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Wanderers are planning a digital revamp next season – which could include some of their online content going behind a paywall.
The club hopes to launch a new website in July alongside ‘Wanderers TV’ which will transform matchday coverage and will no longer be provided via iFollow.
After opting out of the EFL’s digital deal, the Whites will have greater control over commercial revenues on a matchday and hope to encourage supporters to sign-up for improved online content throughout the week.
A dedicated app is also in the works, which will enable fans to buy tickets, items from the club shop and browse the official website with one single ‘sign in’.
Wanderers chief executive Neil Hart explained the changes, which are due to be launched in time for the start of the 2023/24 campaign in League One.
“We are coming out of the EFL digital deal and the iFollow arrangement, so Stream AMG will provide us with that stream next season,” he told The Bolton News. “In terms of what it will look like, initially, it will be almost like-for-like with the iFollow model but controlled and delivered by the football club, so that will help us from a cashflow point of view.
“It is under our umbrella. We can populate the pre-match coverage, half-time, the commentary, so it is all in our domain. We have talked to Bolton FM about what that looks like from an audio point of view and commentary, those conversations are ongoing.
“Alongside that is what I call the ‘other content’ – the pre-match, post-match, behind the scenes and so on. We will create a paywall for £4-5 a month that supporters can subscribe to.
“Clearly a lot of that content currently goes out on social media, and we can still do that, but we might find that things go behind the paywall and then come out a week later to the public.
“There is a bit of detail to work through in terms of what that looks like, and we’ll have some consultation with supporters’ groups, like the Trust, feeding into different elements.”
Other Media are currently working on the new website and app, which will also be introduced over the summer, and Hart believes the digital improvements will enable Bolton Wanderers to make more money than they could previously, under the EFL model.
“It is an exciting proposition,” he said. “We will look better, digitally, and we will have more control over our digital assets. It will kick us on significantly on the commercial side.
“The company we are working with have a great track record with West Brom, West Ham, Swansea, Plymouth – who me and Siobahn (Chaplow – chief communications officer) have talked to a lot about best practice. I think it will be a game-changer.”
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