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Salford City F.C. is a club with a growing fanbase and global reach, and their rise through the English football pyramid has been well documented thanks to their famous owners and documentaries on BBC (Class of 92: Out of their League) and Sky Sports (Class of 92: Full Time).
In recent seasons the Ammies achieved successive promotions, winning promotion to in May 2019 to join the English Football League for the first time in its history.
To comply with EFL regulations for new entrants, the Greater Manchester club were faced with the daunting task of launching a live streaming service from scratch. The club’s media team recognised that the worldwide profile of their ownership group meant such a service represented a real opportunity to build on their growth and success, and were keen to take full advantage of the unique situation.
Having made a late decision to go ahead and establish a service for their first season in the fourth tier, the club’s media team was faced with an exceptionally tight timeline, with a matter of weeks to research, build and launch a finished product. To match the club’s ambitions, the service had to be future-proof, flexible, and able to scale with their growing fanbase at home and abroad.
Faced with this challenge, the club turned to StreamAMG’s sports division, based nearby in Salford’s MediaCityUK, who were able to step in and help realise the project with an integration with a dedicated microsite built by Salford’s digital partner.
Solution
StreamAMG were able to provide three key elements to form a service to fit Salford’s needs and ensure it launched on time; a proven live broadcasting solution, comprehensive payment and customer management, and expert knowledge and guidance.
We applied our live broadcasting solution, which remotely binds incoming video and audio streams to produce one well-rounded product for consumption, as well as geo-blocking and digital rights management protections. This unique setup means a reduced workload on matchdays, as the club doesn’t have to concern itself with production issues, while retaining control over its platform.
As an EFL member, Salford can stream video to international fans for Saturday games, and British fans can access games at all other times. The site, built by an external provider, uses StreamAMG’s payments and user management platform CloudPay, giving the club freedom to set up various packages including seasonal passes, pay-per-view or other models.
Given the club’s position as a newcomer to sports streaming, we were also able to actively consult the club to navigate the difficult process of commissioning a website and establishing the live streaming product. Our experts worked closely with the media department to offer guidance to make sure the process went as smoothly as possible, giving the best possible chance of launching on time and prepare the product for the long-term.
In addition, we provided a specialist VIP service, so selected users can access a secure platform to watch live matches wherever they are in the world. Customer service is on hand, effectively acting as an extension of the media team, freeing them to focus on what matters; delivering great content and experiences for their fans.
Results
Salford City Live launched on schedule in early August 2019, ready for the Ammies’ first EFL fixture. Fans can now enjoy video and audio commentary of live matches through a fast and reliable website, and the service has been well received by fans at home and abroad.
The club now has a flexible, capable system that is ready to grow with them, allowing them to offer a quality service and benefit from additional revenue and commercial opportunities. StreamAMG’s hassle-free broadcast workflows are designed with busy media teams in mind, so Salford’s media team can spend the maximum possible time on creating great content for their fans and grow the service without the need to dedicate more resources.
Salford City Live was StreamAMG’s fastest ever live streaming service launch, just two weeks. As well as our applying our market-leading sport streaming technology, we leveraged our best in class service and consultancy rooted in our experience some of the world's biggest clubs. The result is a service that matches the club’s unique situation and ambitions; we’re proud to help Salford City F.C. make the move into broadcasting and continue their upward journey in English football.
StreamAMG are helping clubs of all sizes launch new services in weeks not months, through bespoke builds and our new full OTT solution, StreamPlay. To discover more StreamAMG success stories or to request a demo, contact us here or call +44 (0) 800 061 2361 to speak to an expert.
Enquire now“Following our promotion to the Football League, we worked with StreamAMG to launch a live streaming service for the first time. Thanks to their industry knowledge and technical expertise, we were able to launch a premium service despite a very short timeframe. We see live streaming as a key part of our strategy going forward and it was reassuring to be working with the experts in this space."
Ryan Deane, Media & Marketing Manager, Salford City FC
