Entertainment Disrupted: How Sports Docuseries Are Rewriting the Playbook of Fandom

Scroll long enough through any streaming platform and you’ll stumble across a sports docuseries. The genre’s become a fixture – part soap opera, part strategy session – and occasionally therapy. For brands, it’s also becoming something else: a way into fandom at a time when traditional loyalties are fraying.

dentsu’s new ‘Sports Docuseries: Broadening Fandoms & Deepening Connections’ report captures the scale of that shift. Four in ten people worldwide watched one in the past month, the study shows – proof that fans aren’t just following teams or leagues anymore, they’re following the people and plots behind them.

“Sport and entertainment have always been closely intertwined – because sports is a rich vein of uplifting, emotionally resonant stories and sports remains one of the few things with the power to drive audiences consistently to platforms,” says Cathy Boxall, global head of entertainment at dentsu.

Amar Singh, SVP of content and creative at MKTG Sports + Entertainment, agrees. “Cinematic storytelling just emphasises and brings to life the great characters and narratives that sport offers up,” he says – a reminder that the playing field has become a stage, and today’s fandom is increasingly built on narrative, not geography.

From Spectatorship to Storytelling

Fandom used to be something you inherited. Your dad supported Arsenal, so you supported Arsenal. Your family were into cricket, so you were too. But dentsu’s data suggests that inheritance is losing its grip. What’s taking its place? Stories.

Traditional broadcast coverage has struggled to keep up with how younger, more diverse audiences consume sport. The Sports Docuseries study finds that 40% of global consumers watched one in the last month, including plenty of people who rarely tune in live.

As Amar points out, that’s more than just a viewership trend. “This means we can expect storytelling to be an intrinsic tactic and ‘hook’ to reel in fans who might not be latching on to the more traditional drivers of fandom,” he says, “such as participation or affinity to a particular team through where you live or who your family follows.”

That line about “hooks” hits home. Sports marketers have spent years chasing youth audiences with mixed success. But a well-crafted documentary – full of human flaws, rivalries and redemptions – can achieve in six episodes what sponsorship decks and highlight reels rarely can.

As the dentsu report puts it, these shows don’t just explain the rules; they lower the barrier to entry. They invite outsiders in. And once you’ve been inside that dressing room, you’re much more likely to care what comes next.

The Emotional Connection Economy

Sport has always been emotional. But the docuseries format has changed the scale of that emotion – and who gets to feel it. Dentsu’s research shows that three-quarters of viewers say these shows make them feel closer to athletes, while six in ten find them more entertaining than other documentary genres.

“A good story should resonate with anyone, regardless of whether they are an existing fan of the sport so they are a great way to engage and bring in new fans who may not have been interested in or found that sport or team in the traditional way,” says Cathy. She points to ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ as a prime example – a show that’s as much about small-town community as football.

For Amar, the genre’s explosion was inevitable once audiences realised what they’d been missing. “Sports docuseries are having a moment and ‘Drive to Survive’ was a real catalyst for this showing what is possible when you build narratives around a sport and shape it for a new audience (in this case it was mainly the US market). Fans crave deeper insights and want to go behind the veil of a sport,” he says.

It’s the same hunger that powers Netflix’s ‘WWE Unreal’ or ‘Quarterback and Receiver’, both of which pull fans closer to the human side of performance. And when nostalgia kicks in, the emotional effect multiplies. “Documentaries that shine a light on a moment in time can rekindle fans’ love for a sport by stoking nostalgia,” says Amar, citing Chicago Bulls retrospective ‘The Last Dance’ as the benchmark.

“Personally, I love the biographical storytelling of Asif Kapadia (‘Senna’, ‘Diego Maradona’, ‘Kenny Dalglish’),” he adds, “which have helped me deepen my appreciation of particular athletes who have transcended beyond their respective sports and have become culturally significant figures. I also love the ESPN 30for30 series – often the storytelling is so good it doesn’t matter if you are a fan of that sport – it’s just a great tale.” These stories remind us why sporting moments matter to people on a deeper level than simple competition.

The Brand Opportunity

Marketers have long known the power of a good sports partnership. But dentsu’s findings suggest that documentaries offer depth that sponsorship alone can’t. They’re a way to stay in the cultural conversation even when there’s no actual sport happening.

“From a brand perspective, docs have international potential,” says Cathy. “There’s a relatively low barrier to entry for brands and often more opportunity to eventually own, monetise and/or control the content. It’s also a really great way to leverage and maximise value from a brand’s existing sports rights and sponsorships and/or relationships with existing talent/ambassadors.”

That word ‘control’ is telling. For brands used to the brief half-life of an ad campaign, a docuseries can keep delivering long after the activation ends.

Cathy cites dentsu’s ‘Side Hustles’ for Budweiser with DAZN – a series about footballers’ off-pitch ventures – as an example of what happens when storytelling and sponsorship actually reinforce each other. “It’s a great way to attract talent to your brand and add value to your relationship with them outside of purely transactional ambassador fees,” she says.

Amar sees a wider lesson. “Fans of different ages, locations and sports expect different things from sponsors, but broadly they all expect sponsors to enhance their enjoyment of the sport – not detract from it. This gives sponsors the opportunity to position themselves as the conduit of this utility and align with the values and stories that sports churn up inherently.

“‘Side Hustles + Budweiser’ is a great example. It helped Budweiser activate its platform ‘Be a King’ utilising a Premier League partnership in an atypical way, shining a light on players who were demonstrating the self-belief and ambition which the brand wanted to align the product with, as they were pursuing their ambition off the pitch as well as on it. This not only helped fans feel closer to their football heroes but articulated perfectly what ‘Be a King’ meant,” he says.

“Creating this kind of sports and entertainment content can also be a great way to speak to fans in a more budget-friendly way,” says Cathy, “especially for those brands that perhaps aren't in a position to agree a global sponsorship deal with one of the big players like F1 or FIFA.”

The Take 5 ‘Oil Change’ x 'F1 The Movie' partnership was an example of this. Rather than investing in an expensive official sponsorship, the brand has attached itself to the sport’s cultural moment through a Hollywood tie-in – co-branded promotions, retail activations, and a film-linked ad campaign that borrows the excitement of F1 without paying for race-day rights.

Owning and Shaping the Narrative

Not every brand can buy its way onto the pitch. And even those that can are discovering that access doesn’t always equal meaning. As Cathy points out, the rules around rights, footage and federations are a maze; one that can trap even official sponsors in legal fine print.

“Often there will be rights concerns around using particular sports, teams, federations or associations,” she says. “That can be challenging even when a brand is an official sponsor, as those rights may not be included in their original deal. But when a brand isn’t a sponsor, it can become more difficult.”

So, the smart money’s moving elsewhere – to the stories orbiting the sport rather than those fenced inside it. “Because sport provides such a rich vein in terms of stories of human achievement, endurance, teamwork and positivity, there are many stories that can be told without having to rely too heavily on official footage or use of approved assets,” Cathy explains. “Those provide rich pickings for brands who want to tell purpose-driven, emotional stories that resonate with audiences and platforms alike.”

You can see that thinking in dentsu’s own work. ‘Culture of Winning: Polynesian Football Pride’, made with Fox Sports and Gillette, dives into the values that underpin Polynesian success in American football. It’s a film about faith, family and mentorship, but it’s also about brand positioning done with a light touch.

Amar agrees that there’s plenty of cultural ground to play on, even without a sponsorship deal. “Sponsorship gives brands permission to play and unlocks a host of access to amplification and talent,” he says. “But storytelling is just one tactic that can help brands who haven’t invested in being an official partner find creative ways to enter the zeitgeist of fandom.”

The Future of Fandom

Dentsu’s report makes one thing clear: this isn’t a passing trend. The sports docuseries boom is rewriting what it means to be a fan. The research shows it’s pulling in new audiences, deepening old loyalties, and, maybe most importantly, giving brands a new way to belong.

“They can unlock new fans through storytelling, humanising athletes and offering different levers,” says Amar. “They can also deepen loyalty. ‘All or Nothing’, for example, has helped rights holders in sports from NHL teams to Premier League clubs not only enter new markets but also help shape the identity and culture of the organisation.”

That human connection, dentsu argues, is the edge. As the report puts it, “In a fragmented, polarised world, sports docuseries are a cultural unifier.” They turn curiosity into connection, and connection into community.

For Cathy, that’s exactly where brands should be looking. “When you fuse the community-binding power of sport with culture, you can create something truly special,” she says in the report. “It’s about connecting culture to commerce for brands – and doing so in a way that adds real value for audiences.”

There’s an irony in seeing data-driven marketing rediscover emotion. The more digital and data-driven sports marketing becomes, the more audiences crave something raw, human and unscripted. Stories that breathe a bit. That might be the biggest lesson in dentsu’s research: in sport, as in storytelling, emotion still wins in the end.