How Content Creation is Changing for Sports Organisations: Why Community is the Future
The XV Research team sees the digital landscape for sports organisations undergoing one of its biggest upheavals ever, driven by the explosion of AI-generated content and shifting fan behaviours. In 2025, content creation for sports is less about having the most content and more about cultivating an engaged, loyal community that can cut through the noise.
Thanks to rapid advancements in generative AI, content has become abundant – some might say overwhelming. Today’s artificial intelligence can produce highly realistic text, images, and videos, often indistinguishable from human-made content. Experts now predict that by 2027, between 80–90% of content posted daily will be AI-generated. As a result, the value of standalone content is plummeting. When everyone, and every bot, can publish, views and superficial engagement tend to evaporate with the next algorithm change. The era where “content is king” is ending; now, the XV Research team believes content is just the ticket to play.
The Community Advantage
With so much synthetic content saturating feeds, sports organisations are finding their only sustainable moat is community. Here’s why:
- Community fosters loyalty instead of fleeting attention
- When content becomes indistinguishable (and disposable), human connection and shared experience keep fans coming back
- Smart creators and teams are optimising for two-way engagement – think exclusive discussions, private Discords, or interactive events – over shotgun broadcasting to anonymous masses
- Younger fans further boost this trend, increasingly favouring smaller, community-focused social media platforms over giant incumbents. Privacy, authenticity, and belonging drive them to niche spaces tailored to their interests, rather than the endless scroll of mainstream feeds
The Rise of Short-Form and Episodic Storytelling
Short-form videos continue to dominate, but the playbook is changing. Platforms now demand authentic, platform-specific, and episodic content that feeds loyal fans a storyline they want to follow. For brands and organisations, it’s not enough to post highlights – you must create a content experience your community can participate in.
The Future: AI’s Expanding Role by 2027
By 2027, expect AI to not only generate content but also:
- Curate personalised highlights for every fan
- Simulate real-time game commentary
- Power virtual “meet the players” experiences
- Moderate and enhance live fan discussion spaces
- Detect and protect against fake or misleading content using advanced verification tools, like Content Credentials
When the AI floodgates open and content views become cheap, community stays loyal, and trust becomes priceless:
- Content is a commodity
- Community is the moat
- Authenticity is the future
Verifying the Real with Content Credentials
With content authenticity concerns surging, look out for organisations like Content Credentials (backed by Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative) aiming to set a new standard for transparency. They attach tamper-evident metadata to digital assets so fans, and platforms, can verify if a photo or video was AI-generated, who the creator was, and what edits occurred – helping restore trust in what we see online.
In summary, the XV Research team believes that as sports organisations navigate this new era shaped by AI and shifting fan expectations, the winners won’t be those who simply churn out the most content, but those who prioritise genuine connections and cultivate trusted, thriving communities. When AI-generated noise overwhelms the internet, it’s authenticity, transparency, and a sense of belonging that will set organisations apart. The future of sports fandom belongs to brands that turn content abundance into human engagement, using technology to build trust rather than erode it. In this landscape, content attracts momentary attention, but community and authenticity earn lasting allegiance.
