Australian Open uses web3 to make it the most accessible sporting event – Ledger Insights
In January, 900,000 visitors attended the Australian Open (AO) tennis event in real life, with external visitors able to engage via the metaverse. AO expanded its web3 offering in 2023, aiming to make AO the most accessible sports and entertainment event.
This year, the virtual events consisted of AO ArtBall 2023 and the AO metaverse. AO Artball connected NFTs to a 19x19cm plot on the tennis court, and if the winning shot from an Australian Open match landed on the spot, the data was recorded on the NFT. The owner was then provided with benefits such as wearables, the winning tennis ball in the event of a championship game, and ground passes for the finals week of the tournament in the following year. The AO metaverse involved a virtual hosting of the game along with other virtual events in the Decentralized countrya virtual 3D platform.
The Australian Open’s venture is seen as one of the more successful entries of sporting events to web3. In an interview at yesterday’s SportsPro Ignition event, Australian Open’s Ridley Plummer discussed the innovations made by AO in this area and shed some light on the learnings from its digital strategy.
While North Star’s venture was to make the sporting event accessible, it also focused on adding value to the owners of the product, making the NFTs more than just a digital collectible. In this case, the NFTs doubled as a digital membership for the event. For membership to be valuable to a customer, the benefits must extend over time and provide unique benefits beyond a regular ticket to a game.
In AO Artball, owning the NFT that earned a Match Point on the AO23 course could win two tickets to the corresponding match on AO24. This aspect provided both an advantage as well as sticky integration – meaning members would return to the product for years to come. Additionally, AO aimed to engage fans during months when other tennis events are taking place around the world.
The front-loaded financial conundrum of NFTs
But considering all the additional services to the product, Plummer acknowledges the difficulty of ensuring a consistent revenue stream. While NFTs earn a lot early on, most of the revenue is invested in the services offered. To ease the financial pressure, AO aims to bring new members to the community consistently. This is done through new publications of the NFTs every year. For example, in January 2022, it sold 6776 ArtBall NFTs. In 2023 it was introduced additional benefits and sold 2,454 new NFTs. And it plans to add about the same number every year.
Another part of AO’s strategy was to increase community involvement via the metaverse. This had to be done through services that are not offered conventionally. For example, a live broadcast of the game is not a sufficient incentive to keep fans visiting the metaverse area. Therefore, the metaverse experience provides additional content such as behind the scenes, access to party events and interactions – activities not otherwise available to a visitor to the physical event.
To tie these additional services together, the brand also requires reliable partners. For the metaverse experience, AO utilized Decentraland. In addition to providing a ready-made virtual real estate environment for hosting experiences, it also allowed the brand to sell sponsorship slots on the metaverse. Considering that the metaverse extends the physical experience with new admissions and engagement events, many brands find value in investing in it.
