The Socios.com platform has generated more than 400 million euros in benefits to the sports industry since it began operating in 2009. It is a formula based on ‘fan tokens’ or digital assets and blockchain that allows fans to sport participate in decisions of football clubs, for example, and access exclusive experiences and discounts… It already has more than 2.2 million users in more than 200 countries. “The main advantage for clubs is to directly control their relationship with fans and access their data, until now in the hands of big technology companies,” explains Max Rabinovitch, CTO of the company Chiliz and creator of Socios.com. “We are heading into a future where we will likely interact with the Internet through a digital wallet rather than through email.” “This will mean a radical paradigm shift because it will give much more power to the user,” he predicts.
Let’s start at the beginning: What do we understand by a fan token?
Fan tokens are digital assets whose purpose is to give their owners access to a new loyalty channel with large sports organizations. This channel differs from others that already exist in two fundamental aspects: for the first time it allows fans to participate in their teams’ decisions through surveys, and for the first time it rewards the loyalty and interaction of fans with prizes, ranging from products signed officials and free tickets to experiences never before made available to the fan, such as playing a match in the stadium alongside legends of your club, acting as the team’s ‘speaker’ and announcing the starting line-up in an official match or seeing and trying out the new official team shirt before it comes out, to mention some that tokenists of Spanish football clubs have been able to access in recent months.
Where is the platform in terms of numbers?
Currently Socios.com offers Fan Tokens from 82 sports organizations from six different sports (mixed martial arts, esports, Formula 1, football, rugby and tennis) and more than 20 different countries, from Argentina or Brazil to Spain, the United States, South Africa, Indonesia or the United Kingdom. The Socios.com platform has just over 2.2 million users in more than 200 countries. Since the launch of the first Fan Tokens (those of Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain), in November 2019, Socios.com has generated more than 400 million euros in benefits to the sports industry.
Fan tokens are barely five years old…
Yes, they are based on a very new technology about which there is still a certain amount of ignorance (luckily less and less, in fact, many clubs have already created teams specifically dedicated to exploring opportunities on the web3) and their proposal is very disruptive. . Each club is implementing it at its own pace and with its own strategy based on its objectives. We are here to offer the technological infrastructure and to support and accompany them.
What benefits does it bring to football clubs or Formula 1 teams…?
The blockchain will allow sports organizations to directly control the relationship with their fans and, most importantly, access their data and use it to offer them personalized products and experiences, contrary to what happens now that the data of those millions of followers that Large sports clubs have social networks that are controlled by large technological platforms.
Q. We return to the fans. How do they access these advantages?
A. These prizes are obtained by redeeming the Reward Points that users obtain every time they interact with the Socios.com platform, which is a gamified ecosystem with multiple and entertaining functionalities in which users can compete against each other in knowledge tests, predict your team’s results, choose the MVP of each Match…
What other sports are using this blockchain-based formula?
Socios.com not only works with football clubs and federations, but also with mixed martial arts organizations (such as the UFC and the PFL), tennis (the Davis Cup also launched its Fan Token with us) or Formula 1 (Aston Martin and Sauber ). We also work with several esports clubs, including the Spanish Team Heretics.
Which institution might be interested in this new way of relating to its audience?
Any organization that has a significant fan base, especially if it is global in reach, can benefit from using Fan Tokens as a loyalty tool. The important thing is to know the technology, understand the advantages and benefits it can bring, have a clear strategy for its implementation and a long-term vision.
How exactly does the Socios.com platform work?
Socios.com is a gamified platform that has different themed functionalities for the different teams we work with. It is a tokenized platform, which means that it is accessed through Fan Tokens, which can be purchased directly through the app. Every time the user interacts with these features, they earn points that can then be redeemed directly for the prizes and experiences mentioned above. That is, it works in a similar way to how popular airline loyalty programs work.
What agreement do you reach with the football clubs?
The content of agreements with our partners is private and commercially sensitive. But we can explain why its nature is quite different from traditional sponsorship contracts. We do not partner with clubs to promote our brand or one of our products among their fans, like most brands, but rather we partner to create a new product – the Fan Token of that organization – that we market and promote jointly. In that sense, we function much more as a technological partner than as a traditional sponsor. That is why the nature of our association is revenue share.
Are all football clubs using fan tokens in the same way or are there different possibilities?
All clubs use the Fan Token with the same objective: to retain, reward and monetize their fans. What varies is the strategy they apply to do so and how they combine the Fan Token with the rest of their digital tools. We have partners who put a lot of emphasis on surveys, which allow their fans to vote to decide the design of the kit. Other clubs are betting more on the experience side. There are others that have gone one step further and have integrated the Fan Token into their official loyalty programs.
Do you think the role of blockchain will increase in the world of sports?
Without a doubt, in the world in general and in sport in particular, because blockchain technology has the ability to offer very effective solutions to very real challenges. Fan Tokens, for example, despite still being in an emerging state, are already offering a unique and effective solution to two of the most pressing challenges that the sports industry had: the need to attract and retain a new generation of fans. (digital assets are especially popular among Millennials and the so-called Generation Z) and the need to monetize the so-called global fans.
To what extent do you think these blockchain-based businesses are going to consolidate?
We are heading towards a future in which we will probably interact with the Internet through a digital wallet instead of through email as before. That will mean a radical paradigm shift because it will give much more power to the user. This, in turn, will have a great impact on the way in which they interact with brands, which will obviously have a great effect on the world of sports due to the special bond that unites brands and consumers.
What other projects are you executing with these technologies?
Our mission at Chiliz is to support sports organizations to prepare for this new evolution of the Internet (known as web3) and to benefit from the multiple opportunities it will offer them. Hence, last year we created the Chiliz Chain, the first layer 1 blockchain specifically designed to adapt to the needs of the sports industry, and also Chiliz Labs, the incubator program through which we support startups and developers that are creating solutions for the sports industry. And SportFi is the name we have given to the space where the world of sport and the world of decentralization converge, of which Fan Tokens are only the tip of the iceberg.
