Social Content Opportunities for the Ski Audience on YouTube in Q1 2023

Key Takeaways

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Top content opportunities in Q1 2023 for the Ski audience on YouTube include:

• Backcountry Freeski: Short films from Nikolai Schirmer ascending crazy terrains and documenting his backcountry adventures.

• Athlete Ski Vlogs: Athletes vlogging a typical day on the slopes and sharing non-ski related personal moments with viewers. 

• Short Film:Short films cast with skillful athletes aimed at sharing the passion and beauty of skiing through cinematic shots.

• Beginner’s Guide:Educational videos aimed at instructing new skiers on various techniques and skills.

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How the Social Content Opportunity Analysis™ Methodology Works

1. ‍Measure & Categorize Posts. Sample a large number of social posts to find ones that are significantly outperforming the average.
2. ‍Identify Top Themes. Identify the themes that are resonating most with the audience by sorting the themes by their aggregated performance metrics.
3. ‍Measure The Benchmark. Identify content themes that are performing above and under an average benchmark for the industry based on views & engagements.
4. ‍Identify & Rank Opportunities. Look at the data and find the content themes that are resonating with the audience based on a set of top creators.
5. ‍Repeat For Each Platform. Repeat the analysis for every platform that matters to your brand and audience to find platform-specific opportunities.

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YouTube Content Bucket Definitions

• Backcountry Freeski: Short films from Nikolai Schirmer ascending crazy terrains and documenting his backcountry adventures.
• Athlete Ski Vlogs: Athletes vlogging a typical day on the slopes and sharing non-ski related personal moments with viewers. 
• Short Film: Short films cast with skillful athletes aimed at sharing the passion and beauty of skiing through cinematic shots.
• Beginner's Guide: Educational videos aimed at instructing new skiers on various techniques and skills. 
• Documentary: Long-form content that features high-level production filming to tell a story about skiing at its finest.
• Off-Season Training: Vlog-style footage that showcases athletes shredding indoor during the off-season.
• Athlete vs. Athlete: Two athletes battle it out at a terrain park by performing a sequence of agreed upon tricks.  
• Event Recap Vlog: Vlog-style footage of athletes filming their entire experience at ski events.
• Physics Lesson: Real Skifi teaches viewers about physics by experimenting with Newton’s laws through ski jumps and flips.
• Athlete Spotlight: Short-form content that highlights the agile skills of an athlete through close-up shots of their skiing form.
• Athlete Series: Get to know athletes though episodic series where skiing, their personality and elements of their day-to-day life are showcased.

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Backcountry Freeski is an extreme performing content opportunity, averaging 3x the views & engagement rate on YouTube.

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Excellent performing content categories for the Ski audience on YouTube include:

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Good performing content for the Ski audience on YouTube include:

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Substandard performing content for the Ski audience on YouTube include:

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Low performing content for the Ski audience on YouTube include:

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Content Opportunities:

1. Backcountry Freeski

Short films from the skier and filmmaker Nikolai Schirmer ascending crazy terrains and documenting his backcountry adventures.

Tactics to Implement:

• Intro Summary: This video starts off by summarizing the context of the video (skiing with his brother) and entices the viewer to watch further as it highlights a cliffhanger (i.e: brother is shown falling down the. mountain).
• Providing Context: Nikolai Schirmer povides background information for viewers via voice-over.
• Perfectly Paired Music: In both videos, the music comes in only during dramatic moments such as when the athlete reaches the summit or when danger is arising. The music helps enhance and transmute the emotions the athletes felt in the moment to the viewers.

Content Opportunities:

• Raw Emotions: Showcase the athletes sharing their genuine emotions of fear, excitement and admiration towards the sport and fellow athletes.

462K  Views

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437K  Views

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2. Athlete Ski Vlogs

Athletes vlogging a typical day on the slopes and sharing non-ski-related personal moments with viewers.

Tactics to Implement:

• Video Chapters: Lucas Catania organizes his videos into different sections for viewers to easily skip or rewatch their sections of interest.
• Slope Information: In the top left corner of both videos, Lucas adds in the slope difficulty (such as black diamond) and chair lift name so that viewers who want to try out the run know exactly where it is.

Content Opportunities:

• Personal Stories: Connect on a more personal level with viewers by sharing private moments; such as when Lucas shared why he loves hash browns so much.
• Opening Day Vlogs: Capitalize on the excitement of opening day by vlogging about being one of the first people to ski when the resort opens up for the season.

119K  Views

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116K Views

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3. Short Film

Short films cast with skillful athletes aimed at sharing the passion and beauty of skiing through cinematic shots.

Tactics to Implement:

• Duration: Videos in this category range from 2-7 minutes.
• Trick Shot Compilation: This video features multiple athletes performing jumps, spins, and tricks on the slopes.
• Carving Angles: This video features multiple angles of athletes carving together to create a beautiful S-shaped carving in the snow.
• High Quality: Both videos are filmed in 4K.

Content Opportunities:

• Highly Skilled: Highlight the athletes’ skill & precision by making their speed and agility look playful and easy by showcasing their performance in a sequence.
• Camaraderie: Showcase the close bonds between the athletes by sharing moments such as their conversations on the slopes.

215K  Views

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135K Views

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4. Beginner’s Guide

Educational videos aimed at instructing new skiers on various techniques and skills. 

Tactics to Implement:

• Duration: Videos in this category range from 1-14 minutes.
• Short & Sweet: This video teaches viewers a skill in less than 1 minute. 
• Aerial & POV Footage: Both videos provide multiple angles to help the viewer comprehend the lesson better.

Content Opportunities:

• Backstory: Give viewers the background story about how the instructor learned the skill he is about to teach. 
• Wipeouts: Include a part where the instructor wipes out. This helps beginner skiers relate to the video more. 
• Breaking It Down: Break down learning into several different sections: background story, skills needed, practice drill, and additional helpful tips.

150K Views

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90K Views

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Outliers:

These videos were omitted from their content buckets as ‘viral’ outliers for exceeding 3x the views and engagements of their respective benchmarks.

Behind the Scenes

Content: Andri Ragettli shows fun behind-the-scenes content on a creative filming collaboration. The video showcases him performing jumps and backflips before skiing right onto the train. 

132K Views

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Athlete Series

Content: This is the first episode of a video series featuring a behind-the-scenes look into the life of Mikaela Shiffrin. 

102K Views

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Trailer

Content: This trailer promotes the short film “Beauty Full Send” by jumping right into the action within the first second of the video. The video is short and contains clips of an athlete sending it at full speed. 

68K Views