#01 Sports Fan Engagement Campaign and Featured AI Tool - FanKave

MLB Virtual Ballpark

📍 Rights Holder: Major League Baseball (MLB)
📱 Platform: Virtual Ballpark (powered by Improbable)
🏆 Competition: 2024 MLB Regular Season – Wednesday Night Games (September)

🔍 The Initiative

In Fall 2024, MLB revived its Virtual Ballpark to bring fans closer to live games in a fully immersive way. Every Wednesday night in September, fans could enter a 3D digital ballpark to experience a live, synced animation of the game, interact with others via spatial audio, and explore hidden Easter eggs. The experience was gamified through points that could be redeemed for digital jerseys, while a new party system allowed friends to watch “together,” transforming the watch-party into a shared virtual stadium simulation.

💡 Why It Worked

✅ Combined live sports with immersive technology, making streaming more interactive than passive viewing.
✅ Gamification (points + Easter eggs) kept fans engaged throughout the broadcast.
✅ Spatial audio and group watch features replicated the communal atmosphere of a real ballpark.
✅ Exclusive digital rewards (team jerseys) created added incentive and loyalty.
✅ Positioned MLB as an innovator in blending sports, gaming, and metaverse experiences.

📊 Outcome

While official numbers haven’t been disclosed, the Virtual Ballpark generated buzz as one of MLB’s most innovative digital activations of 2024. It reinforced MLB’s image as a tech-forward league and created new fan engagement touchpoints beyond linear broadcasting. The initiative allowed MLB to experiment with digital merchandise, fan co-viewing experiences, and gamified loyalty, laying a foundation for future monetization opportunities in immersive platforms.

FanKave

👀 What is FanKave?

FanKave is an AI-powered fan engagement platform built to turn audiences into active participants. From stadiums to conferences, it helps brands, rights holders, and sponsors monetize fan interaction by transforming real-time social content into immersive experiences.

✨ USP: AI-curated social + modular engagement tools = authentic fan-first activations at scale.

🛠️ The Product in 5 Points

• 📊 Visual Stats & Highlights → Real-time branded social & event displays

• 🎮 Interactive Games → Trivia, predictions, polls, quizzes

• 🎤 Live Q&As / AMAs → Moderated fan-to-host interactions

• 🤳 Virtual AR Photo Booth → Branded, shareable fan moments

• 🤖 AI-Powered Curation → Automatically selects the right content at scale

⚡ Features & Functionality

• Real-time social aggregation across platforms

• Plug-and-play fan engagement modules

• Cross-channel (stadium screens, web, mobile, digital signage)

• Sponsorship-ready formats for activations

• Data insights from fan interactions for ROI measurement

👨‍💻 Who’s Behind It?

FanKave was founded in Silicon Valley by ex-Netflix and Microsoft talent. 🚀
(Team profiles aren’t listed publicly, but the pedigree is strong.)

📚 Case Studies

• Cisco Live: Managed 1,000+ sessions for 35K attendees with social-driven engagement.

• Pure Storage: Built its biggest event by putting social media at the center.

• NBA All-Star Weekend: Activated 100K fans with immersive social content across a 30,000 sq ft venue.

💡 Why It Matters for Marketers & Sponsors

• Fans move from passive viewing → active participation

• Interactive touchpoints = more data + more sponsor value

• Sponsor activations feel native, not forced

• Flexible, scalable toolkit for any event size

• Translates engagement into monetizable ROI

🗣️ Key Quotes

💬 “Significant improvement in fan engagement and interaction!” – Scott McKibben, CEO, Oracle Arena

💬 “Authenticity of the user stories automatically selected at scale…is a big hit with our audience!” – Rob Neumann, Cisco

💬 “Social Leaderboard made engagement fun and competitive as we saw increased attendee engagement.” – Ian Wikramanayake, Pure Storage

🚀 The Takeaway

FanKave is more than just a content wall—it’s an AI engagement engine.
If you’re a sports marketer or sponsor, the message is clear:
👉 Authentic fan experiences = measurable sponsorship ROI.