Lots of really good commentary here but no one talking point lives on an island, as I see it. There are a number of matters being raised here that have to be considered together, so that a cohesive strategy and path forward can be crafted. Indeed, many barriers.
Here is an audit of the several key and interdependent issues at play. Have to keep in mind that approaching one issue differently has a ripple effect on the others...so it's dang complicated.
1. Skating, an aesthetic Olympic sport.
Skating's unique position in the world of sport to me is like no other and will forever live at the top of the mountain in terms of decision making on direction. Right now, aesthetics drive more fan interest than the technical aspects although both of course play a role. However, the more you push aesthetics in eligible sport, the less authentic of an Olympic SPORT (aka faster, higher, stronger) you become. We want this so much to not be the case, but it is. For this reason the more subjectivity you build into the sport, the more resistance you eventually face from the Olympic movement to promote measurement over judgment to determine superiority. The more athletic you become, the more you risk disengaging a wide audience. Women's gymnastics might be the only remote comparison, esp floor routines. You can somewhat compare to what extent technical dominates over presentation as an Olympic sport. The relatively unbridled artistry is sequestered to non-Olympic ('show') events. Pendulum in skating currently swinging away from technical and more into the domain of the subjective. I don't see it lasting.
2. Who is your audience?
Big issue here. Current vs future. The current profile is a bit different depending on what factors exist in your country/area (see point 3 below) but the mix is mostly some combination of seniors, gay men, uber skating fans, uber fans of a particular athlete, people connected directly to the sport. As a career marketer who has bought a lot of media in my days, I can say that's not a very appealing profile and is not likely to get much of my ad or sponsorship money no matter what I'm selling (more on that later). Also this sort of profile doesn't scream growth and scalability. Decline if anything. In order to grow, you'll need to appeal to different demographics. In order to do that, you have to be highly strategic, starting with identifying new demographics and redesigning the sport to appeal to those demographics and in a way that doesn't alienate your core. Super hard.
3. Starpower is your biggest driver.
While the uber 2% of fans like us are bigly into the sport itself, the general market is drawn in by starpower. This is also a huge factor that influences participation (especially with girls). Star power is more than medals ( ::: cough ::: Lysacek ::: cough :::: ) yet may not require them ( * waves to Adam Rippon * ) but usually it comes from achievement. There is some correlation between the health of skating in your territory and recency of viable stars in the sport that transcend it, especially in singles. The sport is pretty healthy in Japan, Korea, Russia and not so much in Canada and USA.
Starpower as I said needs to transcend the sport such that most regular peeps on the street could identify the skater just based on the name. And I mean well over 50% of the people in your country. In the USA most recently that's Michelle Kwan, in Canada it's probably Elvis Stojko (not convinced Tessa is there yet and certainly not Nathan Chen in US), in Japan is Yuzuru Hanyu, in Korea it's Yuna Kim. Which names are more recent than others? You can more than loosely correlate to the health of skating in that country.
Sadly IMHO as much as I support IJS, it works against building starpower. It's great that anyone can win now if you bring the goods, but that means somewhat of a rotation at the top. Back in the days of 6.0 you could practically install a good yet marketable skater into the top 2-3 and keep them there for an Olympic cycle. Those are longer, deeper impressions from your best ambassadors of the sport that can only improve the marketing while also secure revenue streams for show skating who welcome these anointed stars post their Olympic triumph.
4. Which media matters?
Not a simple answer. Two years ago I did a consulting project for a top US network on media landscape and trends. The trends are undeniable, but to make wholesale statements such as "young people don't watch TV so don't focus on it" is a dangerous pursuit. Need to manage the transition well and continue to use TV where it makes sense...for all demos. Young people do watch a ton of TV but at a declining rate. The smart marketers and strategists know which media to use and under what circumstances. I'd have to get my slides out from the marketing communications classes I teach to walk you through that. But I won't do that to you
Media plays a huge role in both advertising and yes access to the sport as part of an audience. Both are related to growth and health of the sport. There are issues with young people and digital focus. First you need a sport designed for a younger audience. Right now in North America advertisers see the sport as a 'women's sport and so most of the money coming in is from advertisers of brands that target the shoppers 30-45...ish. Some might be targeting an even older crowd. Few other advertisers would ever buy skating under any circumstance if targeting a different demographic. So that means the ad money will remain mostly TV and some sponsorships.
Since the viewership even for that demo is declining, so is the ad money, which means broadcasters will need to generate revenue elsewhere. Government-subsidized networks can move to lower cost platforms and make it work, especially if meets 'local content' mandates. If there is no subsidy then you need a revenue stream. That means ads and subscription fees to carry it. This all in part because the ISU depends on rights money and is likely holding its rights licensing fees to a high level regardless of state of local skating. Economics becoming increasingly tougher in the markets without much general market hype.
When thinking of growing the sport, digital is a challenge because it's mostly asynchronous. People are watching it at different times that suit them. That dynamic works against raising the public consciousness of the sport and its athletes. Think back 15 years ago when a major TV episode happened and there were no PVRs and digital wasn't as much of a thing. The next day that's all people talked about at work and elsewhere. It's the offline equivalent of trending on twitter and was a big catapult for sporting and entertainment stories that you lose both off and online when you migrate to asynchronous consumption of the sport.
And if you don't have that macro level of consciousness (still mostly driven by TV right now) then you don't have the little kid watching Nathan Chen clips on YouTube and being inspired to do that. Have to remember, people are inspired not just to do as the athletes can do, it's more about aspiring to be as popular as they are. That's more the goal. And if their parents or schoolmates have no idea who Nathan Chen is, then there isn't much point in 'being like him'.
All that to say I agree, if you want to be successful as a digital sport we need a different sport and entirely new strategies to incubate starpower in new media. Some of that will need to come from athletes themselves, but much of it needs to come from skating's ecosystem, however you define it.
Anyway I'll stop there. Those are the major intersecting issues that all point more less to the foundation of the conversation. Skating needs to decide what it wants to be and how to get there. I for one am not convinced that the powers that currently be in the ISU especially have what it takes to establish clear perspective and direction on this any time soon. So we'll cling to the audiences we have for dear life and endure the constant toggling in the scoring system as if to convince ourselves it will transform the sport.
(FWIW the solution in my mind is to continue with current sport and optimize as best you can. Separately you incubate a brand new sub-sport at the grassroots level. Something very cool that lives separately, doesn't carry the stink of the current sport to prevent hip audiences from engaging. And you go from there. Think downhill, slalom skiing vs X-Games. I'm convinced that's the best revenue-generating strategy to get ISU out of this mess.)
But their ads talk about sending pictures to the grandkids and mention talk, text and data. Data == streaming.
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