Other Media: Driving fan engagement and club presence in the online space

Other Media

For over 20 years, London-based digital sports agency Other Media has been a pioneer in developing digital strategies for their clients and partners.

The company’s approach, which they have labelled Creative Intelligence, is based on three key pillars combining creativity and technology: data driven transformation, creative and technical solution, and continuous optimisation. The company embraces the consistent change and challenges that arise from working with digital technology, striving to help their clients to create business advantage and meet rapidly changing customer expectations.

Other Media work closely with their partners to understand problems and establish long-term solutions. Through a series of interviews, data analytics and workshops, they tailor and shape their methodology to match the unique context and requirement of each of their clients. Websites, mobile apps, social and wearables are key to their audience engagement theory. In order to better understand and envision how a product or service will operate once it is launched, the company also develop prototypes to ensure their work and partnerships are sustainable and beneficial. The fluid and fast-paced nature of the digital space demands an approach that is malleable and adaptable. Other Media seek to establish solutions for their clients that advance with new innovations in mind, not only to keep up with the latest in technological developments but also to stay on top of pressure from competitors.

The company’s services include, but are not limited to, digital strategy consultancy, eCommerce strategy and development, and CMS strategy development. Most notably for football clubs and businesses, they also specialise in app strategy development, customer experience design and digital insights and optimisation. Clubcast, the company’s own fan experience platform, was developed to create a general online space that fans and clubs can utilise.

Through one comprehensive CMS, football organisations can efficiently and easily manage, personalise and share content to websites, apps and more, making it an effective digital space for clubs of all sizes to reach fans near and far, thus driving strong engagement and revenue. Clubs are given the freedom to choose and customise colours and themes in a gold standard UX design, seamlessly optimised for mobile use as well. Centred on creating the best web and in-app experience for fans and users, Clubcast boasts a number of features including a match centre with live statistics from fixtures, news and articles, ticketing, video and audio streaming, quizzes, polls and predictors, customised notifications and integrated retail.

In addition to benefiting fans, Other Media has ensured that clubs are also able to monitor the effectiveness of their Clubcast investment through a data dashboard that showcases real time fan behaviour and engagement, and KPI tracking. Clubs also have the option to personalise their dashboard to monitor relevant campaigns, including segmenting fans by location or demographic, personalising communications through push notifications and recognising and delivering relevant content to bolster fan engagement. The FXP is aimed at maximising affordability and profitability and is available with zero up-front payment. Instead, it operates through a monthly payment plan, encompassing the costs of the design and delivery of digital products, and hosting and support.

The company’s vision is clear and effective – to accelerate and foster successful fan engagement through the digital space, whilst also working closely with clubs to design unique platforms that are modern and user friendly and stay true to their individual fan base and history. Other Media have a plethora of successful partnerships with Premier League clubs, including West Ham United, Arsenal, Swansea FC and Chelsea FC, as well as being a key player in devising National League TV, a direct-to-consumer online video platform for the Vanarama National League, to be officially launched later this year.

Other Media’s success and efficiency in bringing quality digital solutions to their partners has been recognised in the sports business industry through a number of different awards. In 2018, they were named a Finalist for the Innovation Award at the Football Business Awards, for their work on the Swansea FC Sports App, which also saw them recognised as a Finalist for Innovation and Best Design/UX at the UK App Awards. In 2017, they were a Finalist at the BIMA Awards, a prestigious recognition of work in the UK digital sector, for their development of an immersive 3D Stadium Viewer for Chelsea FC.

To find more information on Other Media’s partnerships, services and more, click here.

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Project ACL: The initiative leading the way on injury research

Launched in 2024, the research project recently welcomed two US-based organisations: the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association (NWSLPA) and National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

 

About Project ACL

Led by FIFPRO, PFA England, Nike and Leeds Beckett University, Project ACL aims to research ACL injuries and understand more about multifactorial risk factors.

After piloting in England’s Women’s Super League (WSL), Project ACL will expand to the NWSL in the US, reflecting the global importance of the project’s research and outcome.

“We are incredibly excited to bring the NWSLPA and NWSL to Project ACL,” said Director of Women’s Football at FIFPRO, Dr. Alex Culvin, via official press release.

“Overall, we believe that player-centricity and collaboration with key stakeholders are central to establishing meaningful change in the soccer ecosystem and that players, competition organisers and stakeholdersaround the world will benefit from Project ACL’s outputs and outcomes.”

Interviews with over 30 players and team surveys across all 12 WSL clubs provided the project’s research team with valuable information about current prevention strategies and available resources.

Furthermore, the project tracks player workload and busy schedule periods during the season through the FIFPRO Player Workload Monitoring tool, therefore gaining insights into the link between scheduling and injury risks.

 

Looking to the data

Project ACL’s partnerships with the WSL – and now the NWSL – are immensely valuable for the future of player welfare in women’s football.

Although ACL injuries affect both male and female athletes, they are twice as likely to occur in women than men. However, according to the NWSL, as little as 8% of sports science research focuses on female athletes.

In Australia, several CommBank Matildas suffered ACL injuries in recent years: Sam Kerr was sidelined from January 2024 to September 2025, Ellie Carpenter for 8 months after suffering the injury while playing for Olympique Lyonnais, and Holly McNamara came back from three ACL’s aged 15, 18 and 20.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The 2025/26 ALW season saw several ACL incidents, including four in just two weeks.

 

Research, prevent, protect

Injury prevention and research are vital to sport – whether professional or amateur.

But when the numbers are so shocking – and incidents are so common – governing bodies must remember that player welfare comes above all else. Research can inform prevention strategies. Prevention means players can enjoy the game they love.

The work of Project ACL, continuing until 2027, will hopefully protect countless players across women’s football from suffering long-term or recurring injuries.

The A-Leagues Final Series important status also a secret hinderance

The Isuzu A-League finals series is a huge event in the footballing calendar, though its contribution to stagnant attendance numbers in the league is something to be said.

If the 2025/26 finals series follows similar patterns to those before it, it will gather huge traction and strong ticket sales.

It is the largest event for the domestic league, bringing in massive amounts of viewership through media and gate receipts.

Finals series from years past have shown this, with the 2024/25 final, a Melbourne derby, being sold out within 48 hours and gathering significant viewership online.

The idea of a finals series lies within the Australian sporting ethos; the other sporting codes have had this tradition for most of their existence, especially in recent history.

Football, though, is different from the rest of the sporting codes in Australia, unique even. This has historically contributed to its inability to integrate into the same supported status as other codes.

Many in the Australian footballing community, supporter groups, players, coaches, and even the new Director of Football Australia, have voiced concerns over fan numbers in the league competition.

It wouldn’t be absurd to say that maybe, though profitable now, the finals series is actually taking away from the league itself.

Consider the media image: the league winner is called the “minor premiership,” and ticket sales and viewership figures reveal a huge disparity between the two parts of the A-League.

It must be said that an alternative that could work in unison with the league and possibly increase viewership of the league itself would be a great advantage.

It would allow the league to gain more jeopardy and drama, which could build greater interest in attending league games.

One alternative is already here.

No other sporting code in Australia has both a league competition and a cup competition. Football in Australia does.

The Hahn’s Australia Cup is our equivalent to the FA Cup in England or the Copa del Rey in Spain.

These are competitions that offer a finals option in a different competition entirely. They generate huge traction while never diminishing the importance of the league and, therefore, its popularity.

These cup competitions cannot be discussed without acknowledging some obvious differences.

They don’t face the same popularity issues that football does in Australia. It’s obvious the Hahn’s Australia Cup doesn’t yet gain the traction that the finals series does.

However, for a healthy footballing environment with increasing fan numbers, it should.

The idea of elevating the Hahn’s Australia Cup and scaling back the finals series is a complex question, one that is treated like a “no-go zone” by many in the Australian footballing community, and that is understandable.

Though big changes like this might, in the end, be credible options for the future of the sport in this country.

Larger plans must be set in motion, strategies that can be worked towards and refined along the way. It is the process by which all large organisations, business models and even national governments build their strategies.

Such a shift will be scrutinised and pushed back against.

Though with further fine-tuning and smart investment in development, not to mention the introduction of promotion and relegation and the possibility of changing the footballing calendar.

It could replicate the success that these two-competition models already enjoy in other leagues.

The added importance that the premiership would gain, the reality that every game matters, could alongside other strategies entice fans to more games, increase viewership and ticket sales, and create more dedicated fan bases. It works in other nations, very well in fact.

The possibility of two teams lifting a trophy, rather than one single event defining it all, sounds like a strategy that could deliver more engagement over longer periods of time.

Maybe Australian football doesn’t need to answer this question just yet. It is complex, difficult and it would require a great deal of work, including significant investment into the game, which is another issue entirely.

Yet as low attendance numbers persist in the A-League, even alongside increased media viewership, something needs to change for football in Australia.

The rise in popularity of this game and its dedicated community deserves bold ideas and forward thinking.

Ideas like this could eventually begin to change the landscape of the beautiful game in Australia for the better.

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