BT Sport has announced plans to offer its licensees the opportunity to grow their business by offering free personalised digital training in partnership with Google Digital Garage.

A survey of 2,000 consumers has shown that 55 per cent plan ahead when going out to watch live sport and 45 per cent of live sport watchers ‘follow’ a pub or bar’s social media page. Meanwhile, 58 per cent of BT Sport pubs have indicated they would use social media more to promote sports events if they knew how to make the most of it.

The training, designed exclusively for the industry, will include workshops and individual face-to-face coaching sessions available across the UK. The aim is to help publicans grow their digital skills, focusing on how to make their business more visible online and optimise social media.

Furthermore, following feedback from customers, BT Sport will invest even more in point of sale this season, ensuring a greater variety of material across a wider range of sports.

Bruce Cuthbert, director commercial customers, BT Sport, said: “Our pubs and clubs can look forward to showing the best season yet on BT Sport. We know that live sport is a key investment for our customers and we want to make sure that we help them make the most of it. That’s why this season we want to help our customers promote their venues and grow their businesses. We’re excited to be working with Google to create a series of free personalised digital training sessions across the UK, focusing on how to make your business visible online, which is increasingly important in a world where consumers are always connected and expect to be able to search, find and plan their days whenever and wherever they are.”

Hannah Glenny, Google Digital Garage at Google, added: “The Google Digital Garage aims to ensure everyone has the chance to share in the opportunities that technology brings. We’ve helped more than 250,000 individuals and small business owners across the UK learn new digital skills to grow their confidence, career or business, and now we are pleased to partner with BT Sport to help the pub sector get to grips with an often daunting online world to attract new customers and grow.”