A company set up by comedian Michael McIntyre and Gary Neville is supplying fans to Sky Sports football shows for them to offer opinions on their clubs. Sky is also in the partnership to monetise those views.<\/p>\n
The company, Fanalysis, corporatises the judgments of supporters. And with a total attendance of 15 million at Premier League games last season it isn\u2019t a shallow pool of people eager to have their say. Armchair critics are another vast resource.<\/p>\n
They are not paid to appear. But there is said to be high demand from Fanalysis users to be in the spotlight. By not charging for their time, they keep the cost base low for a firm that began when McIntyre pitched the idea to Neville. \u201cIt just made sense straight away,\u201d Neville says on the Sky website. \u201cWho watches and knows the players of their own club the most? The fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sky was equally enthused. They say \u201cfanalysts\u201d will feature in \u201clive match build-up, post-match reaction and across Sky Sports News social and digital\u201d. Guests will offer \u201csupporter-driven player ratings, manager verdicts and perspectives\u201d.<\/p>\n
The world is short of many things. Mainly peace and sanity. But fan opinions aren\u2019t in deficit. The new bit here, however, is those views arriving through a limited company supply chain to Sky\u2019s HQ in Isleworth.<\/p>\n
McIntyre, Neville and Sky, which holds a minority stake in the firm, have constructed a business model out of people giving their verdicts on the team they follow. \u201cWe were awful in the second half,\u201d is among the insights from a West Ham fan currently being shown on Sky\u2019s website. Some are more interesting than that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to their clubs, fans know best,\u201d said McIntyre in the blurb. \u201cNo stats, clips on YouTube, journalist or pundit can compete with the fans who live and breathe their club\u2026 \u201d This must have made Sky Sports\u2019 legion of former-player-turned-pundits uneasy, though perhaps not Neville, as he is an investor in the scheme (he is not listed as a Fanalysis director). If fans know more than professional analysts, what\u2019s the point of cramming studios with retired stars? Sky argues there is room for both.<\/p>\n
McIntyre\u2019s suggestion that nobody is asking supporters what they think is a novel claimMcIntyre\u2019s suggestion that nobody is asking supporters what they think is a novel claim<\/p>\n
On its app \u2013 the real goldmine, the owners will hope \u2013 Fanalysis is chiefly a tool for \u201crating players and managers\u201d. Every day is the Colosseum, with thumbs pointing down or raised. \u201cThey\u2019re watching the closest, they care the most, but nobody is asking what they think,\u201d the Fanalysis site insists.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a novel claim. From the BBC\u2019s 606 phone-in to the \u201cget involved\u201d section on the corporation\u2019s live blogs, broadcasters and media firms encourage \u201caudience interaction\u201d: not for plurality\u2019s sake so much as its own digital metrics: clicks, hits and algorithm glow. (The Observer also invites and publishes fans\u2019 views on their clubs several times a season, although we commission them ourselves and don\u2019t use a limited company created to supply them.)<\/p>\n
Bringing \u201ccustomers\u201d inside the tent is now common business practice. Survival can depend on it. \u201cMemberships\u201d work well. Top-down journalism is harder to sustain when everyone demands a dialogue.<\/p>\n
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