Sports is top-of-mind this summer between the Stanley Cup, Olympics, NBA Finals and of course, the usual baseball, golf and more populating the warm-weather months. So it should be no surprise that sports plays center stage in our weekly recap here.
This week, we’re talking:
- Social buzz around the NBA Finals
- Winning with Tubular Audience Ratings and Overtime
- Some of Netflix’s biggest social video wins this year
NBA Succeeds on Social During Finals
There’s always a lot of noise around the NBA Finals, but this year that was amplified even further by the altered timing running into the week of the Olympics. Still, even with the crowded timing and atypical teams participating — neither the Milwaukee Bucks or Phoenix Suns had played in the Finals since 1993 — the series generated 323 million views on Twitter alone from July 5-21.
Tops among the creators was the NBA itself. The Association generated nearly 79 million views during the series. The top five should also be familiar to NBA fans, as its media partners ESPN and Turner also utilized access to the fullest.
Top Five NBA Finals Video Creators by Twitter Video Views (July 5-21, 2021)
- NBA (78.9 million views)
- SportsCenter (16.4 million)
- NBA TV (16.3 million)
- ESPN (16.1 million)
- Bleacher Report (16.0 million)
Working Overtime
ICYMI: Overtime’s building a burgeoning sports media empire with Tubular Audience Ratings. Of particular interest? As a creator, Overtime is leading the field with viewers aged 13-to-34. The publisher’s been able to parlay that reach into brand partnerships during peak sports interest periods, too — with integrations during March Madness, the NFL Draft and more.
For Overtime and numerous other partners, Tubular Audience Ratings fuel insights that grow social video revenue opportunities. As Overtime Chief Revenue Officer Rich Calacci details himself:
“Brands today have an uphill battle of trying to reach a wide audience in a landscape that is more fragmented than ever before. If they want to not only reach but truly engage the under-35 audience, they’ll need to go beyond a TV buy, especially when it comes to sports, and that’s where Overtime comes in.”
Netflix’s Social Video Successes
Even with audiences spending a lot more time out and about these past few months, streaming content isn’t going anywhere. Along with this week’s earrings, Netflix highlighted some of its biggest titles as it continued to stay on consumers’ minds.
Some of those top shows and movies also happened to fare well on YouTube, too. Explosive zombie flick Army of the Dead generated 19.8 million views on Netflix’s U.S. page, and has already spurred a franchise approach. However, animated comedy The Mitchells vs. the Machines was the big winner on social video, with 27.7 million views across just five videos.
Check back next week for more insights to elevate your social strategy to the next level.