Watch-Alongs Aren’t a Trend — They’re Revenue

👋 Welcome back to Sponcon Sports, a weekly newsletter dedicated to sponsored content strategy in the sports industry!

What if Wallpaper Wednesday didn’t just live on X or Instagram Stories… but in your inbox?

Scott Goodacre’s breakdown of Manchester United’s personalization strategy got me thinking: email is an untapped home for this fan-favorite series.

Here’s why it works:

• Bigger reach: Social only hits a fraction of your audience. Email lists often stretch into the mid to high hundreds of thousands.

• More engagement: Fans expect value in their inbox. Wallpapers drop right into that habit and you can even let them vote on themes for future weeks to make it interactive.

• Year-round relevance: Social engagement dips in the offseason. Email is less impacted. The series becomes an always-on platform for partners.

It also solves a big mistake teams make: logos on the wallpaper itself. No fan wants that on their lock screen.

Email fixes it with stronger integrations than post tagging:

• Sponsors show up in headers/footers (with clickable logos)

• Exclusive offers can sit below the primary wallpaper creative

• On the landing page, brands can take 100% share of voice

And if you gate downloads behind an email, Wallpaper Wednesday can double as a lead magnet. That said, I’d A/B test it. Go too far with gating and you risk hurting the fan experience.

Bottom line: If you’re only running Wallpaper Wednesday only on social, you’re leaving reach, revenue, and fan value on the table.

In Today’s Edition:

• How To Sell Live Watch-alongs ▶️ 

• Fruitful Bills Roster Reveal 🍎 

• Gemini’s Drive To AI 🏎️

🏊️ DEEP DIVE
How to Monetize Live Watch-Alongs

Live watch-alongs aren’t theory anymore — they’re here, and they’re scaling fast.

In just the last few months, we’ve seen:

• FC Barcelona continues to lead among elite clubs, pulling in 5.4M views on a two-host setup in matches against Levante, Mallorca, and Rayo.

• Bundesliga unveiled a multi-platform strategy in the UK and Ireland: Sky keeps Saturday, Prime Video takes Sundays, BBC iPlayer gets every Friday match free-to-air, and for the first time ever, creator-led channels The Overlap and That’s Football will stream 20 matches each in a watch-along format. The league’s own YouTube channel will also carry Friday fixtures.

• The NFL will launch its YouTube rights with four creator-led watchalongs during Friday night’s matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers, tapping IShowSpeed, Tom Grossi, Robegrill, and Skabeche for a combined audience of 61M.

• T-Mobile and Omaha Productions are debuting Breakfast at Bethpage, a Ryder Cup altcast with a 5G-first twist.

• YouTuber Tim Cocker secured UK/Ireland rights to France’s Pro D2 rugby league, making it free-to-air on his Eggchasers Rugby channel.

• Bleacher Report and AT&T ran a Knicks–Pacers Game 1 watch-along hosted by Philadelphia 76ers rookie Jared McCain. His authentic commentary, live chat interaction, and viral overtime reaction clips racked up 9M+ views across channels.

That’s not a wave — it’s a flood. The question for rights-holders isn’t if watch-alongs make sense, it’s how to do them.

Why Should You Test Watch-Alongs?

Don’t chase this because it’s trendy. Do it because it opens real revenue streams — not just sponsorship, but ticketing, merch, and a bigger CRM you can monetize long-term (even if those fans never buy a single thing from the club).

So the big question: how do you actually make money from these watch-alongs? First, you’ve got to understand — the barriers to entry aren’t as big as they seem.

Breaking Down Barriers To Entry

Here’s the part that gets overlooked: watch-alongs don’t cannibalize the broadcast, they complement it. Fans don’t need to choose between one or the other. They’re watching the game and checking in with the communities and creators that make it more interactive.

Another common pushback is that teams can’t pull this off because they can’t act like fans. But as Ed Abis pointed out, Barcelona is proving that wrong in real time. Their watchalongs aren’t sugar-coating results. When they drew with Rayo, the frustration came through. The hosts admitted Rayo had the better second half. They even credited Rayo players for shutting Barca down. That’s honesty. It might not look like banter or gossip, but it’s authentic enough to feel real, and that goes a long way.

Who should host? There are two paths.

1. In-house talent: On-air staff, past players

2. Creators: Those already running this format (or proven to be comfortable on camera for long stretches) and bring a built-in, relevant (passion and knowledge of the sport/team) audience.

If a creator already does watchalongs, let them keep it on their channel. If it’s new for them, host it on yours to complement their business and grow your reach.

That authenticity makes the format stick, and sets the stage for the real unlock: turning all that engagement into revenue.

How to Monetize Watch-Alongs

If you’re going to test watch-alongs, don’t just hit “go live” and hope for engagement. Build in revenue from the start. Here are the key paths:

1. Sponsored Segments (TV playbook, digital twist): Think lineups, score updates, real-time stats, scoring plays, defensive highlights, even postgame breakdowns. Every beat of the game can carry a branded moment with visuals and graphics that mirror linear TV — but made for the stream.

2. Always-On Branding: Product placement on set, branded mic flags, or subtle integrations baked into the stream itself (not just overlays). The goal: branding that feels natural, not slapped on.

3. Live Reads & Exclusive Deals: Use downtime to deliver brand reads with promo codes or special offers. Pair it with a QR code for TV viewers, or a short, memorable URL for mobile. Make the deals feel “watch-along only.”

4. Ticketing & Merch Offers: Push real-time offers tied to the action on the screen. A big goal? Sell tickets and merch directly. The stream becomes a live storefront.

5. Sweepstakes & Lead Gen: Run opt-in sweepstakes to build CRM lists for you or your partners. Mix it up: a text-to-win in the first half, an email submission in the second. Each activation builds a different database you can monetize later.

6. Sponsored Clips & Highlights: Don’t forget the content that lives beyond the stream. A sponsor can own the viral clips — like AT&T’s Connected Cam — aligning their brand with those raw, unscripted reactions that fans love to share.

7. Pre Promotion: This works for a title sponsor. Use your channels (social, email, paid media, SMS, website, etc) as well as partner channels to promote the watch-along to get fans to tune in for the game.

8. Fan-Led Engagement (the real unlock): This is the big one. If your watch-along doesn’t bring fans into the conversation, it’s just another broadcast. Let viewer questions and commentary appear in the stream and get addressed live. Bonus: invite brand partners into the chat to surprise fans and create “I can’t believe that just happened” moments to build brand affinity.

What About Price?

If you’re testing the format for the first time, here are a few ways to think about it:

• At minimum, cover your costs (hosts, paid media, sweepstakes prizes, etc.). If the watch-along is your idea, make sure you’re not losing money. If the brand brings the idea, make sure the dollars align with the time your team spends activating it. When you have little to no lead time to sell, covering costs can sometimes be the best option.

• Use historical data on similar live content to guide pricing. For example, a $0.07–$0.10 cost per view combined with a $0.50–$1.00 cost per engagement. Past performance is just a piece of the puzzle. For the complete strategy, click here.

• If the activation includes CRM growth or direct sales opportunities, price it at least in line with what you would do with a standard lead-gen or sales campaign. In most cases, that means at least $50K–$100K, roughly what you’d charge for a sweepstakes.

Price is flexible. Ultimately, your goal with this test is to prove the format’s efficacy while ensuring it’s worth the effort. You’ll have another chance to price it at full value once you know it works and is worth scaling.

The Takeaway

Watch-alongs aren’t a gimmick — they’re a revenue engine hiding in plain sight.

For rights-holders, the upside goes well beyond sponsorship. This is a format that can sell tickets, move merch, and grow CRM databases in ways traditional broadcasts can’t touch. The clubs leaning in now aren’t chasing a trend — they’re building a foundation for the next wave of fan engagement and monetization.

The real question isn’t if you should try them, it’s how fast you can start.

🔍️ SPONCONSPIRATION
Steal These Ideas

The Buffalo Bills nailed this one. Their photo gallery of the 53-man roster was called “Meet The Core,” presented by Snapdragon Apples. Too perfect.

I’m also filing away the name “Behind The Craft,” a video series from McLaren and Estrella Galicia, for future beer brand pitches.

Speaking of McLaren, you can now use Google Gemini to generate images of yourself in Papaya gear.

Timely, authentic, and funny — that’s the DUDE Wipes formula. And they nailed it twice with their Auburn Tigers and Philadelphia Eagles partnership announcements.

Quadrant—the entertainment, gaming, and apparel brand founded by Lando Norris—took Haas F1 driver Ollie Bearman undercover at an amateur kart race. The video topped 1M views in just days, including a very smooth segue into a NordVPN ad read.

The Los Angeles Lakers teamed up with UCLA Health and the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation to deliver special care packages to newborns last week in honor of Kobe’s birthday - a thoughtful plus-up to their existing partnership.

And finally, remember Real Salt Lake’s “Arrive In Style” contest? Fans got the chance to be part of the club’s Toyota-sponsored arrival posts, and here’s how it came to life.

🚨 ICYMI
What To Watch For

Armchair CEO: Think you can run a Premier League club? The Financial Times launched a new football management game where you play CEO, balancing financial and operational decisions. If you have an upcoming pitch in the financial category, this is the kind of activation you should be eyeing.

Draft Kraft: Smart move from Kraft. Fantasy football players who draft Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft can score free Mac & Cheese. On top of that, one lucky winner gets a $25K prize and 85 signed boxes (a nod to Kraft’s jersey number).

Start Your Subscriptions: NASCAR became the first major sports league to partner with Substack. Their first post? A meme for every 2025 Playoff driver.

Lyft, Set, Match: Perfect timing during the US Open: Lyft teamed up with Billie Jean King to launch Lyft Silver. The program makes rides easier for older adults—more matches with accessible cars, a simple app, and even live phone support.

Grand Slam Scale: Rachel Karten spoke with Wimbledon’s Will Giles and Cameron Prentice about what it took to deliver 6,000 posts in just six weeks. A fascinating look at how the tournament scaled its content operation without dropping quality [via Link In Bio Newsletter].