Social Content Opportunities for the Basketball Audience on Instagram in Q3 2023

Purpose of This Research

• ‍Identify white space content opportunities for Instagram 
• ‍Identify replicable production elements (formats, editing techniques, etc.) that contribute to those content opportunities
• ‍Identify content themes that are not performing well and may be avoided

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Top Instagram content themes in the Basketball space.

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Good Instagram content themes in the Basketball space.

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Okay Instagram content themes in the Basketball space.

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Poor Instagram content themes in the Basketball space.

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Shocking Point Score

Showcase moments where a point is scored unexpectedly.

Capture the exciting moments when a point gets scored in a unique way during a game.

Production Elements From Top Performing Posts

• ‍13 seconds in duration on average. 
• Capture the raw emotions of excitement, joy, and surprise from the audience after an unexpected point is scored during a basketball game.
• Employ the slow-motion effect to heighten the intensity of the epic moment when a point is scored after a difficult play during a game.
• Incorporate footage that showcases the excitement of the player who successfully scores a point.
• Create a compilation of exciting and unexpected moments during games, featuring instances where points are scored unexpectedly.

Examples

Views 12M | Engagements 1.7M

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Views 11M | Engagements 941K

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Views 9.8M | Engagements 2.9M

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Editing Athletes into Memes

Use creative edits to make light hearted memes.

Create hilarious content by turning clips of athletes in a game into memes by overlaying humorous captions, emojis, or graphics that match the actions or expressions of the players. 

Production Elements From Top Performing Posts

• ‍17 seconds in duration on average. 
• Title the content similar to "Who Made This⁉️😭" to create intrigue and anticipation among viewers and make your content easily recognizable. 
• Creatively edit athletes' movements during a game into hilarious and unexpected memes (like sliding onto a baseball plate) and use audio to make a statement (i.e: the video plays different music when the meme is shown). 
• Get the audience to participate in the video edits of games to foster a sense of collaboration and build a stronger connection to the brand by making them active contributors to the content.

Examples

Views 15M | Engagements 662K

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Views 9.3M | Engagements 926K

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Views 6.3M | Engagements 690K

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Athlete Career Highlight

Inspire admiration and respect for athletes.

Present a series featuring athletes that not only showcases their player stats but also elevates their best moments on the court.

Production Elements From Top Performing Posts

• ‍56 seconds in duration on average. 
• Overlay clips of the athlete playing basketball with player stats such as their age, height, weight, shoe size, and wing span. 
• Showcase an athlete's impressive performance by creating a compilation video using the moments where an athlete is scoring points.
• Enhance the accessibility of your videos by providing narration and subtitles for the content.
• Celebrate the remarkable achievements and impressive statistics of athletes by highlighting each player's unique skills and talents.

Examples

Views 11M | Engagements 156K

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Views 6.6M | Engagements 133K

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Views 4.4M | Engagements 161K

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Smooth Dribbling Moves

Showcase an athlete’s skillful & precise moves.

Capture the mesmerizing moments of an athlete's smooth dribbling moves as they skillfully outmaneuver their opponents and score points.

Production Elements From Top Performing Posts

• ‍15 seconds in duration on average. 
• Highlight the isolated moments when an athlete single-handedly takes on their opponent and maneuvers their way smoothly to a point. 
• Encourage the audience to watch until the end of the video by using a caption with emojis like “Wait for it 😂🔥”. 
• Experiment with various filming angles during a game, including up-close shots to capture the intricate skill moves of athletes, as well as bird's-eye view angles to showcase their smooth navigation around multiple opponents.

Examples

Views 12M | Engagements 1.2M

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Views 10M | Engagements 1.3M

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Views 3M | Engagements 594K

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Athletes & Their Families

Offer glimpses into athletes’ lives outside of the game.

Showcase heartwarming moments where athletes interact with members of their families, providing a more personal and relatable perspective on their journey.

Production Elements From Top Performing Posts

• ‍17 seconds in duration on average. 
• Overlaying moments of athletes talking about their children or other family members with clips of them playing ball together.
• Spotlight moments where an athlete acknowledges their family members during a game. 
• Share glimpses into an athlete's personal life, such as playing basketball in the living room with their family.
• Reveal the personal side of athletes by showcasing their interactions with their families, capturing touching moments that highlight the importance of family both on and off the court.

Examples

Views 6.7M | Engagements 370K

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Views 2.1M | Engagements 310K

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Views 1.6M | Engagements 136K

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Viral Outliers

Viral Outlier posts exceed the average view and engagement benchmark for their content theme by 3x.

Dunking on Hoops

Create a series featuring athletes showcasing their dunking skills, while encouraging viewers to participate by submitting their best dunking moments, fostering a sense of community engagement and celebrating the excitement of basketball.

Views 22M | Engagements 3.8M

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Roleplaying Athletes

Produce light-hearted and entertaining content that playfully exaggerates and roleplays athletes' typical moves and expressions during a game.

Views 16M | Engagements 675K

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Basketball Skill Improvement Tips

Create educational videos that provide a comprehensive list of skills like “fakes” and provide tips on the skills to help viewers learn and improve their game. 

Views 15M | Engagements 276K

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Jumping Vertical

Create a "Vertical Challenge" series that puts athletes to the test, measuring the height of their jaw-dropping vertical high jumps.

Views 10M | Engagements 220K

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Dunking on Hoops

Create a "High Flyer Dunks" series where athletes take flight and reach extreme air time and height when performing their gravity-defying dunks on the hoop. 

Views 8.9M | Engagements 1.3M

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Explaining the Plays

Take viewers behind the scenes of each game or create a 1 vs 1 tournament, like this video and provide an in-depth analysis and context for every match and the players involved. 

Views 8.3M | Engagements 399K

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Content Theme Definitions

Shocking Point Score: Capture the exciting moments when a point gets scored in an unexpected way during a game.

‍Editing Athletes into Memes: Edit action clips of athletes and turn them into a hilarious meme.

Athlete Career Highlight:  Showcase athletes’ player stats and their best moments on the court.

Smooth Dribbling Moves: Capture an athlete's smooth moves as they skillfully outmaneuver their opponents and score points.

Athletes & Their Families: Showcase personal heartwarming moments where athletes interact with members of their families.

Tag a Friend: Overlay funny captions on top of game clips that encourages viewers to tag a friend, thereby increasing engagement.

Basketball Skill Improvement Tips: Create educational videos that demonstrate and provide tips on a variety of different basketball skills.

Teammate Bonds: Showcase moments where athletes go above and beyond to help a fellow teammate avoid injury or penalty.

Athletes Hanging Out: Share moments of athletes having fun outside of a game, such as free styling in a car together. 

Basketball Point Challenge: Create a challenge for athletes to participate in, such as scoring 3’s while lying down. 

Epic Defence: Highlight moments during a game where athletes showcase amazing defence skills against the other team. 

Dunking on Hoops: Create short slow-motion videos that showcase moments where an athlete performs a spectacular dunk on a hoop. 

Jumping Vertical: Challenge athletes to a vertical test and measure the height of their jaw-dropping high jumps.

Explaining the Plays: Breaking down a game by providing the context, players involved, and the outcome of the game. 

Roleplaying Athletes: Light-hearted content that playfully exaggerates and roleplays athletes' typical moves and expressions during a game.

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Instagram Accounts Included in the Analysis

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*For videos in this content category. View + Engagement data collected via direct social media platform API.

*Measured by Average Views + Engagements