At Nielsen Sports, we’re monitoring the online trends across social media as COVID-19 continues to impact the sport and entertainment landscape with events being postponed and cancelled across the globe. Athletes, teams and leagues are finding new and creative ways to engage with fans and throughout this period, we’ll be putting together a social media best practice snapshot-list for you. Keep up to speed with the best initiatives close to real-time.
Here’s what’s new…
Brand-Led Initiatives
- Ab Inbev diverts sports and entertainment spending to coronavirus aid, releases ‘one team’ ad
- Nike encourages fans to play inside, play for the world
- Mercedes F1 help develop coronavirus breathing device for health service use
- BMW comes up with a creative way to promote protecting our older community
Virtual sports is quickly becoming the new normal
- Sky Sports decided to cover the virtual Bahrain Grand Prix, but how did viewers respond?
- Nielsen Sports uncovered how esports can help drive fan engagement in the absence of traditional sports in the La Liga Santander Challenge
- From 0 to 200: virtual Nascar takes over Esports amid sports blackout
- The actual Grand National may be off, but next weekend will still feature a televised Virtual Grand National
- NBA is considering the launch of NBA2K tournament only for the league players and it will be broadcast on ESPN
Donations and Community Support led by teams and athletes:
- Eintracht Frankfurt goes grocery shopping: The club has started a program to make grocery shopping purchases and deliveries for members who find themselves at risk of the virus
- Premier League players launch Football United campaign to help local communities
- Kyrie Irving partners with feed America to launch the Share A Meal campaign to help marginalized communities get food resources
Sporting Influencers sharing useful information with their followers:
- FC Bayern players Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich launching the #wekickcorona initiative
- Steph Curry talks all things COVID-19 with Dr. Fauci and encourages fans to submit their questions
- David Beckham encourages his followers to acknowledge the brave NHS workers
Creative ways Rights Holders are engaging their fan bases:
- Alba Berlin has begun sharing daily sports lessons for children and teens on their YouTube page to make sure that they stay active while at home
- Saracens launch #togetheractive to encourage fans to stay active
- Wolves launch esports tournament portal
- Liverpool FC helps tackle social isolation through LFC Connect initiative, where the LFC Foundation and Fan Experience team have been busy contacting people to chat on the phone
For more information on our social listening services, please contact know@nielsen.com