Using Interactive 360° Images in Sports Marketing

Andrew Beelitz May 10, 2017

Sports fans represent one of the largest and most engaged audiences in the world.  In the United States alone, the sports industry is projected to exceed $75 billion in value by 2019.  The greatest drivers of this expansive growth are the increase in revenue from media rights deals and the availability of digital content.  The infinite number of media outlets available to today’s consumer makes it critical for your content to stand out and engage fans so that they keep coming back  

Creating interactive 360° images with ThingLink is ideal for sports marketers looking for a solution to engage fans and get remembered without bringing in expensive design or development work.  With interactive 360° you can give a stadium tour, introduce players, and provide behind-the-scenes experiences.  Below you will find three use cases created from thought-leaders in the sports media industry, as well as how to capture your image and tag it on ThingLink.  If you have questions about any step of this process please email me: andrew@thinglink.com 

1) Dallas Morning News: Tour Cowboy’s owner Jerry Jones’ office

By adding annotation, a still room is transformed into a tour that provides fans with an incredibly immersive experience. The video hotspots in the tour reveal more information on the history of the office, ultimately increasing engagement and time spent within the article. Viewers engaged with this scene for an average of 47 seconds and the scene realized a phenomenal click-through rate of 145%. 

2) Sportsnet Canada: Meet the Toronto Raptors players by visiting their locker room

Use ThingLink to give your team’s fans a unique guided 360° tour that they normally wouldn’t dream of experiencing.  Sportsnet’s “Know Your Raptors” article includes a guided tour of the NBA Toronto Raptors locker room that is layered with video clips of the head coach and  players.  Get to know the Toronto Raptor by clicking on the profile picture hotspots on each locker.  

3) News4Jax: Get a sneak peek of the unveiling of a new stadium

Click the various arrows appearing on this tour to navigate between different scenes of this beautiful new stadium.  Use ThingLink to create tours of your playing field, locker rooms, stadium suites, training centers, and community events.  

Start creating for your publication with 2 simple steps: 

1 – Get a camera or photographer: There are many affordable, portable and easy-to-use cameras on the market for capturing high quality 360° images.  The camera we recommend to our users is the Ricoh Theta S ($349).  ThingLink also offers access to a network of professional photographers who can capture images for you.  Email andrew@thinglink.com if you are interested in this service. 

2 – Create a ThingLink: Uploading and tagging your content is super easy with a Premium account.  Watch this 1min demo: