Sports Digital Advisory
Turning disconnected digital activity into business value.
Sports organisations are investing heavily in digital. But activity doesn't automatically become business value. Red7 helps you find the Digital Value Gap: where value is being lost, what really matters, and what to change.
A career in sport. Previous roles, not Red7 clients.
Senior roles across rights holders, broadcast and OTT, a global platform and sports technology, leading teams across EMEA and working with some of sport's biggest names.
Typical challenges
Sound familiar?
- We're investing in digital, but can't clearly show its commercial value.
- Our audiences are growing, but we're not turning that into stronger relationships or revenue.
- Our digital and commercial teams aren't working towards the same objectives.
- We've invested in technology and data, but aren't getting the value we expected.
- We have a digital strategy, but struggle to turn it into practical delivery.
- We need experienced, independent judgement on our digital priorities.
The Digital Value Gap
CLUBS · LEAGUES · FEDERATIONS · RIGHTS HOLDERS · BRANDS IN SPORTMore digital activity. /
Not always more value.
The Digital Value Gap is the difference between what an organisation's digital investment could deliver and what it actually does. It rarely comes from a lack of ambition or effort. Value is lost between disconnected teams, activity with no commercial purpose, fragmented data and systems, and strategies that never become delivery. It exists at every level of sport, from Premier League clubs to community sports.
The numbers back it up.
Potential extra annual revenue if sport closes its digital gap
Morgan Stanley, 2025
Rights-holders who believe they lose $100k+ a year from fans they can't reach
Dizplai, 2026
Sports companies using technology to personalise marketing, vs 92% in retail
Morgan Stanley, 2025
Six places value gets stuck.
Audience
You may have millions of followers, buyers and fans. How much of that relationship do you genuinely own and understand?
Product
Websites, apps and platforms exist. Are they creating the behaviours and value the organisation actually needs?
Content
More content is being produced than ever — much of it through players and talent whose audience and commercial value the organisation doesn't fully capture.
Data
Useful data often sits across multiple systems without translating into better decisions, personalisation or revenue.
Commercial
Partners expect measurable digital value. Internally, digital often still reads as a cost line, not a growth driver, because nobody can prove what it's creating.
Technology
Many organisations have accumulated platforms over time, rather than designed a coherent ecosystem around the fan and the business.
Each problem can look separate. Usually it isn't.
The Red7 model
One system. /
Five moving parts.
The opportunity is rarely within one box. It's in the connections between them.
The question
Followers. Reach. Views. /
So what?
Followers, reach, impressions, engagement and content output can all be useful. On their own, they don't show business impact. The question is what the activity actually means for the organisation.
- Does it strengthen our audience relationships?
- Does it improve our commercial propositions?
- Does it create revenue opportunities?
- Does it support ticketing, membership or retention?
- Does it improve the customer experience?
- Does it make us more efficient?
- Does it help us make better decisions?
Red7 helps organisations connect digital performance with meaningful outcomes.
The approach
Find / Fix / Grow.
How Red7 helps
Three ways in.
You deal with me directly. No junior analysts, no account managers. I work across the market — from major leagues and federations to smaller clubs and challenger sports — typically with three to four clients at any one time.
Digital Value Review
Understand the opportunity.
An independent assessment of where your digital activity is creating value, where it isn't, and where the biggest opportunities are, including the value in your players and talent. Wide or focused, it ends with clear priorities and practical next steps.
Digital Strategy & Roadmap
Decide what to do.
Clear direction, and a practical plan to turn digital ambition into commercially relevant action: strategy, content and distribution, data and technology priorities, operating model, commercial opportunities and leadership alignment. Commission it directly, without a review first.
Strategic Digital Adviser
Keep it connected.
Ongoing senior, independent advice for leaders: strategic challenge, decision support, advice on digital investment and opportunities, and keeping digital connected to business objectives. Experienced judgement, not a generic retainer.
A simple first step: the So What Test · Pilot
A focused look at one part of your digital activity, to see whether it's delivering real business value. Three questions: what is actually happening, so what does it mean for the business, and what should we do next? It can stand alone, or lead into a wider review.
Every engagement starts with a 30-minute conversation. No brief needed. Red7 doesn't sell technology and isn't an implementation agency.
The ambition
From cost centre /
to value creator.
Digital is often treated as a cost centre. Red7 helps organisations change that, so digital is recognised as a contributor to commercial growth, efficiency and better decisions, and where it makes sense, to profit. Not every digital team will run its own P&L, and many create value indirectly. The point is that the value gets seen.
Previous role · Head of Digital, England & Wales Cricket Board, 2015–2018
Situation
Digital function was active but commercially invisible. No connection between output and revenue. Structured as a cost centre with no commercial mandate.
What I found
No measurement that meant anything to sponsors. No alignment between digital and commercial teams. A talented team with no commercial direction.
What changed
Rebuilt the function around commercial outcomes. Created measurement sponsors could rely on. Aligned digital and commercial teams. Gave the board a clear way to evaluate digital.
Outcome
During my time, digital revenue grew 180× in three years, and the function moved from cost centre to commercial asset. Sponsors started asking for digital-first packages. ECB's broadcast rights also grew strongly over the same period, and digital was one part of that wider story.
This comes from my previous role as Head of Digital at ECB, and reflects the work of a wider team. ECB isn't a Red7 client.
EMEA ARR growth at Greenfly in under two years, with a team I helped build from one to six.
Why Red7
Four sides of the table. /
One independent view.
Most people in this space have worked on one side of the table. I've worked on four — and that changes how you see things.
ECB · RFU
Head of Digital at both. Direct experience of rights-holder digital: strategy, audience development, organisational priorities and practical change.
NOW TV (Sky)
Head of Now TV Sport. The broadcaster and OTT view of digital: how services are distributed and experienced by consumers.
Meta
Sports Lead, Leagues & Federations, EMEA. How platforms work with sports organisations: partnerships, content distribution and audience development.
Greenfly
Managing Director, EMEA. Sports technology, content operations and commercial growth, and the challenge of getting real value from technology investment.
The point isn't the names. It's that I've seen the same challenges from four different sides, and I know where priorities differ and how they can work together. That's what lets me connect the dots, independently.
About Nick
Nick Shaw · Founder
The person /
doing the work.
I've led digital at the RFU and ECB, worked on the broadcaster and OTT side at Sky's NOW TV, led sports partnerships at Meta, and helped grow Greenfly's sports technology business in EMEA. Mostly I've learned what actually moves things forward, and what just looks like it does. I set up Red7 Advisory to do this work on my own terms, which mostly means being straight with people.
What I sell isn't time or deliverables. It's outcomes, insight and judgement. I still work closely with people in the technology space — including Greenfly, where I'm an adviser — but when I'm working with you, my only interest is what's right for your organisation.
The career path
Experience
A selection / not a definitive list.
Rights holders & federations
Clubs & teams
Brands & broadcasters
These are organisations I worked with, as clients or partners, in previous roles at Meta and Greenfly. They are career experience, not a list of Red7 clients. What I want to do with Red7 is bring that thinking to organisations at every level, whether you're a global federation or a domestic league doing more with less.
Mentorship
Helping the next generation / find their way.
Honestly, this is the thing I get the most from. I've been an unofficial mentor to people throughout my career — helping them figure out their next move, back themselves, and grow into roles they weren't sure they could do.
I work with rising talent in digital, media and commercial roles across sport. No corporate mentoring programme. Just honest, practical guidance from someone who's been through most of it.
For organisations: If you've got someone talented who'd benefit from an experienced outside perspective, I'm available for structured mentoring engagements.
If you're early in your career and think a conversation would help, drop me a line. I always make time.
Get in touch →Not sure what the problem is yet?
That's usually where I start. A short conversation is normally enough to work out whether Red7 can help.
Start a conversation →nick@red7advisory.co.uk