The One Thing Companies Of All Sizes Are Paying Attention To In 2025

While 2024 may go down as the “year of AI” when it comes to product announcements and headlines, a growing number of companies of all sizes are paying more and more attention to something else — digital content. 

But not just the content itself. Content as a metric of brand reach; content as a tool for revenue growth; content as a differentiator. 

What Companies Are Saying

In 2024, RootNote spoke to and worked closely with dozens companies of all sizes in the sports, media, entertainment, and startup worlds, and they all had one major focus on their radar that they didn’t before: content analytics. 

While team makeups, geographies, and scope varied, all of the companies identified digital content as a strong focus for their brand. Among the larger companies, one major issue was how many different profiles and platforms they need to pay attention to.

For instance, sports organizations need to be able to pay attention not only to their main social accounts, but also to their other “owned and operated” accounts, like those of the mascots, foundations, and other official organization offshoots. But beyond that, these franchises are also paying close attention to how their players impact their brand overall — particularly as we see generational talents like Caitlin Clark provide a major boost to not just a team, but a league overall. 

How They're Approaching Content

RootNote helped create an extensive social media audit and analysis for a nationally recognized brand for the first time in response to a serious prioritization of understanding digital reach and how it impacts the overall brand. A small consumer tech startup pivoted towards using social media and advertising in their direct-to-consumer approach, requiring a new implementation of content data analysis. Even individual content creators are honing in on performance metrics as a selling mechanism.

Emergent leagues are incorporating influencers and athletes into their go-to-market strategies from day one, and legacy sporting industries are starting to pay more attention to their players’ off-court brands and new content monetization opportunities.

As 2025 kicks into gear, more companies are focusing on how their content can differentiate them from their competitors.

In college athletics, schools are focused on helping student athletes maximize their potential in Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals. The ability to facilitate and education brand awareness among student athletes will be a key focus in recruiting moving forward. With the biggest shopping day of all time last Cyber Monday, more and more small and medium companies on leaning on content to help them get their message out.

And as brands become bona fide social media stars on platforms like Threads, companies are paying more attention than ever to how they interact with potential customers in the online space. 

About RootNote

You may know us from our creator-focused content, but that's just one part of what we do! A member of the 2023 Techstars Sports accelerator, RootNote is a software as a service (SaaS) company serving creative teams and content creators in the sports, entertainment, and media landscape.

We're developing the first comprehensive platform designed to help athletes, creators, media companies, and the teams, organizations, and brands that they work with leverage their data from hundreds of platforms to grow their business.

RootNote ingests data from digital content, social media, e-commerce, and other third-party platforms so users can better understand their digital audiences and maximize revenue opportunities. Early users of the platform include NFL teams, MiLB teams, talent agencies, media and Esports companies, universities, brand name creators, and NIL groups.