Former Manchester United star and media pundit Rio Ferdinand said the world of football is undergoing a big churn and evolving with demands of the new generation of fans is crucial.
Ferdinand has become a prominent figure in the world of sports business. Apart from a successful YouTube channel with nearly 1.5 million subscribers, Ferdinand runs football and commercial agencies.
Ferdinand, who also bought a stake in one of the Middle East’s first Arabic-language digital football apps last year, said the consumption habits of fans has changed dramatically.
The former England captain believes new technology and social media platforms allow interactions directly with fans, which changes the dynamics for sports content producers and consumers.
“I am from a football background, that encapsulates sports as well. We want to speak to that, and new media is the way to do that, talking to people directly,” Ferdinand told Bloomberg TV.
“I have been used to linear TV. I just wanted to step out and have that freedom and that capability to kind of move and expand and talk in a new way that I think is being consumed very differently to the way when I first started ten years ago,” he added.
Ferdinand stepped down earlier this year from his role as a commentator at broadcaster TNT Sports after a decade at the company. He has set up base in Dubai with his family, diving straight into the burgeoning sports landscape in the Middle East.
It's the confidence in the sports world of this region that saw Ferdinand invest in Saudi Arabia-based sports platform Koora Break. It was one of the first deals by foreign investors in Saudi sports industry, which up until that time had made waves for record levels of investments in the Saudi Pro League and big events in various disciplines like golf, combat sports and motorsports.
“Everyone was saying, well what are you doing? It’s just a fast growing place. We’ve seen with all of the investment that’s going, in terms of media, football, sport in general,” Ferdinand said. “It’s crazy the growth there.”
Ferdinand has moved to Dubai, after contemplating a move for some time. Speaking to The National earlier, Ferdinand said he was impressed by the quality of life the UAE provided, and the freedom the move would offer – away from the grind of football fixtures.
“You don't get many opportunities in life to do something a bit different either because of the industry I'm in. You've got to be here, you've got to do this, you're led by the schedule. This is freedom that I've never had since I was 16 years old and it’ll be interesting to see how I deal with that, which I'm looking forward to,” he had said.
