Sports Fandom on Youtube

PIXABILITY INDUSTRY REPORT | 2018 Sports Fandom on YouTube

From the Super Bowl to the World Cup, 2018 is the Year of Sports

Sports Fandom on YouTube 2

2018 Is Packed With Major Sporting Events Passionate sports fans are increasingly turning to YouTube to view athletic 587B views to date of athletic video content — with 600 billion views on YouTube to date, and nearly video content on YouTube 53% year-over-year view growth over the past three years. Thanks to 2018’s lineup of major sporting events — from the Super Bowl to Winter Olympics to World Cup — Pixability forecasts that sports content on 53% year-over-year view growth over the past YouTube will attract an additional 300B views in 2018. three years of athletic content on YouTube

Figure 1: Sport Views on YouTube Over Time

200B 300B projected views of sports content on YouTube in 2018 150B

100B

50B

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Source: Pixability Software, February 2018

Faceof: YouTube versus TV Figure 2: Sports Content Crosses Over Into Other Verticals YouTube’s sports content ecosystem extends far Total Crossover Viewership YoY Growth in Viewership from 2016-2017 beyond what’s typically seen on linear TV. In addition 50B 100% 77% 81% to traditional highlights, commentary, and athlete 40B 80% 69% interviews, the YouTube sports category includes 30B 60% 44% how-to, celebrity fandom, and ftness videos, and 20B 40% even overlaps with relevant verticals like gaming 10B 20% and entertainment. Gaming Entertainment Food Beauty Source: Pixability Software, February 2018 Across The Major Sporting Events Of 2018, FIFA Earns Gold Figure 3: Tentpole Events Within the YouTube Sports Space The FIFA World Cup steals the show on YouTube among the major sports events, occupying a dramatic World Cup Views 21.8B Views 3.7% of sports-related views on the platform. The 3.72% of sports space

Super Bowl lags at a 1.7% share of voice, while Winter Super Bowl Views 10.3B Views Olympics content attracts less than half of that. Brands Sports on YouTube 1.75% of sports space 587B Views have a signifcant opportunity to join the conversation Winter Olympic Views 4.5B Views around the World Cup and engage sports viewers 0.77% of sports space through paid and organic video strategies.

Source: Pixability Software, February 2018

Figure 4: Content Publishing Strategy

Digging Into Advertisers’ Engagement Rate Favorability

100% 2018 Super Bowl .80% 94%

Strategies On YouTube 87%

82% 80% How did Super Bowl advertisers’ strategies perform .60% on YouTube this year? Here’s a look at key trends from

2018’s big game to consider for upcoming World Cup 60% campaigns on YouTube.

.40%

40% Post-Game Publishing Led To Increased Engagement While videos published ahead of the big game typically .20% 20% drive the highest view rates, advertisers that waited to upload ads to YouTube until after the game this year saw higher engagement rates and favorability. This strategy allowed them to efectively capture longtail Post Game Close to Game Signifcantly Before Game audience engagement, as viewers turned to YouTube Source: Pixability Software, February 2018 to rewatch their favorite Super Bowl ads.

Increased Use Of Bumper Ads Figure 5: Share of Bumper Ads In 2018, Bumper ads comprised 10% of all Super Bowl video ads 12% published on YouTube, up from only 1% in 2017. The 6-second non- 10% skippable format is well-suited to driving brand and product awareness 8% among a wide audience, and a good complement to broader TrueView 6% campaigns. Part of the strength of YouTube lies in utilizing variable video 4% lengths as part of a holistic campaign — advertisers can encourage 2% consumers to lean in through long-form video, and drive reach through 2017 2018 shorter content like Bumper ads. Source: Pixability Software, February 2018

Meta Creative Attracted Engagement Figure 6: Creative Strategy

On average, self-referential ad concepts attracted higher engagement Engagement Rate Favorability rates and favorability than other Super Bowl video ads. This creative 100% .5% 93% 91% strategy adds a refreshing element of comedy to the traditional Super 80% .4% Bowl ad, as seen by the series of ads Tide produced for the big game. 60% .3%

40% .2%

20% .1%

“Meta” Creative Traditional

Source: Pixability Software, February 2018

YouTube remains a tremendous opportunity for marketers to extend the impact of their TV advertising around tentpole events like the Super Bowl and World Cup, and empowers advertisers that lack TV ad budgets to join the conversation online, leveraging the passionate and growing sports audience on the platform.

To fnd out how Pixability can help you maximize the impact of your video ad strategy, contact us ([email protected]) to set up a meeting.

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