The Steelers are socially paving the way for how the league’s 31 other teams should best approach the use of YouTube to engage their fans.
There hasn’t been a better time to attract fans than during the COVID-19 pandemic that has otherwise brought the sports world to a halt.
It all began for the Steelers shortly after the NFL posted the full broadcast of Super Bowl 54 on its own YouTube channel in mid-March.
On March 29, the Steelers took to YouTube Premieres to bring fans a livestream of their Super Bowl 43 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Similar to a Facebook Watch Party, YouTube Premieres allows users to schedule a video upload and create a shareable public watch page.
“Obviously it was not live – it was a re-air – but we behaved as if [Super Bowl 43] was happening live and we were able to engage with some of our former players who were key figures in the game and then push that out to other platforms,” said Ryan Huzjak, Steelers director of corporate partnership and sales in an interview with Ed Moran of Front Office Sports. “That allowed us to engage and have some fun and get some reaction as if it was happening right then and there.”
According to Front Office Sports, the Steelers’ Livestream Premiere tallied more than 151,000 views – 192% more than average for other club live game premieres. Its 2.1 million total minutes watched was a 214% increase, while impressions (1.4 million, +36%), unique viewers (+155%), and engagement rate (+974%) also saw increases.
“In the last year, we grew 61% in terms of subscribers,” Huzjak said. “We’re just seeing more people subscribing to our channel and then obviously more people viewing, clicking, and spending time there as well.”
After a near 1,000% uptick in fan engagement, the Steelers’ approach to YouTube Premieres is being used as a game plan to share league-wide, according to a league spokesperson.
“We are excited to see the efforts made by our clubs like the Steelers to utilize YouTube in a way that creates deeper engagement points with our fans,” the NFL spokesperson said. “The success of activations like this help us develop best practices to share with other clubs.”
For those who enjoyed the reliving the glory of Super Bowl 43, or perhaps missed out, the team plans to livestream its other five Super Bowl victories over the next couple of months.
In the meantime, the Steelers YouTube channel has a ton of content from highlights to full-length player interviews for fans to check out.
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