Recently, our friends at Boldyn Networks commissioned a survey and questioned more than 6,000 fans to get their views on a wide range of topics. The results (which you can download from this link) are extremely helpful since too often we don’t hear the “voice of the fan” so clearly when we talk about stadium technology deployments.
We are joined on the podcast by Jason Caliento, chief commercial officer for Boldyn, to discuss the survey results and extrapolate out a bit to put them in context for stadium owners and operators — who may want to adjust their strategies to ensure that the voice of the fan becomes a way to improve the experience for all.
At Stadium Tech Report, every year we conduct a survey of our stadium technology professional audience to determine what they think is important in the world of stadium connectivity. But what about the customers — the eventgoers — how do they think connectivity affects their experience?
Recently, our friends at Boldyn Networks commissioned a survey and questioned more than 6,000 fans to get their views on a wide range of topics. The results (which you can download from this link) are extremely helpful since too often we don’t hear the “voice of the fan” so clearly when we talk about stadium technology deployments.
We are joined on the podcast by Jason Caliento, chief commercial officer for Boldyn, to discuss the survey results and extrapolate out a bit to put them in context for stadium owners and operators — who may want to adjust their strategies to ensure that the voice of the fan becomes a way to improve the experience for all.
Finding out what fans want
According to Caliento, Boldyn commissioned the survey mainly to find answers to questions it couldn’t find anywhere else. Mainly, what did fans want at live events when it came to the game-day experience, and who did they count on to provide those features and services?
“We wanted to get to the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’ and provide those insights,” Caliento said. And while venue owners and operators spend a lot of time and money on connectivity infrastructure around events, “the true measure of success is how that translates to the fan,” he said.
Caliento said some of the results of the survey provided some great guidance on why fans choose to attend live events instead of just opting to stay at home on the couch. With 60 percent of respondents saying they attend live events for the experience and the memories it can create, Caliento said it’s telling that some of the other answers showed that with a big investment of time and money, fans wanted the most friction-free experience as possible — to make sure that experience was a good one.
First impressions with ticketing an important start
With 77 percent of respondents saying they used digital tickets at an event, Caliento said it’s important for venues to ensure that the first interactive experience is a good one. Coming out of the Covid pandemic, Caliento said there was some initial friction for fans at many venues that were not prepared for the amount of wireless connectivity needed to support a full switch to digital ticketing, or for digital parking operations. Since then, many venues have made a concerted effort to beef up their entry connectivity, Caliento said.
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“The first impression for a fan of a venue is ticketing or parking,” Caliento said. “It’s a big frustration if there isn’t good connectivity there.”
Some results from the survey that will likely resonate with venue owners and operators are the 81 percent of respondents who said they would spend more money if it was more convenient to purchase food and beverages. Another 57 percent said they would spend more on food and beverages if they could order them to be delivered to their seat.
“Increasing the window of time to drive revenue is really important,” said Caliento of the idea of using enhanced connectivity like specially tuned apps to speed up the concession transaction experience. “These were the kind of insights we really wanted to provide.”
Everybody is sharing selfies
A result that might shatter some stereotypes about who posts selfies from events was the fact that 87 percent of respondents — regardless of age — said they shared event content on social media. And with increased use of video sharing, Caliento said that having high-performing wireless connectivity in a venue was a necessity — especially because fans also said that if the wireless wasn’t working, they mainly considered that to be the venue’s fault.
According to the survey, 35 percent of fans said they would blame the venue for poor wireless performance, while another 15 percent would blame the home team — basically the same thing when it comes to providing good connectivity.
With just over half of the respondents looking to venues or hosts to provide good connectivity, “venues have the most to lose or gain here,” Caliento said. A bad connectivity experience, he noted, could lead to fans deciding not to return for future events.
“The needs here are real,” Caliento said. “If a venue owner waits for someone else to solve the connectivity problem, they’re going to be left behind. It’s really important for venues to take responsibility for their own communications infrastructure.”
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