in two people who are regular visitors to the event in Austin, Texas and who both spoke at this year. Richard Clarke (Sports Digital Consultant) spoke about the lessons in soccer storytelling from MLS and Premier League. And Richard Ayers (CEO, 7 League) led a panel that included league champions Leicester City, Barcelona and Juventus titled "Campeones Campeones Olé Olé Olé! It's Worse To Win". I wanted to find out about what makes SXSW so special and such a draw for teams, agencies and brands each year. I've never been to the event (for various cost based reasons) so wanted to be convinced that it is time well invested and why they take the time and effort to put together their talks for it. At the start of the podcast I spend a couple of minutes going through the main digisport headlines from this last month. This includes Twitter's livestreaming of Lacrosse, Snacpchat's deal with the AFL, adidas talki

Gareth is the CEO at leading UK startup Grabyo, a London based company with big plans having recently opened a New York office. They were set up in 2013 with Gareth joining from Sky in Feb 2014. They describe themselves as a video production and distribution platform and they work with the likes of La Liga, BT Sport and Wimbledon. Today (20th March) they launch their most recent product, Cloud Producer. Helping to increase the opportunities to produce live event video with a much smaller cost than is currently possible. So a potential game changer.

This month Dan looks back at the news with Surrey Cricket's Emily Clark and Simon Ryley from RightNow Digital. BT Sport seemed to crop up on a regular basis, so obviously a busy month for Simon Green and his team that now includes Iain Liddle, who until recently was at Twitter. - We talk about Facebook now officially being a media company and their recent broadcast deals with Mexican football, La Liga and (allegedly) the MLB. - BT Sport won the UCL and UEL rights for 4 more years at the start of March with social making up a large part of it. What could this be and how will it work? - Emily talks about how cricket is catching up through its global fanbase, and the great stat that only 6% of Surrey's 300k Facebook fans are from the UK. - Formula 1 entered testing for the 2017 season and the new owners have loosened the reigns when it comes to social media (video) usage, and what this means for the season ahead. - We tapped into Emily's experience working in Formula E with the Virgin team and why giving

Mark set up Pitchero a matter of days after graduating from Loughborough University in 2007 with his friend Jon Milsom, releasing the initial design of what was the first iteration of Pitchero the following year. The company has been going for 10 years now, working with amateur and semi-professional teams across multiple sports in the UK. Recently they took investment to help expand their efforts and also invest in their new video technology, Pitchero Play. Mark has gained a vast amount of knowledge about entrepreneurship and the sports business industry and he shares much of this throughout the podcast. If you enjoy this episode then have a listen to the 40+ others we have recorded, and do please leave a rating or review. It's always really appreciated.

My guest, Neil Smythe, has a background steeped in football video production with the likes of Soccer AM, Copa90 and The Football Republic on his CV. He was the first production hire at Copa90 as it launched as one of the YouTube Originals channels. Having to decipher a content and audience development strategy from scratch. He then moved onto Fremantle Media to expand upon FullTime Devils and launch a series of club channels, and then the main Football Republic channel. We discussed a number of topics that he's passionate about. How football fan channels have evolved and have in some recent articles been shown in a not so positive light. He counters a lot of this through his experiences in the field. We also cover Facebook Live, the blurring of lines of who are actually broadcasters and what the 'platforms' roles in this actually is. There's some great lessons for anyone working with social video and looking to grow audiences through this strategy. @DanielMclaren @DigitalSportUK

Nate is the VP for Original Content at Whistle Sports, the US sports media company (not MCN) that works with creators such as KSI, Spencer FC and the F2 Freestylers. It's recently taken on its next round of investment that will allow them to expand their current operations. Having worked for New York Red Bulls, Blip TV and the MLS with KICK TV. Nate has plenty of experience in the content creation space and we sat down to discuss the business and trends within the video space. - What is Whistle Sports and how it works with influencers such as Spencer - The investment from Sky and how they re-developed Soccer AM's YouTube proposition - Monetisation for publishers - The story behind Whistle Sports - If he sees what they do as complimentary to traditional broadcast or in competition - How Nate got into content creation and his current role at Whistle - His big break working on KICK TV from it's beginnings as part of the YouTube Originals programme - Lessons from Nate on growing a YouTube audience - Finding and

A double interview with David Lampitt (managing Director Group Operations) and James Heneghan (Head of Commercial Development & Strategic Partnerships) from Sportradar. It's a company that you may not have heard about but employs some 1,400 people around the world, with it's largest operation being in the US. We spoke about the business to get a better understanding of what they do and for whom. One of their biggest areas of growth is eSports, one of our favourite topics on the show. @DanielMclaren @DigitalSportUK

Richard Clarke has recently returned from the US and a stint with MLS team Colorado Rapids. Prior to this he had been in the Premier League with Arsenal, making him possibly the only digital lead with experience in both leagues. Richard started out freelancing with various newspapers before seeing an opportunity as digital started to change the publishing landscape and joining Arsenal in 2002. We talked about the differences between the US and UK football cultures, how digital has changed in the 15 he has been in the industry, taking on the challenge with a new team who finished bottom in the MLS the previous season and much, much more when it comes to content. The area in which he is most passionate about. You can find his regular and insightful articles on his site www.mrrichardclarke.com and on all social platforms under MrRichardClarke. If you've enjoyed this show then take a look through the other great interviews we've published, and if you're inclined to leave a comment, rating or review th

Gareth is the Chief Executive of one of the fastest growing and influential agencies within the sports industry in the UK. They are a data driven company who work exclusively with clubs, governing bodies and rights holders (definitely not brands!). In our conversation at Two Circles HQ in London I found out how the name 'Two Circles' came about (spoiler: it's from his 800 metre running days). Also how they work with clients, the rapid rise of the business and how they dealt with any growing pains. We also dug into what he means by it being Day 2 for not only his company but also the sports industry. How there are so many opportunities as well as challenges yet to be faced. You won't find Gareth on Twitter but you can connect with him on LinkedIn. If you enjoy this podcast then do have a listen to the other 35 interviews and our monthly edition as well. And if you are kind enough to leave a comment, rating or review then that would be amazing! You can find me on @danielmclaren and @DigitalSportUK

Simon's background is in law and being a sports agent, not the usual background for someone starting up a sports marketing agency as he did in 2016. We spoke about this background and how he came to set up an agency within the Lucky General's business. The first to come out of their set up with others ready to follow. We also touched on the subjects of; - how clubs/agencies can become lazy due to the passion of the fans who have become 'turnstyle fodder'. - Clubs should start behaving more like they are brands and why - How 2012 Olympics changed the marketing landscape - The difficult decisions to be made when it comes to fan engagement in stadiums. When it should be used especially with digital, and when it's best left alone - Making brands relevant in sports events - Are sports teams giving away too much content to platforms and missing opportunities when it comes to data and monetisation - Some of the most exciting times he's had on the Dark Horses journey so far - What's next for the company in 2017

Harry is co-founder of influencer marketing agency Goat as well as running Fresh Press Media, something he started at the age of 16. Since then he's worked from an early stage with sports social network Sportlobster, and he very openly shared his experiences and mistakes they made during that time.

In the first monthly show of 2017, where we take a look at the campaigns, technology releases, trends and news that happened in the last month. In January we had no shortage of things to talk about and the views of Taylor, who has a great overview of the sports tech industry through his work especially in the US, and Niall were greatly insightful. The topics we covered included; - Paul Pogba's Twitter emoji - The change in sports consumption habits - Why sports such as NBA are running ideas through that change their sport to stay relevant to new audience wants and needs - Is using Twitter to test these ideas out by sports CEO's the saviour of the platform and it's new use?! - Taylor was at CES and one thing that stood out to him was how crowded the tracker and wearable industry is at all levels. So what is the future for them and also the use of data at a digital content and broadcaster level - The launch of club Snapchat filters on the same day and are social platforms taking advantage of footbal

Niall Gunn is the CEO of one of the fastest growing motorsport series globally, the Drift GP. As he says, drifting is a hard sport to describe and better seen but he sees it as more of an entertainment than first past the post one. They have utilised many digital platforms to create a reach of 2m daily including Facebook LIve, Snapchat, Instagram and podcasts. Building the brand from scratch and see themselves as a challenger brand that's only seen 20% of its potential so far. Niall is a motorsport fan who was a motocross rider when he was young and then saw drifting at Silverstone (with 16,000 other fans). Before become a driver himself for a couple of years. He decided he could do a better job than those who were running it and utilised his events background to build it slowly over 2-3 years firstly part time and then as a full time business. We also covered their use of livestreaming, especially on Facebook, why they're cautious with going for mainstream TV coverage, looked at the likes of UFC for insp

Mark until recently headed up the digital communications teams at The Football Association. Coming on board in 2012, shortly after the European Championships and spent the last 4 years changing the way the organisation looked at digital, especially social media, and brought some of his newspaper skills to the role. He's started his career at the News Of The World at the age of 16, working his way up to Deputy Sports Picture Editor and also Technology Editor by 2006. In 2007 he moved to The Sun as Deputy Online Sports Editor and spent the next 5 years learning his trade and building The Sun's social media presence as platforms really started to become a serious tool for publishers. We spoke a lot about his experiences and how he's formed his ideas around content strategy. Then onto his time at The FA; how he changed things when he arrived, the highlights of his time there and also how he dealt with the lows in 2016 of the Iceland defeat and Roy Hodgson resigning within hours of the defeat. You can