TikTok Ball Sports Audience Content Opportunity Analysis™ Q4 2022
Content Opportunity Methodology
- Measure & Categorize: Sample a large number of social posts to find ones that are significantly outperforming the average.
- Identify Top Themes: Identify the themes that are resonating most with the audience by sorting the themes by their aggregated performance metrics.
- Identify a Benchmark: Identify content themes that are performing above and under an average benchmark for the industry based on views & engagements.
- Identify Opportunities: Look at the data and find the content themes that are resonating with the audience based on a set of top creators.
- Repeat For Each Platform: Repeat the analysis for every platform that matters to your brand and audience to find platform-specific opportunities.
Tik Tok Content Bucket Definitions
- Fan Behaviour: Videos depicting the stunts and behaviour of ball sports fans at games and in the presence of professional athletes.
- Standout Baskets and Plays: Single takes or multiple clips each highlighting an impressive basketball play. Videos hone in on shots, blocks and steals and include footage from both NBA and amateur-level games.
- Ball Sports Humour: Funny, sports-related skits and clips of comedic moments related to ball sports. Top videos in this category are Football related.
- Athlete Personalities: Videos in this category shed light on the personalities of professional athletes. They include interview clips of personal questions, and shots of how these players interact with teammates, fans and family.
- Basketball Esports: Videos that show the gameplay and production of basketball-related esports including NBA 2K and Wii Basketball.
- Training and Drills: Amateur and professional athletes performing football or basketball drills during training.
- Football Shots and Saves: This category features clips of incredible goals and saves from talented football players during games.
- Animated Football Short: These videos come from goalglobal and are cross-posted as YouTube Shorts. They depict scenes related to professional footballers and teams in comic-style shorts typically with a comedic tone.
- Football News and Gossip: News, opinions, and gossip in the football world including list-style reviews, roundtable discussions, and breaking news about players and clubs.
- Basketball News and Gossip: News, opinions, and basketball-related gossip covering draft picks, players and game results.
- Gameday BTS: This footage gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on on the way to the stadium, in the dressing room, and on the field on game day.
Excellent performing content categories for the Ball Sports audience on TikTok include:
Good performing content categories for the Ball Sports audience on TikTok include:
Substandard performing content categories for the Ball Sports audience on TikTok include:
Low performing content categories for the Ball Sports audience on TikTok include:
Content Opportunities:
1. Fan Behaviour
Videos depicting the stunts and behaviour of ball sports fans at games and in the presence of professional athletes. The top videos in this category film “pitch invaders” as they storm the field in the middle of a football match. Both examples shown feature passionate Lionel Messi fans.
Tactics to Implement:
- Ironic Music: The first video below shows footballer and YouTube entertainer, IShowSpeed (who openly dislikes Messi) being shown a Messi jersey by a fan. In the background, his own song, Ronaldo, plays. In the second video below the song, Another Love plays as the fan jumps into Messi’s arms.
- On-Screen Captions: On-screen text gives context to the video content and acts as a visual hook in thumbnails to increase views.
Top Format:
- Duration: 0:18 & 0:17
- # of Hashtags: 7 & 6
8M Views
1.5M Views
2. Standout Baskets & Plays
Single takes or multiple clips each highlighting an impressive basketball play. Videos hone in on shots, blocks and steals and include footage from both NBA and amateur-level games.
Tactics to Implement:
- Visual Effects: Videos use slow motion to hone in on the impressive parts of the play. The first video below is played at full speed before showing the shot again in slow motion. In the second video below, the fake in each play is slowed down so viewers can see the details of the move.
- Concise Captions: Top videos in this category are from ESPN and each one includes a concise video caption and an on-screen caption, both are followed by an emoji.
Top Format:
- Duration: 0:17 & 0:22
- # of Hashtags: 5 & 3
4.9M Views
5M Views
3. Ball Sports Humour
Funny, sports-related skits and clips of comedic moments related to ball sports. The top videos in this category are Football related.
Tactics to Implement:
- Re-posting: Sportsbible re-shares videos with viral potential sent in by followers. The first video below was originally posted on the Instagram account may_gonlazes5 in 2018 and subsequently picked up by ESPN and other sports outlets in 2021. The second video below was re-posted from kayladunham and it generated 6.5M views more than the original post.
- On-Screen Text: The on-screen caption used in both videos, “Wait for it...😂” acts as a hook and encourages viewers to watch until the end.
Short and Sweet: The top 5 videos in this category range from 7-19 seconds.
Top Format:
- # of Hashtags: 4 & 4
4.6M Views
1.8M Views
Viral Videos: These videos were omitted from their content buckets as ‘viral’ outliers for exceeding 3x the views and engagements (V+E) of their respective benchmarks.
Fan Behaviour
Content: A young Ronaldo fan is greeted with a hug and an autograph after getting past security while they try to hold the crowd back from the athletes.
37.8M Views
Football Shots & Saves
Content: Reposted 16-second clip from a women’s college soccer game showcasing an incredible assist and goal. Video of this play went viral on SportsCentre, House of Highlights, CNN, and ESPN.
27.7M Views
Basketball News & Gossip
Content: Former pro-basketball players Shaquille O’Neal and Ryan Hollins debate the greatest basketball players of all time in this clip from ESPN’s First Take series. The video garnered more than double the views than the extended version posted on ESPN’s YouTube channel.
14.8M Views
Viral Videos: These videos were omitted from their content buckets as ‘viral’ outliers for exceeding 3x the views and engagements (V+E) of their respective benchmarks.
Athlete Personalities
Content: Rafeal Nadel shows his soft side after accidentally hitting a ball girl during a match. ESPN pairs the footage with a post-match image of the two. On-screen text is used to add context to the video and the original colour commentary is included.
9.5M Views
Gameday BTS
Content: This video weaves footage together from Man City’s dressing room, the match, interview clips and post-match celebrations to tell the story of Manchester City’s comeback in the Premier League championship game.
3.3M Views
Basketball Evolution
Content: This content features a display of the evolution of basketball hoops. The camera follows as a boy sinks a basket into each one.
18.1M Views
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