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GiveMeSport shifts video strategy to boost sustainable revenue via in-stream ads


Harriet Lewis - 7th June 2021 - 0 comments

GiveMeSport’s video strategy was recently showcased by Facebook as a good case study to boost sustainable revenue via in-stream ads. CEO of Snack Media, Niall Coen and Head of Social and Platforms, Marwan King, explain the reasons behind the switch and what’s next for the page. 

Results:

  • 6x+ increase in 1+ minute views from VOD uploads**
  • 4.5x+ increase in intentional viewing*, 3s > 60s conversion rate**
  • 3.5x+ increase in monthly in-stream ad earnings**
  • Significant increase in viewership from those that don’t yet follow GiveMeSport on Facebook

*Intentional viewing is an important metric to drive with your audience. To compare intentional viewing from one video to the next, you can look at what percentage of 3s viewers watch up to 60s of your video

**Metrics compare July to December 2020 vs. January to June 2020

“The team has delivered a phenomenal performance with the output of engaging shared content. At Snack Media, we believe that everything we do has to ‘honour the fan’ via authentic, quality content. Since the purchase of GiveMeSport, we have invested in the team as well as improved the variety of the content which is tested. We are very pleased with the results and want to build on these successes.” – Niall Coen, CEO, Snack Media

“What is encouraging to see is the return in creativity and investment with meaningful revenue numbers. We are also reaching more of our key markets such as the UK and US where future branded content will be delivered. Having that audience regularly engaged is critical for our future campaign success and brand identity.” – Marwan King, Head of Social and Platforms, Snack Media

Challenge:

The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing dreary news cycle has affected how we engage with content. Given the shift, digital media company GiveMeSport pivoted from traditional sports news to feature more lighthearted, entertaining content.

Beyond the transition in tone, GiveMeSport put a renewed focus on long-form, original video at the heart of their content strategy. The pandemic also led the company to optimise potential revenue streams, such as on-platform earnings from social. With this in mind, GiveMeSport set the following goals for success:

Goal 1: Shift their VOD strategy from shorter, unoriginal, user-generated content to longer-form, original content with an aim to:

  • Boost performance metrics
  • Build a stronger brand identity on platform
  • Make GiveMeSport a destination for engaging, fun, entertaining content during the pandemic

Goal 2: Create a sustainable revenue stream on Facebook through the following tools:

Strategy:

Original, talent-centric content

Recently acquired by Snack Media, GiveMeSport set out in the middle of a global pandemic to shift their content strategy to original video series starring top personalities. The British-based company understood how important it was to get in front of their audience during this tough time, so they hired additional social team members with experience making personality-driven content with creators and on-camera talent.

“By pivoting to more original content, we saw a lot of improvements in our audience behaviour – our original content outperformed user-generated content for both views and engagement”, said King. “We saw longer view times, more meaningful conversations and noticed our audience tagging more of their network of friends in content to share the experience.”

In addition to building their brand identity with this technique, GiveMeSport’s new hyper-original content strategy contributed to significantly higher distribution across the Facebook ecosystem. Original videos not only reflect the unique voice and value of the Page that creates them, but they’re also one of the key signals that Facebook uses to determine how, when and where videos are surfaced on the platform. This ultimately led to increased video revenue for GiveMeSport via in-stream ads, making their Page a sustainable source of revenue for their business as a whole.

“Facebook mid-roll have gone from generating minimal revenue in early 2020 to being a significant contributor to our business in the last two months”, added King.

Sustainable revenue stream on Facebook

On the heels of their new strategy, GiveMeSport focused on optimising each piece of content with the below goals in mind to create a sustainable revenue model out of their efforts:

Goal 1: Program a majority of content as long-form (3+ minutes in length)

  • GiveMeSport increased their total long-form VOD uploads by more than 70% and increased their total share of Facebook content made up of long-form to nearly 90%

Goal 2: Analyse and optimise towards 1+ minute views on all VOD content

  • GiveMeSport utilised Creator Studio and CrowdTangle to track this metric and found that when they focused on a storytelling approach that incorporated talent, they had more intentional viewership

On Creator Studio, GiveMeSport studied the following statistics to most efficiently program their content to generate Facebook video revenue:

  • Video metrics: 1+ minute views, average engaged time, engagement rate
  • Editorial metrics: Page views, average engaged time, engagement rate
  • Image metrics: Engagements, engagement rate
  • Post-campaign KPIs: Shares, comments, new followers, ad CPMs, earnings

Looking ahead

GiveMeSport continues to program 90% of their VOD content as long-form video and continues to grow their Facebook video revenue by an average of 38% month over month. Richer content performance and a highly engaged audience has also allowed the company to open up an additional revenue stream with branded content. This is because success with 1+ minute Facebook video views and a growing engagement rate have made GiveMeSport’s content more valuable for potential sponsors.
“Brands are noticing how our audience [is] engaging with our influencers in our content, which is another element to our success”, added King. “With this natural, authentic connection, the content performs better while also achieving the objectives for the campaigns.”
For further information please contact harriet@snack-media.com
Author avatar

Harriet Lewis

Harriet is a project manager at Snack Media.

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