*** 8th November 2021*** - Please note, the plugin we were working on to allow easy construction of highlights videos was never finished so video creation would need to be done yourself but there are plenty of solutions out there. The article content is still relevant.

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Many sports club are struggling just now.

A blunt opening sentence perhaps but vast numbers across the country, at all levels, and not limited to any one sport, are battling the tough situation of reduced income, while outgoings are still being paid.

The bedrock of so many communities, sports clubs are feeling the pinch with many leagues having postponed a multitude of fixtures through 2020 and into 2021.

While not all clubs are losing up to £5m every game with no fans allowed into grounds, as Manchester United have stated, the limited number of fans being allowed into grounds across the country is having a drastic effect on club finances.

Caerphilly RFC were extremely transparent on Twitter this week regarding their plight and created the infographic below showing their monthly outgoings.

Sponsorship money, so often a key component of income is under strict pressures, given the increasingly difficult financial landscapes that are certainly not exclusive to just sports clubs.

In past days, where a business may have donated sums of money to a local community club with the full knowledge their money could probably provide a better return elsewhere, they effectively write part of it off because of their emotional connection with the club. With the greater financial scrutiny that commercial firms find themselves under, this type of donation will only become rarer and rarer.

It may sound obvious but clubs, leagues and governing bodies need to get creative and look at alternative, digital-first strategies to bring in stable revenue streams.

Utilising Social Media audiences has been ‘a thing’ for going on five years now, but from our experience, many clubs – from all sports – are only scratching the surface of what is really possible.

“Sports clubs social media is the next-level frontier where fans can participate and engage with their favourite teams.” – Alex Raby

Research into the statistics around Video for websites shows some stark reminders about the power of video (Source)

• Video generates 3x as many monthly visitors to a website than other content
• Visitors spend 88% more time on a website that includes video
• Consumers are 46% more likely to seek information after viewing a video

Research around the use of video for Social Media proves equally strong:

• One-third of Social Media usage is consumed through video content (Source)
• Video posted on social media generates 1200% more shares than text and image content combined. (Source)
• 75% of all mobile data traffic worldwide will be video by 2021 (Source)
• 93% of brands got a new customer because of a video on social media (Source)

In Wyzowl's 'State of Video Marketing in 2020' one of the major standouts was those who invest their time into video see a major return:

• "There has been an almost unfaltering rise in the number of people reporting a positive ROI from video. Back in 2015, only a third said they got a good ROI. That number more than doubled in the following 12 months, and has since seen further increases, peaking this year at 88%."

And, in similar vein to increasing video use, the largest growth area in social media motivations between 2016 and 2019 has been to watch or follow sporting events.

It's not difficult to see that video is a hugely powerful asset when it comes to sport.

Accessing a Video Camera and filming matches is, for the large part, now considered imperative for both learning and performance reasons, but also for sharing video highlights to club members and supporters who cannot be at every match in person.

With that said, the days of simply finding some tries from the video and punting them out on Social Media, without additional graphics, represents a missed opportunity to properly engage your community of people who regularly watch your videos.

The emergence of Instagram Stories as the most popular feature on the most-widely used Social Media platform makes it imperative for videos to be engaging with lots going on.

The videos don't have to be perfect, fans prefer authenticity, but there does need to be elements of additional explanations whether it be gifs, text annotations, player names to keep focused audiences. Digital Natives have high expectations!

While not every sports club has access to the Manchester City marketing video team who produce multiple high-end weekly productions for their YouTube channel of 2.84 million subscribers, there are some easy-wins to help your club both engage supporters through highlights but also generate much-needed cash with them.

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Use Analytics to show the possible reach of your videos to sponsors.

Every platform these days makes it easy to show viewing figures of a video and the reach of the post accompanied. For many community clubs, their match day attendance will not be in the four figures area. A simple highlights video can easily reach and be seen by a larger number of people than would have been at the match. Pulling together Analytics from different platforms remains the easiest and most straightforward way to convince sponsors of the merit for staying involved.

Add a Company/Business Watermark to the Video

I actually just went through YouTube channels for over ten clubs in Scotland and not one had a Watermark in any of the corners while the video was playing!

Some had views of 500, some ranged up to 5,000. Think of the added exposure a sponsor could get by having their logo for the duration of the short highlights video!

Create Contextual Relevance by adding the score to your videos

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Every wondergoal or 'worldie' try scored is related to the context of the game.

How often do you see Try of the Month awards or Goal of the Season prizes given to a play that happens in the last moments of the game? Adding the score to your highlights allows fans to grasp exactly where the game was placed and allows insight into why players make certain decisions, capturing the moment in far greater relevance.

Insert Player Names, their Number and their Sponsor when a Try is Scored

Most players these days have Player Sponsors. If they score, the player's sponsor gets added exposure. Let's be honest, if a player scores they are more likely to like or share the video.

Use the Advertisement Boards to Your Advantage

If sponsors can't be there during the game, make them aware of the added awareness they are getting through the use of post-match video.

Screenshot the video if necessary and tag the sponsor in on a post when it goes live following the match. Give sponsors the freedom to come up with interesting, engaging advertisements. Sell boards that face the video at a higher value.

Use Coach Logic and our Plugin and Do It Yourself in under 30 minutes!

We have created a simple way for you to tick off lots of the aspects mentioned above, to get your sponsors onboard (and paying more) which, best of all, can be completed in less than 30 minutes!

Step 1: Find 'Match Highlight' moments

We've always portrayed the benefits of Collaborative Video Analysis and always will.

Use your whole team's resource to find the important moments from a match. Added Benefit: it aids their learning and creates students of the game.

Your team's tries/goals/points can all be clipped/tagged by anyone in your squad. Everyone understands what the main moments are in their sport. The red button on Coach Logic allows you to easily select the start and endpoint of the video showing the try/goal/points.

Step 2: Add all the clips to a Playlist called 'Match Highlights'.

Step 3: Get Your Data Together

For the plugin to work, you need:

• Match Score for the relevant clips you want to use in the Highlights video
• Goal / Try Scorer name and Player Sponsor
• Logo of Match Sponsor for the Video Watermark
• Your Club Logo and Opposition Logo
• Your Club Colours and Opposition Colours

Step 4: Open Up Premiere Pro

Our plugin currently works for Premiere Pro, which can be accessed for as little as £16 per month. Premiere Pro is market leading video editing software and by using this software you can use our plugin which allows for high-quality, and sponsor-friendly, videos to be created in under thirty minutes.

You add the clips to your video, and add the data in step 3. The final video will turn out like this:

Example Highlights Video

In Summary

A lot of clubs across the country film their games. For some, the video gets kept on one individual's computer, for some, it is shared via platforms like Coach Logic, others it may just be uploaded in full to YouTube with little to no interaction.

Getting the video is the hard part! (Which so many these days find easy and straightforward!). Some teams utilise parents, injured players or local students to film the game.

The next step is to use our suggested process above to create professional-looking highlights packages that take less than one's average commute to work pre-Covid-19.

Due to the aforementioned virus, clubs are fighting tooth and nail for financial survival.

Your match video has always been an important component - it is now even more so, and we're very keen to see more clubs use it wisely to create more commercial opportunities!

In true Nigel Owens fashion, "Use it or Lose it".