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  This month's column begins with a large slice of fruitcake, a brimming beaker of iced lemonade and a rousing game of 'pass the parcel' as the webtastic Sport and Technology joyously celebrates its first birthday. As one of our avid readers remarked only recently: "Are you sure it has only been a year? It feels like Sport and Technology has been around forever." We decided to interpret that as a compliment.
If one year equals 15 internet years and because we are only available online, then Sport and Technology is practically an adult and therefore looking forward to swapping that fruitcake for a large kebab and the iced lemonade for Uncle Stan's homebrew cider (made with real apples in a cupboard under Granny's stairs). In fact, forget pass the parcel unless the layers are laced with banknotes, after writing this column, we're off to go skateboarding down an extremely deep ravine in the local abandoned tin mine. (Just don't tell our Mum).
One thing we have noticed at Sport and Technology over the last 12 months, apart from how affable you readers are (especially when enjoying a bit of corporate hospitality), is the revived interest and bullishness in the area of sport and digital media. Sports properties no longer hotfoot it out of the room covering their ears and howling as soon as the word 'dotcom' is mentioned and technology companies themselves are paying more attention to sport as a lucrative source of content. The scramble to partner with Major League Baseball in the US following the demise of the RealNetworks partnership highlights this only too well and has left more than a few heads spinning in the style of The Exorcist movie. (Not that we are old enough to have watched it of course).
The last 12 months have also provided a more positive bill of health for the mobile [cell] phone industry with handset sales up globally and 3G telephony launched during 2003 in the UK, Italy and Austria, with other markets following in 2004 including Sweden, Germany and Portugal. More sensible digital and 3G rights deals between mobile telecoms companies and major European soccer clubs and federations have been cut, highlighting opportunities for sport as a whole to harness new technologies and explore new ways of providing a financial return. It's certainly no longer just about television. US sports cable network ESPN for example is planning to launch its own sports-branded mobile phone as early as next year.
The maths behind these developments is simple. The longer a sports fan stays online or on a phone, the longer he or she can potentially be exposed to branding messages - which is great news for advertisers and sponsors. In the Netherlands, for example, internet users spend on average two hours per month playing games, compared with 13 minutes per month spent on other types of website. And, globally, developments are afoot to build online elements into console-based games that will surely fuel the online games industry further. Build into the equation the fact that sponsors are benefiting from their branding being included in the console games of the sports they sponsor - and in the case of the World Rally Championship PlayStation game, sponsors are updated each season - then fans are being exposed to advertising and sponsorship messages at the deepest, almost subconscious level.
The WiFi revolution hits town Sponsors are also set to cash in on the latest internet technology to gather momentum - WiFi - otherwise known as wireless fidelity, a way of accessing the internet though remote access points via WiFi-enabled devices. In Sport and Technology's opinion, the next 12 months will see WiFi really hitting the sponsorship spot as it becomes standard fayre on new laptops and PDAs and a new feature on mobile phones.
In the short term however there needs to be more marketing undertaken to educate the general public about WiFi at the most basic of levels. According to a survey of home PC users in the UK undertaken by Packard Bell and Mori, only 29% could positively identify what a WiFi hotspot is - and that was only when they were prompted. The survey found that the next most popular definition of a WiFi hotspot was a nightclub, followed by a new HiFi system, and, more intriguingly (and appealing to Sport and Technology's new 'teenage' status) 'something smelly that had been left out too long'. Data from Parks Associates in the US points to a similar trend in that market whereby 34% of US internet households reported they are not familiar with WiFi hotspots. Another 30% say they have heard of them but are not familiar with what they actually are.
In the UK, a WiFi hotspot was introduced during the annual Cowes Week sailing regatta on the Isle of Wight in 2003 to enable spectators not only to keep up with their own online requirements but to track the progress of the yachts in the individual races. Furthermore, electronics giant Toshiba has already installed WiFi hotspots in several soccer stadia around the UK including Reading and Nottingham Forest in a deal with the UK's Football League, the country's governing body for soccer at the level below the Premier League. However, Toshiba has recently sold its WiFi division in the US which raises questions about the future of its UK operations.
WiFi hotspots in sports stadia enable the media to instantly transmit pictures to their publications or websites and allow writers to file stories from around the ground. The appeal to fans however is also potentially substantial. Those on the terraces (or in the bleechers) with WiFi-enabled handheld devices will be able to keep up with developments from other matches and stadia. Meanwhile, those in the more salubrious surroundings afforded by corporate hospitality will be able to surf the net and check e-mail if the game doesnít grab them or the networking isn't holding their attention. Sponsors and advertisers to get in on the act So, what about the opportunities for sponsors and advertisers? The nature of WiFi means that sports fans may stay online longer but could be more likely to duck in and out of content as they check to see what is happening in the rest of their leagues or sport. Ancillary messages therefore will have less of an impact, but much like during playing an online game, advertising or sponsorship embedded during the experience will be more likely to strike a chord. As use of WiFi hotspots increases throughout the next 12 months, once again online advertisers will be forced to rethink traditional pop-up routes and be more creative.
WiFi hotspots themselves of course could be sponsored. WiFi corners in coffee shops and other outlets where customers are inclined to linger could become lucrative sponsorship real estate. Indeed, in the UK, T-Mobile has already rigged 100 Texaco service stations with WiFi hotspots as well as the UK's major airports and has also installed them in branches of the cafe chain Starbucks. Meanwhile British Telecom has installed 1,000 hotspots in UK branches of fastfood restaurant McDonalds. ('Watch out for that ketchup near your expensive laptop' is our only advice).
According to a new study from Pyramid Research, more Americans will use WiFi than either 2.5G or 3G cellular data networks by 2007. Pyramid predicts that the US public WLAN market will generate $1.5bn in revenue by 2008. Meanwhile, T-Mobile last year generated about $1.4m in revenue per month from its US network of (at that time) 4,200 hotspots. That works out at around $13 per day per hotspot, or $400 per month per retail location. Although T-Mobileís current figures show that there is little business savvy behind paid-access WiFi, Sport and Technology thinks there is great potential for sponsorship and advertising revenue streams. Restaurant chains like Schlotzsky's and regional coffee shops in the US are continuing to show business growth due to their free hotspots. Why not get a sponsor to join in the fun?
When users are in the vicinity of a WiFi access point, the name of the hotspot will appear on the laptop or handheld device. Therefore there is no reason why these network names cannot be sponsored and even targeted at individuals in an area of demographic appeal to a sponsor. If these access points are offered free, in exchange for perhaps a 20 second advertising message at entry, surely the public would be queuing in droves to sign up?
The 'Toshiba Hotspot' (or 'Hotsport' as we think they should call them, chortle), could for example be available to all fans inside the Madejski Stadium at Reading soccer club in the UK, but also to inhabitants in the surrounding vicinity. Alternatively, Reading FC could sponsor the hotspot outside its stadium in an attempt to attract new fans to the ground. Combine that with the fact that the target audience has an assumed level of affluence (through owning a WiFi-enabled laptop) and is internet-smart (otherwise he/she wouldnít be using WiFi), then a brand owner would be hard pressed to find an opportunity not to sponsor such an opportunity. Exeter - the UK centre for WiFi activity According to research published by computer hardware manufacturer Intel, Exeter is the centre of the WiFi universe - as far as the UK is concerned at least, with more WiFi hotspots per person there than anywhere else in the country. This is best explained by Intel finding that the majority of the UK's 3,000 plus WiFi hotspots (as at end 2003) are located in pubs and bars. We have one or two of those in Exeter that's for sure.
Being a diehard supporter of Exeter City FC (as regular readers of this column may have noticed), I am of course not surprised that Exeter is the centre of any universe. WiFi, cream teas, cider and quality (occasionally, but usually too late) soccer, Exeter has it all. The 1994 FIFA World Cup winning Brazilian team certainly must think so as they have agreed to play Exeter City in a friendly match at the real St James Park at the end of May - the only match the Brazilian 'Masters' will be playing on their visit to the UK. The match is ostensibly part of Exeter City's centenary celebrations, but in reality being played in honour of Sport and Technologyís first birthday. Or so Elvis told us when we were in the supermarket last week.
Now call me optimistic, but I have a feeling that if Exeter City can put the disappointment of their recent failure to reach the Conference play-offs (by one point) out of their minds, thus killing an immediate return to the Football League, then surely they have a decent chance against a bunch of slightly eldery ex-players? Okay then, perhaps not.
So, with that in mind, who would like to join me in taking the Brazilian Masters team on a tour of Exeter's fine hostelries and nightclubs, I mean WiFi hotspots, the night before the match? This is when I hear that the alignment of the planets and position of the moon will be in their peak positions for optimium WiFi efficiency. Follow that with a few kebabs, some skateboarding in the local tin mine and tying a few of the Brazilian players' legs together during the match ("Oh we always get the visiting team to play three-legged football. It's a West Country thing"), then who knows. Either way, with all of those hotspots around, and all that Brazilian talent on display, the match is going to be one hell of a scorcher.
Finally, (because we have run out of puns), Sport and Technology would like to take this opportunity to thank you, our loyal readers, for your support and comments over our first 12 months of publications and also for your generous birthday wishes. Obviously words mean a lot to us here in our North London enclave, but presents would be much better next year. Rachael Church - Editor Do you think WiFi is going to be successful? If you have any comments or feedback on this article or any of the features in Sport and Technology, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please e-mail your comments to editor@sportandtechnology.com.
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