We spoke to athletic directors across the country to learn their most successful methods for promoting their livestreams.
Just like teams prepare for a new season, athletic departments can take steps to ensure their fans know how to cheer for their teams—whether that’s from the field, the bleachers or their home!
Believe it or not, there’s a large set of fans that care about your team, even if they can’t attend games in person. Fans aren’t only interested in varsity games—they also want to catch sub-varsity, junior high and middle school games. Since these are often played earlier in the afternoon and evening, parents, family and fans can’t always make it to the stands—and that’s where streaming comes in.
Letting all your fans—whoever and wherever they are—know where to catch your school’s games creates a strong support system for your athletes, coaches and programs and can drive revenue.
After working with ADs like you across the country, we wanted to share a little of what we learned to help you let even more fans support your teams.
1. Get the word out early.
Make sure your fans know where to go to watch. Host your livestreaming information in permanent spots that fans know to go to.
Make your school’s website and apps work harder.
Post your stream links on both your school and athletics pages. Provide instructions on how to access the livestreams or a link that takes them to the stream when it’s game time. If you’re using Hudl TV to stream, your fans can see a schedule of upcoming games that will be available to watch.
Explain subscription options, and promote full-season packages.
If you’re charging for streams, let your viewers know their options—whether they can purchase a full-season subscription or buy each game individually.
Pro tip: Preseason is the peak subscription period, so it’s a great time to highlight the full-season package. Emphasize the value that a full-season package brings—each game will only cost the viewer a couple of dollars, and they can access the full game anytime they want.
Leverage your social channels.
It’s easy for posts to get lost so use pinned posts, bios or About Me sections to keep livestreaming information easily accessible.
Post it around your gym.
Most fans want to cheer for their players in person! But parents and families may not be able to make every game. They shouldn’t have to miss out—post an announcement around the gym to let everyone know they can tune in from wherever they are.
2. Consider your audience.
Varsity teams aren’t always the main driver of streaming viewers. Sub-varsity, junior high or middle school teams often play at less convenient times when family and friends want to watch but can’t be there in person. And each group of fans probably looks for their information in different places. Tailor your communication to each audience to get the best results!
Identify and group your fans.
To drive viewers to your stream, identify the audiences you need to inform and their level of priority. Here are some sample audiences:
- Parents of athletes
- Extended families
- Alumni
- Donors
- Community members
- Community groups like booster clubs, civic organizations, or large employers
- Feeder schools
Consider where your fans might go to get information.
Take stock of all the channels you have to get the word out—monthly newsletters, weekly take-home papers for students, websites, apps, and social media channels. Once you have a list, think about how they work for each audience. For example, your parents are probably seeing school newsletters, but extended family might not be and community groups might have closed social media groups where posts can be shared.
Pro tip: Encourage parents and families to share the stream links with extended family members or supportive friends.
Communicate frequently.
Keep sharing streaming information whenever and wherever you can, even once the season is underway! Your highest-priority audiences need to receive the highest volume of communication.
Frequency can mean:
- Seasonally – permanent places like your website, social media bios or pinned posts, and regular newsletters.
- Monthly – Share the full schedule and highlight big games coming up over the month.
- Weekly – Every game for the next week.
- Daily – Today’s events.
- Shortly before each event – information about the match-up.
No matter the time or place, remember to include your livestream links!
3. Keep the momentum going.
Don’t slow down once you get the word out.
Make a schedule ahead of time.
Keep it simple and build out a spreadsheet, or check out tools like Hootsuite where you can pre-schedule your posts.
Outsource the work.
Don’t worry about every post—let others tackle it for you! This is a great opportunity for your student council, marketing classes, or boosters to create content and ensure someone’s watching the schedules.
Pro tip: Challenge your helpers to share highlights (with Hudl Assist, they’re automatically created post-game) or graphics to build excitement for upcoming games or showcase the weekly schedule in an eye-catching format.
When it comes to livestreaming, you’re creating even more opportunities for your families and fans to stay connected. We’re excited for you to reach more fans than ever before. Check out our Hudl Streaming Quick Start Guides, where you’ll find everything you need to know about getting gameday ready and templates to help promote your streams.
