What Footballco has learnt from a year of player-led video

Footballco, the owner of major football media brands Goal, Indivisa, Mundial, and many more, moved towards player-led video across its social media channels a year ago - launching the strategy with the signing of England and West Ham (for now) star Declan Rice. 

12 months on, the media company has learnt a lot from the process, as well as seeing success - with more than 300 million views since inception across its GOAL channels. Broadcast Sport spoke to SVP of content & creative James Lamon about what the company has learnt from a year of focusing its content around the athletes.

With some players having bigger followings than clubs, and short-form video proving a hit with younger viewers, Lamon and Footballco believed that there was an opportunity to “disrupt the post-match interview” and tailor it to the YouTube generation.

Lamon explained: “We thought that long form, you know, five, ten, 15 minute videos with players were fun and entertaining, and they got the players to share. Their original anecdotes would be the most important aspect of this strategy. At the same time, we knew in order to maximise the opportunity to reach fans, we had to cut down cross-promote this video across every channel under the sun.

“So we did that. What we were surprised about is how much more effective it was in the shorter version. This ended up informing the creative process, and now we’re really thinking about trying to capture those moments instead of the 15 minutes. We still do the 15-minute that goes up there and dwell time is good, it’s evergreen… so there is still a value to have that hero longer piece of content. But the short pieces of content are making most of the views. And when I say most of views, I’m talking about well over 75% of the total viewers that we’ve achieved.”

This has had a knock-on effect with content: “This has changed the creative process, though, because now the right concepts need to really live well as a moment. We didn’t know it at the time, but Box To Box (where a player opens seven ‘mystery’ boxes) was seven magical boxes that you open one after the next. It’s the perfect sort of thing, right? Each one of those becomes a moment of opportunity and so that becomes a pretty important criteria if we’re going to greenlight a new pilot.”

Videos that have been particularly successful for Footballco over the past year have seen news cycles created by the content, for example when Erling Haaland admitted that he could have played for England, and when Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella found out that Jorginho was leaving the club mid-interview.

This was something that Footballco discovered over the past 12 months, and has since leaned into: “We can now use player-led video to break news and actually move not just from video platform to video platform, but onto our written platform social. We’ve done a much better job than in the early days. We would release a video and put it out there on YouTube, chop it down for a few other places and not tell anyone. Now we have a much more integrated approach across the company where we throw the switch for each release and everybody does their job.”

Going forward, Footballco hasn’t renewed its deal with Declan Rice, although may still work with the player in the future. The move was strategic, with the company hoping to work with a greater variety of players in future content, after needing consistency to launch its various formats. Lamon believes that while, “each player has their own personality,” that, “if we’re doing our jobs, they always look smart, they always look funny, they’re always interesting. So we take all comers.”

A lot of that comes from the production teams: “All of the video experts that we have are good at reading the moment, knowing the players. Knowing how to be respectful, but still open them up. People get a master’s in directing to try and unlock these same insights, and that’s what it takes. You have to really know the space. You have to know football really well. You have to know the players and their history. You have to show up having done your research, you know what they like and what they don’t like, what you do and work with their people. So there’s a lot of stakeholders to manage, but when you do it right, it’s amazing. It’s like lightning in a bottle.”

The relationship can be begun by Footballco, or players sometimes come to the company, with its global platform appealing to those who are looking to grow beyond their original fanbase - Lamon noted, “I think players are really savvy and they are beginning to realise their value as mega influencers”. While the UK and US are large parts of Footballco’s audience, “there’s always an outlier” according to Lamon, with a recent Raphael Varane video particularly popular in the Middle East. Wrexham has also been a big hit for the platform - recently edging out Tottenham to become part of the top six most-read clubs - despite less content being created about Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s side compared to the north London outfit.

Formats, such as Box To Box and Kit Collector, are an important part of the content, with Lamon likening their popularity to a TV show - if there was a different cast every week it would be hard to understand. Work does go into making them fit the player - for example, agents or family members are asked what should be put in Box To Box’s mystery containers, while keeping it a secret from the player themselves.

This can be expected to continue in the next 12 months, and Lamon also wants to broaden the countries that get coverage. The next year will see, “New formats. More new faces, players, maybe the return of some old faces, and I think more focused energy to attract players from different leagues outside the Premier League. We wanted to start there, it’s where our HQ is. We have captured some stuff from players elsewhere a few times, but we feel like the next chapter is bringing in more international. And I also think when you read about the high profile transfers, Ronaldo and Benzema in the Middle East, Messi in Miami, it becomes evident that the biggest personalities in the game are on the move. So we have to move with that. There’s going to be more attention on those leagues and those teams, and that’s an opportunity for us to tell that story.”