The ‘Sportainment’ market – a fusion of sport and entertainment – is huge and is expected to grow by approximately 64 billion dollars, by 2020, in the US alone. Here, we address the needs of the market enabling our customers and partners to embrace the challenges of the future.
Taking the observations of futurologist, Dr Ian Pearson, (fellow of the British Computer Society and the Royal Society of Arts and Commerce), combined with the findings from the surveys and research, this report considers where the market sits now, along with potential future trends, and reflects on how best our sector can be shaped.
We carried out a series of research projects across the UK, Europe, the USA and Japan to review how much time children spend indoors and in front of screens, and what parents’ concerns are about their children’s social habits. Over 2,000 parents and children were surveyed and the findings showed children spend between 15-20 hours indoors on an average weekend with 90% of parents saying they would like their children to play outdoors more.
These findings reveal that there is a shared concern for the amount of time children spend indoors and on screens while there is also a raised fear of allowing children to play outside due to safety issues.
In his report, Dr Ian Pearson details how Sportainment can influence the development of imagination, creativity, cultural, scientific and geographical education. He predicts that technological developments will take Sportainment to the next level by combining the real and the virtual, the physical and the imaginary, into one immersive experience. He views that gamification software incorporated with any form of activity will encourage audiences to get active and connected simultaneously.
Embracing both technology and physical activity will positively impact family and friendship groups, bringing a shared focus on bonding, achieving a goal, competing together and enhance overall fitness.
Dr Ian Pearson says: “Based on the research and my investigations, I strongly believe that activities such as indoor climbing, teamed with advanced technology can help to develop self confidence in people of all ages, encouraging families to bond through fitness.
“Tracking and comparing movements, scores, and levels of improvement helps individuals to achieve their full potential. Real-time or post-activity feedback can add to this leisure experience and encourage the person to improve their performance too.”
This suggests that children will gravitate towards activities that embrace technology and gamification.
Our goal is to future-proof our climbing centres and make them ready for all generations and age groups. Within the next ten years, consumers will not want to just be bystanders in Sportainment, they will want to engage, be involved, and immerse themselves in the experience and the technology is emerging to make this happen.
There are strong indications that there is an increased desire for activity-based Sportainment options and the opportunity to try different physical activities but we know consumer preferences are ever-changing. In the future, consumers will have shorter attention spans, will be even more keen to share experiences digitally and the ‘fear of missing out’ will increase.
We will soon be launching a new Clip ‘n Score system which fits with this shift towards gamification as the contactless technology of the application allows climbers to continually monitor their progress, agility, performance and scores. It is designed to embrace human connectivity and demonstrates our commitment to leading the way in industry innovation.
The Clip ’n Score software has been developed over two years in close connection with the innovation services at ABEO – the global leader in the sports and leisure equipment sector and group owner of Clip ’n Climb.
The system allows climbers to challenge themselves gaining scores dependant upon agility, courage and difficulty. Using the new system, climbers can track their scores as well as their climbing height and speed via contactless technology.
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