Drive to Survive has become a viral hit, with lockdowns and demand for content driving the new trend in sport
In modern sport, content is king. Whatever the discipline, the actual sporting action has become increasingly sidelined. Instead, it is the drama, the narrative, the bite-sized highlights, the player transfers – what was once surrounding noise has become the main event. Social media and money have created an ecosystem where likes and clicks are more important than results.
Football has been at the forefront of this trend. In a recent column, a perceptive observer highlighted “the odd existence of the digital football supporter who doesn’t care about football.” Retweeting the piece, a British journalist critiqued the “phenomenon of actual football being just an audition for the real business of transfers”. In recent weeks, Manchester United’s social media accounts have been an apt example: content about the return of Cristiano Ronaldo has flooded the club’s accounts, with such frequency that actual matches were overshadowed.