New Amplify sport division looks to monetise athletes' opportunities

New Amplify sport division looks to monetise athletes’ opportunities

October 16, 2024

Aiming to help athletes grow in the content creator space, Amplify has launched a new division in partnership with sports marketing platform Playa Power.

As reported by advertising industry website Mumbrella, Amplify Sport has been designed to help the sport ecosystem expand their monetisation opportunities while also facilitating collaborations between athletes and leading brands.

With cultural moments like the recent Paris Olympics proving that athletes can be successful content creators, the division hopes to enhance athletes’ off-field presence and create lasting value for their careers.

Advising that, with influencer marketing becoming a bigger part of brands’ marketing budgets and advertising dollars beginning to flow into the space, Amplify co-founder, Tom Maynard told Mumbrella “this was the logical next step for us, we saw this huge opportunity in sport both from a talent management perspective but also from an influencer marketing perspective.

“These athletes and sports stars have significant fandoms and communities around them that aren’t being leveraged or used or commercialised as best they can, so there’s a huge opportunity there to work with them.

“Athletes are becoming media entities - they are seeing opportunities to create longevity for their careers, not just while they are sports stars but when they retire too - they’re creating more agency over the next 30, 40 years of their careers.”

Ben Parsons, founder of Playa Power, added "sport still dominate ratings and the ability to draw in live audiences, so athletes have this ability to garner social media followers, I mean they have a huge advantage over everyone both from the algorithm sense but from a publicity sense too, which in turn creates audiences.

“They have got everything lined up for them to dominate this area too, there’s just been a lack of a couple of connecting dots - one is how to create the sensibilities around your social media, hence Playa Power, and one is what the advertisers are ultimately looking for, hence Amplify Sport.”

In collaboration with Playa Power, which officially launched in January, Amplify Sport will look to connect athletes and brands, provide them with the expertise and resources to strategically grow their influencer, and monetise their presence in meaningful ways.

Parsons insisted "it makes inherent sense that the athlete is that natural step.

“So for a brand, you’re still doing your big sponsorship within the category of sport, but you’re doing it with some authentic engagement. Most sponsorships have a fairly significant below the line support campaign, but what we’re delivering is traction within the target audience, and then expansion.”

The program for athletes involved with Playa Power features a series of workshops with sports industry specialists that touch on everything from building a personal brand on social media, what the latest trends are, strategies are for maximum online impact and fan engagement, and more. It will also offer sustained guidance and mentorship to athletes, enabling them to continually refine their marketing strategies for enduring success and relevance.

The pair are aiming to deliver $1 million in brand opportunities in the next 12 months, via the athlete-brand empowerment initiative.

Maynard addes "there’s enough opportunity in the market.

“It’s very achievable - we could even shoot higher if we wanted.”

Image (from left): Amplify’s Tom Maynard, NRLW player Shontelle Stowers, Amplify’s Sonja Stindl, Playa Power’s Ben Parsons and Olympic diver Sam Fricker.

search ausleisure

Sports Technology

Latest News