PT SportSuite Brings Matchday Programmes And Fan Content To Life
In terms of digital and media innovation, Bristol City FC are top of the tree, and it’s all down to their partnership with platform providers PT SportSuite.
PT SportSuite is an end-to-end digital solution that provides sporting organisations with the tools to become media powerhouses and create sustainable communities that connect the club, players and fans.
The platform was implemented three months ago by the Robins, alongside sister clubs Bristol Bears and Bristol Flyers, and has changed the landscape of the sporting group’s media team.
Lisa Knights, Group Head of Communications for Bristol Sport, told us: “PT SportSuite has revolutionised how we store, manage and use content. Having a joined-up digital ecosystem through which we can deliver unique content and interact with fans and sponsors is a significant step forward.”
The platform’s Fan Zone feature allows supporters to create content packages within the clubs’ apps, which they can share with the club, sponsors and other fans if they so wish.
Knights says: “Supporters seem to like the Fan Zone section and are sending us their content – we’ve had some great engagement pieces out of it and are looking forward to developing this further, particularly to our in-bowl big screens and social media platforms.”
Even the matchday programme has been transformed thanks to PT SportSuite and is now brimming full of augmented reality features to offer an abundance of bonus content.
“I love the AR function as on a matchday it brings the traditional programme to life,” Knights says. “It’s a way for us to give fans that buy a matchday programme something a bit extra and also keep them engaged with the most up-to-date interviews from the matchday build-up.”
PT SportSuite doesn’t just improve the fan experience, it also makes life easier for the club’s media team. Gone are the days of losing precious content on hard-drives or memory sticks with no backups.
PT SportSuite has managed to migrate over 20 terabytes of Bristol Sport’s content and assets into a cloud-based digital media library, to keep their media IP safer than ever.
Knights says: “Memory sticks, external hard drives and NAS’ holding our most precious footage fills me with fear as something can so easily go wrong and you lose irreplaceable media. I feel much more secure now that all our valuable footage is safely stored, in one centralised place and is accessible from anywhere with good connectivity.”
PT SportSuite also created mobile content production teams within Bristol Sport, empowering employees to produce more quality digital media with their phones that could be used by the club.
This has allowed Bristol Sport to operate as a fully-fledged media hub with a centralised media storage system.
Rich Cheary, the CEO and founder of PT SportSuite, says: “Our expertise in digitally transforming the traditional media industry will be the unique differentiator between those sports organisations who can establish a sustainable digital community and those who can’t.”
The developers of PT SportSuite have 10 years’ experience in digital product development for print and broadcasting, which no doubt played a part in the project’s success.
Knights adds: “Aside from professionalism and technical know-how, PT SportSuite are extremely efficient and easy to work with. One of our key mantras is doing things differently and PT SportSuite have a very similar outlook.”
It’s that “different” and pioneering outlook from PT SportSuite and Bristol Sport that has put them at the forefront of sports media. For more information on PT SportSuite or to get in touch for a trial, go to https://ptsportsuite.com/
