This discussion took place at Soccerex at the start of September and is a passionate discussion about influencer marketing with myself (Dan) trying to keep it on track.

Will Pyne (Brave Bison) and Matt Wilson (Ball Street and previous podcast guest) get into the nitty gritty of what influencer marketing is, how some are getting it right and some not so much and how to find your way through this relatively new world.

If you enjoy this podcast please leave a rating or review, or get in touch at @danielmclaren or @digitalsportuk

James joined World Rugby to head up the content side of the international federation in January this year after a 4 year stint at Sunset+Vine where he helped launch BT Sport in 2013.

He's had a career that has really encompassed the way digital has affected the broadcast industry. With a standout moment without doubt being his role in the Red Bull Stratos world record in 2012.

We also get to find out his thoughts on the role of social media within sports broadcast, his preparations for the Rugby World Cup in 2019 and much much more.

Enjoy the show and any thoughts/feedback get in touch at @danielmclaren or @DigitalSportUK

13th September saw the first #DSLondon monthly get together at the London Sporting Club. During the night we hosted a panel looking at the topic of 'The Future of Sports Broadcasting' (a small area to look at!). The speakers were;

- Joel Seymour-Hyde (SVP Octagon) *moderator

- Alexandra Willis (Head of Comms, Content & Digital at Wimbledon)

- David Gibbs (Digital Director at SkySports)

- Sarah Beattie (Head of PR & Social Media at DAZN)

Joel made sure none of the speakers got off lightly as he dissected many of the key topics the industry is facing. Having a mix of 'traditional' broadcaster, OTT platform and rights holder provided a great mix of views and issues.

The events run every month and details of them can be found on http://digitalsport.co/events/category/digital-sport-london or keep an eye on @DigitalSportUK

At the start of September I headed to Soccerex for it's last time in Manchester before the event moves to Doha from 2018. During it I hosted two panel sessions, and this is the first one of them.

The title was "The Future of Fan Generated Content" and I had a star studded line up to help put this into some context and chat about their thoughts and experiences. They were;

- James Kirkham, CEO of Copa90

- Mike Norrish, Head of Digital at BT Sport

- Paul Rayner, Publisher at SportBIBLE

- Robbie Lyle, ArsenalFanTV

In this bonus edition, I caught up with SportsPro's Eoin Connolly SportsPro ahead of The Brand Conference (TBC) on 28th September which will see speakers from Formula 1, Tough Mudder, British & Irish Lions and many more.

In our sit down we covered a number of topics that will be touched upon during the event, and some that won't. Hope you enjoy and let me know if you'll be there on the 28th!

- Sports broadcasting - how Copa90 are setting a new bar.

- Where it is going with likes of Amazon coming into the fold as they spend £10m on ATP rights.

- How clubs battle with being a club and becoming a brand. How do you strike that balance?

- Player becoming brands and fans following them rather than the clubs, especially in this digital age.

- How brands can tap into fan loyalty that sport uniquely has

- Esports and how it fits into sport as we know it, and how sports pro cover it editorially

- How much thinking about sports is looking at it from the wrong viewpoint

- The biggest areas that have impacted the sports industry this year so far

Jerry has been working in sport since 1998 and ended up at Facebook via The FA and 8 years at Chelsea. We met at Soccerex where he was just about give a 1-2-1 talk with Tom Chick about his role. You can listen to that talk here: https://audioboom.com/posts/6267564-facebook-on-football

In this chat you can expect to hear us cover;

- Landing his role at Facebook, and what it is he does.

- Roma's tongue-in-cheek approach to social media and how it helps them stand out from the crowd.

- How he sees Facebook complementing and not competing with sports broadcasters.

- Keeping up with the constant product changes at Facebook and Instagram.

- Using different styles and types of content between the two main platforms.

- Examples of Instagram Stories such as Chelsea's take over by John Terry as he talked about his match in goal for the side.

- Augmented Reality and how Instagram is leading us into this new way of interacting, at the moment, with our phones.

- The launch of 'Watch' with Real Madrid's documentary series "Hala Madrid" and how they're working with partners to create 20-25 minute higher quality shows for the platform.

- The launch of Ad Break within video, testing that out with sports partners such as Madrid.

- How clubs are using Facebook Live to drive new revenue opportunities.

- Using data from live and other engagements to unlock the potential of sponsorships.

- His views on how traditional business setups within sport are holding back digital opportunities and how Facebook helps to educate them on making the most of them.

- Sharing knowledge between teams/leagues.

- His views on fan-generated content and how it can be utilised by sport and broadcast.

Thanks to Jerry for taking the time to talk to us. A~nd to you for listening, hopefully all the way through. Do leave a rating/review if you enjoy the show.

Any feedback you have then you can find me on @DanielMclaren and [email protected]

Mark Coyle was at the BBC for almost 20 years as journalist and then editor, where he helped launch BBC News online, Democracy Live and ended his time there with a very successful 2012 Olympics. He then moved onto BT Sport as Head of Digital Production, working on the launch of the brand new channel. And is now Head of Media within the world of pro cycling with Velon.

In this very enjoyable chat with Mark we covered a large number of topics including how he’s helping new audiences discover and understand pro cycling, who Velon are, badgering the boss of his local paper to get his first role in journalism and the results of the newly launched Hammer Series.

Enjoy!

You can get in touch with Dan on @danielmclaren and find out more about Digital Sport at www.digitalsport.co

Paul is an old friend of Digital Sport, having written one of the first articles on the site back in early 2010, and we've been keeping tabs on his work ever since.

Following 14 very successful years at Liverpool, where he initially went to help establish the club's first ever website back in 2001. He rose to leading the digital initiatives, especially on social media, before moving out to the US to join AS Roma (Paul explains how this works in our chat!) in 2015.

In our conversation we covered a multitude of subjects and stories including;

- Making the worst transfer video they could this year at Roma to make light of the ever increasing seriousness they were done by others during this summer's break.

- How he started out writing about hip hop concerts and had his first article published.

- He used us to make a confession that he'd not shared before, when he landed his first internet job back in the boom. But it should have been another Paul they spoke to!

- Liverpool being the first club to recognise that the future was in video, but being ahead of the game when technology, and more specifically broadband, wasn't up to speed.

- Launching on Twitter in 2008, 24 hours after testing it their own accounts and then just going for it. They were amongst the first onto most platforms and were basically 'making it up as we went along'.

- He was one of the first to see the power and opportunity in localised Twitter accounts, when others were busy launching various language websites.

- We spoke about his personal manifesto for digital - one that contains sections on; how we've done things, the users perspective and the future of digital.

- His views on the future of football's broadcast model and why he thinks football is in a good place at the moment.

- And a little on Roma's link up with esports giants Fnatics and how esports will continue to grow, and potentially the lines will blur between traditional and esports in the future.

If you enjoy this podcast, do leave a rating/review. It all helps in others being able to find the podcasts. And you can get in touch to give me your views on @danielmclaren.

Nest week it's the turn of Velon's Head of Media, Mark Coyle. Now busy travelling the world with the pro cycling organisation, but prior to that had a fascinating career at the BBC and BT Sport. Make sure you don't miss it!

Aarti Dabas has been at the ICC for 10 years now after initially joining after the 2007 Cricket World Cup. After the success of the Champions Trophy and Women's World Cup this year in UK we dug into more detail on the WWC, the most successful event so far with a sell out crowd, 1.1m tuning into Sky's broadcast and BBC's most viewed page ahead of The Open final round and Tour de France.

Aarti has a fascinating career from her start in broadcast with IMG, TWI and Ten Sports, to her current role within cricket's governing body. One of only a few women involved in sports broadcast in India, something that has changed as her career has gone on and she has climbed the ladder herself.

The power of social media and digital (especially streaming) has had a profound impact on cricket coverage. We learn about what the ICC does around events, what they learnt from this year's Champions Trophy that they took into the WWC and how the game is looking to advance, on and off the field, over the next few years.

If you enjoy this podcast please do leave a comment, rating or review. They all help others in finding this show on the different platforms.

Enjoy!