Skip to content
‹ Back to IndustriesSports & Entertainment

A Look at the Future of Monetizing Fan Engagement

The fans remember the highlights but the franchises remember the technology, data, and inventions that powered their season. Host Tyler Kern sits down with the innovators, leaders and founders that are taking sports into the future.   On this episode of Salary Capped, Host Tyler Kern talked with Juliana Villalba, CEO of Rebus, a fan…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Sports & Entertainment teams put it to work with Events & Onsite Capture.

Share
A Look at the Future of Monetizing Fan Engagement

Free workspace

Turn your Sports & Entertainment expertise into content.

Record interviews, organize footage, and write with AI in a free MarketScale workspace. Qualifying companies also get one professional video edit a month. No credit card.

Try it Free

The fans remember the highlights but the franchises remember the technology, data, and inventions that powered their season. Host Tyler Kern sits down with the innovators, leaders and founders that are taking sports into the future.

On this episode of Salary Capped, Host Tyler Kern talked with Juliana Villalba, CEO of Rebus, a fan activation platform for sports streaming services and monetization of fan engagement. It’s used by teams in the WNBA and Chicago Sky.

The inspiration behind the launch of Rebus is a funny story. For Villalba, it was worlds colliding when she met her Co-Founder, Jose Berrio, in Columbia. It was a rainy day, and she was trying to get to the airport but couldn’t catch a ride. She jumped in front of the first taxi that drove by, and she asked the person inside where they were going, and it was the airport. The passenger? Jose.

“It was an insane thing to do here in Columbia because I didn’t know who he was,” Villalba said. “We started talking on the 45-minute drive to the airport.”

“We are creating experiences that are worth remembering,.” – Juliana Villalba

It turned out that Berrio was also a software entrepreneur and already had another company. Villalba also had another company and used to work with events, so she was interested in the industry, specifically pertaining to sports, entertainment, and corporate events. Nothing happened, but they kept in touch for two years.

Fast-forward, Berrio called Villalba with an idea for a solution involving fun, engagement, and events. With Berrio’s passion for soccer, they set out to create something that created an excellent experience for fans. The service works by engaging the fans that aren’t at the games. For example, with the Chicago Sky with millions of social media followers, only 20,000 or so attend games. The rest of the fans are at home, so engaging them through content, streaming, and other services is essential.

“We are creating experiences that are worth remembering,” Villalba said.

Listen to Previous Episodes of Salary Capped Right Here!

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Sports & Entertainment starts with a company putting its venue operators, production crews, and partnership teams on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Rights holders and partners back the operators they know, and coverage is how they get to know yours.

Book DemoSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.
B2B Weekly

The week in Sports & Entertainment, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Sports & Entertainment: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Sports & Entertainment buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free plan

You just read one Sports & Entertainment expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your venue operators, production crews, and partnership teams into the articles, video, and social content Sports & Entertainment buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale workspace, up to 10 people
One professional video edit a month for qualifying companies
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
$0. No credit card. Company confirmation required.

More Sports & Entertainment Insights

NFL TV audiences rebound in Week 2 after a 13% Week 1 drop

NFL TV audiences rebound in Week 2 after a 13% Week 1 drop

Fox drew 27.2 million viewers for Cowboys-Commanders, and CBS posted its best Week 2 singleheader ever, up 29%. Nielsen recently made another series of measurement changes, so some of the year-over-year gain could be counting lift. Same-season comparisons are cleaner.

  • 01Nielsen recently implemented another series of measurement changes, so some share of year-over-year jumps, including CBS's 29% Week 2 gain, could come from the new counting method.
  • 02Dallas played in both of the season's two largest telecasts, 27.2 million and 25.7 million. In Week 3, the Cowboys face the Ravens in Rio de Janeiro in CBS's late-afternoon national window.

Sep 23, 2026

NHL still expects more clarity on Texas expansion by December

NHL still expects more clarity on Texas expansion by December

The NHL still expects to know more by December, commissioner Gary Bettman said. He said there is no rigid timetable or “magic date” for a decision.

  • 01Cost framing varies by source: Front Office Sports put Texas expansion at about $3.5B including a new arena, while Puck Prose’s CNBC recap cited a $2B-range expansion fee.
  • 02Bettman said expansion would require three-quarters of the Board of Governors to be comfortable with the deal, and he emphasized there’s still “a lot of work to do” and no “magic date” for a decision (Front Office Sports; Bleacher Report).

Sep 23, 2026

Report: Apple TV planned 14 iPhone 18 Pros at Dodger Stadium

Sports Video Group’s September 18 report outlined 14 iPhone 18 Pro specialty cameras at Dodger Stadium, including eight planned private-5G feeds. The announcement is not a post-event performance assessment.

  • 01Sports Video Group said Apple went from four iPhone 17 Pro cameras at Fenway Park in 2025 to a plan for 14 iPhone 18 Pro units at Dodger Stadium in 2026, alongside operational needs like remote control, monitoring, shading and reliable ingest.
  • 02Sports Video Group said Apple planned iPhone placements in spots traditional rigs often avoid and that eight feeds would run over a dedicated T-Mobile Private 5G Network, describing the game as a demonstration of private 5G for in-venue live contribution.

Sep 21, 2026

Explore More Sports & Entertainment Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Sports & Entertainment.

Browse Sports & Entertainment Hub

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Sports & Entertainment and beyond.

Book a Demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512