With an international reach comprising 16 competing clubs from the powerhouse rugby union nations of Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales, the United Rugby Championship (URC) has been keen to get on the front foot with its digital strategy.
In a congested space, the URC knows that awareness is a vital first step towards fan monetisation and loyalty – and partners such as WSC Sports have been helping to draw newcomers into the top of the funnel.
The collaboration began more than three seasons ago, with WSC Sports’ automated artificial intelligence-driven video editing and distribution solution taking the action to a global audience.
“WSC Sports’ AI-driven features connect with our live workflows,” says Aadil Mukhtar, the URC’s head of marketing – growth and technology. “We publish our highlights and clips through our social media channels, but we also use WSC Sports for our app and web ecosystem, with the technology helping out with lots of other workflows as well.
“What has really become a hallmark of this relationship is how we work together to innovate continuously. Every conversation is about how we can deliver a product in the market that is different, helping us to build very strong relationships with our fans.”
Multifaceted strategy
The URC’s digital strategy is deliberately multifaceted to meet a cocktail of challenges created by a fragmented media landscape.
Firstly, there is a recognition that fans primarily follow athletes and clubs, with a relationship with a rights-holder such as the URC being considerably more difficult to establish. Secondly, the number of channels via which fans are active has increased exponentially – and their attention is often diverted by other forms of entertainment.
“We don’t see ourselves just as a sports brand; we see all similar entertainment brands as our competitors,” Mukhtar says.
“So, to be able to grab that attention and keep it for longer, we have to be on all touchpoints that the audience is on, whether that’s YouTube, gaming platforms or anywhere else. WSC Sports helps us to address all of those workflows from a single platform.”
URC Cloud
Arguably the URC’s most innovative project in the digital space so far has been the in-house development of the URC Cloud, through which workflows are automated and WSC Sports technology is integrated, along with other solutions.
According to Mukhtar, the motivation behind the creation of URC Cloud – which launched in early 2023 – was rooted in the organisation’s mantra: ‘To be able to change the game, we need to own the game.’
“With the workflows we need, we would have had to use multiple different platforms, and that just does not work from a cost and efficiency point of view. However, the URC Cloud supports our entire D2C ecosystem, as well as our internal stakeholder ecosystem, including broadcasters, our partners, our internal marketing teams and club marketing teams.
Short-form content
So far, the URC Cloud has been rolled out to Premiership Rugby, which operates the top tier of the game in England and, like the URC, counts CVC Capital Partners as a significant minority shareholder. However, the expectation is that more partners within and outside the sport will follow.
The URC Cloud also acts as a distribution network for the URCTV over-the-top streaming channel, which offers coverage worldwide in destinations where rights agreements allow, while also supporting a growing focus on short-form content.
“Thanks to WSC Sports and its integration to the URC Cloud we are able to deliver a lot more content and a lot more themed content across YouTube and TikTok,” Mukhtar says. “It is very hard to acquire audiences on new platforms, so again, we go where the fans are already – and we don’t try to change their habits, because that’s an evolutionary process that will take a long time.
“We always try to ensure we stand out with our content. We are the third-fastest growing rugby channel on YouTube in terms of views and audience growth, so the numbers tell us that what we are doing is working.”
In-stadium experience
Interestingly, when discussing digital interactions with fans, Mukhtar is keen to tie engagement back to the in-venue experience as part of a joined-up approach.
While the competing clubs are responsible for delivering the bulk of the tournament’s 151 games per year, the URC delivers the quarter-finals, semi-finals and grand final, which typically attracts sell-out crowds.
“At every touch point in those games we want to enable new in-stadium experiences,” Mukhtar says. “So, we have been looking at things like light shows, augmented reality gaming and virtual reality gaming in stadiums. That is where our tech strategy is for the next three to five years.”
Gamification
The gamification element is expected to be a particularly powerful tool to attract younger fans who, despite being notoriously hard to reach, offer tremendous potential for long-term monetisation.
“They will stay loyal to you, but that audience doesn’t just stay on one platform,” Mukhtar adds. “So, they will be on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat – maybe eight or nine different platforms. They will loyally consume our content, but at a place, time and platform that suits them – and WSC Sports helps us connect with every fan, regardless of the platform.”
In 2024 alone, URC created more than 10,000 videos using WSC Sports, totalling over 300 hours of content. URC also reacted to the shift in demand for more vertical video content, using WSC Sports to increase the output of video in a 9:16 ratio by 28% from 2023.
The engagement effort is a collective one, underpinned by a desire to stand out from the crowd – an ethos the URC is keen to share with its partners and various stakeholders.
“One of our values is that we aim to amaze and want to deliver something that we hope will change the game. It is very important that we have a team at URC that buys into that, and that our partners and clubs are receptive to it,” Mukhtar says.
“You can come up with an amazing idea, but if your core partners are not receptive to it, it’s not going to happen. So, we are in a very fortunate position that we work with industry partners, like WSC, who are part of an ecosystem that truly embraces disruptive innovation.”
Discover how other media rights holders use AI to better connect to fans by reading WSC Sports’ case studies.