Monetising content remains a huge challenge for the majority of publishers and content owners. But recent shenanigans at Southampton Football Club hardly offer much hope that the answer has been found.
The club has been hit with a barrage of criticism from the media after deciding to ban photographers from its ground and instead SELL snaps from its own photographic team to the media after the game. All brands need the media in some way, shape or form – football clubs in particular rely on positive publicity and information sharing to maintain the financial support of fans.
So with the new football season about to click into gear and a tumble down the divisions in the past few years, Southampton FC’s decision looks particularly ludicrous.
The move is already backfiring, with some media refusing to carry its official images and one, to its immense credit, planning to use archive images from the 1980s to accompany match reports. Perhaps that piece of daftness, illustrated by the full glory of mullets, bad ‘taches and extremely tight shorts, will help persuade club bosses of the error of their ways. The Sun is even refusing to refer to the club by name.
The point of pictures is to illustrate your stories. Southampton FC may see the content as subject to image rights, but there is a need for basic commercial common sense here. Win or lose, football clubs should be cock-a-hoop (always wanted to type that in a blog post) that someone wants to come in and publicise their games.
Mind you, if PR firms could charge for what they sent to the media, it could be a handy new revenue stream. Anyone want to let Charles Arthur know he’ll need to pay £1 a tweet from now on? (Charles: this is definitely a joke).
With thanks to our own football correspondent for spotting this story.
