After fantastic success in Scandinavia, Joymo – the platform that allows grassroots clubs to broadcast their matches to fans, friends and family – is now launching in the UK. We caught up with CEO Mike Emery to find out how it works and how it can benefit your team.
Hi Mike. Looking forward to the return of grassroots football?
Absolutely. Football, and sport in general, is vital for so many people. The chance to be with friends, socialise, use your body, release tension, laugh and have fun. Football is part of who we are as a nation and without it we lose part of our fabric.
So Joymo arrives in the UK at just the right time. Tell us about how it all began and the journey so far…
Joymo was actually created long before Covid-19, as a response to football, and other grassroots sports, crying out for a better way to broadcast. A way to safeguard data, monetise content through ticket sales and reach out to fans directly. Our idea is that this content belongs to you, the team, and not to the big social media platforms. We want you to broadcast it, own it, invite fans to watch it, invite your players to watch it, and for you to be able to advertise on it.
We started in Scandinavia where football is as important as it is here in the UK. We’ve now grown out of Norway and Sweden and landed in the UK – where I’m from – and are ready to help clubs and teams in a post-Covid football world.
So for us technophobes who still pay our subs in cash, how does it work?
It’s super simple. Instead of livestreaming with Facebook and YouTube Live – which I’m sure many teams and clubs know how to do – you simply create an account with Joymo (www.joymo.tv), set up your team and you’re away. You livestream your game through the Joymo app (available for IOS and Android) and you invite fans to watch it live or on-demand via a URL link which you can send out via text, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, Insta, you name it. Your fans pay to watch – a small amount for each game, or they can buy a season ticket – and your club gets the money back at the end of every quarter. You decide what those pay-per-view and season ticket costs should be.
Livestreaming of matches and content is obviously something that is picking up pace now in the UK. For those grassroots clubs that can not afford robotic cameras, or a matchday cameraperson, does this provide an alternative? Or do you see it as a better model?
This is the easiest and most cost-effective way to livestream. It costs £2.99 a month to use Joymo. You will need someone to film, but instead of using a company or lots of hardware/software, you just use an app, your phone or tablet, and a tripod.
The real value of Joymo, though, is not in how cheap it is or how easy it is. It is in the value of this data – for the players, for the club, for the fans, for the sponsors – and we give it all back to you. It’s yours and we want you to be able to broadcast with control and peace of mind.
How can using Joymo help grassroots clubs be more sustainable?
First of all, we help you with something super important that is your responsibility: GDPR and privacy as a whole. We give you the tools to broadcast in a GDPR-compliant way.
Secondly, you can make money with Joymo. We have sports teams in Norway, Sweden, Ireland and Belgium who make upwards of £2-3k a year in livestreaming through PPV tickets and season tickets.
Thirdly, a digital platform like Joymo is fun. It’s engaging. Players enjoy it and love watching themselves after their game. Football needs to keep up to speed with the engagement levels of e-sports and Twitch. Joymo is the answer.
Are you working with clubs and organisations in the UK already?
Yes. In football, with several regional football associations and some big local clubs who operate the full range of age groups. We are also working with associations and clubs across many other sports.
We’re all hoping for a return to normality next season. What are your big ambitions for 2021/22?
We want to make customers happy with our product. We’d love to have lots of teams and clubs livestreaming and recording, but really, what’s more important than targets and numbers is a sense of satisfaction that people like what you’ve made, that it helps them, and that they are proud of working with you.
We know that getting grassroots football back up and running will be tough for a lot of clubs and hopefully Joymo can energise and engage people to get back out on the pitch. In addition to making sport more fun, our aim is to provide an additional revenue stream to help clubs and teams pay for the cost of pitches, referees and affiliation fees etc. We know the pressures a lot of clubs are under and we want to help grassroots teams survive and thrive in the future.
Keen to share your grassroots content with the world? Check out www.joymo.tv and get livestreaming today.