Sky launches free online training programme for pubs
While football continues to draw in the crowds, the licensed trade might not appreciate the value that other sports can have in driving their business. For example, the Australia vs the British & Irish Lions First Test last June drew nearly 900,000 out-of-home viewers.
Sky’s new interactive course is available online at www.previewlive.co.uk/training and targets pub and club operators, managers and staff to help them stay ahead of the game when it comes to attracting and maximising customer spend and increasing dwell time.
Research shows that broadcasting live sport drives valuable footfall to pubs with about four million adults in the UK and Ireland watching football in a pub or bar each month. The most popular reasons young men (18 to 34 year-olds) give for visiting a pub is to meet friends and watch live sport on TV.
In the UK, out-of-home viewers who watch live sport on TV in an out-of home location at least once a week, spend an average of £16.60 per visit.
The training programme includes advice around attracting footfall and creating a great customer experience in venue by, for example, showing expert analysis and discussion from Sky Sports News in the build-up to any big game and by using the Sky TV Guide Planner (EPG) to schedule live content across the whole day to encourage people to stay longer. It suggests offering finger-foods and snacks that are quick and easy to prepare and serve as well as for people to eat during busy games. It contains advice around placing screens in the best locations so that customers can continue to watch when ordering drinks at the bar.
The three course modules – ‘On Your Marks’ (how to plan events), ‘Get Set’ (how to effectively market events) and ‘Go’ (how to execute well on the day) – are designed inside a best-practice Sky Sports pub to bring all the advice and guidance to life. The content moves from the initial planning stages, like understanding customer profiles, what competitors are offering and what makes your venue unique, through to marketing and then showing live sport. For example, the course looks at how a good sports pub optimises space with zoning, lighting and where screens are located.
It will keep learners entertained as they navigate their way through the modules with interactive features including one part set in the studio of Saturday Night Football and frequent quizzes to get them match-ready for their knowledge test at the end.
Licensees and their staff can expect to walk away with business building best-practice advice for planning and marketing sporting occasions as well as guidance around running events on the day and how to make full use of the Sky’s free support tools.
David Rey, Managing Director for Sky Business, says, “Live sport is a key profit-driver for pubs and clubs and licensees who get it right can turn their venue into ‘the’ place to watch live sport to drive some big returns”.
