Alfreton Town FC kicks off streaming success with Purpose Media

Vanarama National League North side, Alfreton Town, aren’t letting lockdown and this year’s social distancing restrictions stop fans from getting in on the action.

Whilst Premier League and Championship clubs have still been able to maintain huge revenues from TV coverage this year, lockdown has meant smaller clubs have struggled to keep connected with their fans, and make money through ticket sales.

Some clubs have been using technology to help fans access games, and Derbyshire club Alfreton Town has worked with local full service marketing agency Purpose Media, to develop a custom live stream channel ATFCTV so fans can watch games from the comfort of home.

The first stream was launched on November 3rd where fans watched their club draw against top of the league AFC Fylde. Over 100 supporters watched the game streamed live, supported by expert commentary.

Live streaming gives the club an opportunity to generate income through subscriptions and sponsorship, and can potentially offer a lifeline to smaller teams throughout the 20/21 season.

Purpose Media is delighted to be able to help football clubs embrace digital to overcome covid challenges this year. Its technical director Tim Lenton said: “We’ve worked successfully with clubs like Derby County and Leyton Orient to set up live feeds and streaming over their websites so fans can still watch games live. We saw no reason why we couldn’t offer the same to smaller clubs, so we worked to research the right kit and tools to set it up for Alfreton Town. The first game went down really well, feedback from fans was positive, and I believe it’s definitely something other clubs could easily adopt.”

Following the match on twitter one fan said: “Well done to all, thought we played really well against a very good side, streaming was brilliant, better than most I’ve watched this season.”

Another fan emailed to commend the club for the streaming quality: “Just wanted to say thank you for providing the link to the live stream of last night’s fixture against AFC Fylde. I thought the coverage was excellent, easy to access and very professional throughout. The idea of acquiring match sponsorship and the way it was regularly displayed was well thought out and will hopefully become something more local companies would be willing to sign up to moving forward.”

Alfreton Town’s CEO Michael Bradley comments: “Streaming games online means our fans don’t have to miss out, and their support is a huge boost to the club and our players. Purpose Media has been great helping us to set up the right kit, and a stream that works well and is branded as ATFCTV. We’re small but mighty and we want our stream to look just as good as the big players.”

After the success of the first stream, Alfreton plan to make the service a regular fixture, with a view to expanding the videos available to go behind the scenes at the Impact Arena, thus increasing revenue through stream subscriptions which will go a long way to ensuring the club can survive the season ahead.

To learn more visit https://www.purposemedia.co.uk/