Score Big: How Sports Publishers Can Profit During Major Sporting Events
Get ready to score big, because we’re talking about how sports publishers can make serious cash during major sporting events.
It’s no secret that sports fans go wild during these events, and that means they’re constantly on the lookout for news, updates, and everything in between.
As a publisher, you have a front-row seat to the action, and with the right strategy, you can capitalize on the excitement and make serious bank.
From the 2022 Champions League to Lionel Messi joining Paris Saint Germain in 2021, we’re breaking down the secrets of one sports publisher who hit it out of the park during these major sporting events.
So grab your jersey, and let’s kick it off!
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Case Study 1: 2022 Champions League Final
The Champions League Final in 2022 had a record-breaking viewership of 2.76 million people! But the TV wasn’t the only place where people tuned in.
Publishers, especially in the sports vertical, also made some serious cash by creating content dedicated to this huge event.
This was particularly true for our sporting publisher, who scaled his impressions to over 90 million and made $32,000 in profits with some clever marketing strategies.
A breakdown of this publisher’s 2022 traffic volumes during the Champions League.
The details:
| Testing Period: 15th – 28th of May, 2022 Target GEO: Brazil Primary Tactic: Posting links with short captions about upcoming matches to social media and dedicated sports sites |
His strategy was to generate excitement before and during the event. He used dedicated sports websites and social media to promote match highlights and to direct users to his site.
He also worked with his Account Manager to prepare for traffic surges, so he was always ready to take advantage of key moments.
For example, when Newcastle beat Arsenal 2-0 in the Premier League, he made sure to promote the upcoming Champions League Final with a highlight from this moment.
In addition, he used push notifications to inform his users of League Final highlights when his traffic volumes began to dip.
This strategy is what helped him achieve that whopping 90 million impressions and over $32,000 in profits.
Case Study 2: UEFA Europa League 2022
On a different website, this same publisher posts football reruns. This case breaks down the data from when he posted the rerun of the Europa League Final to his site.
This publisher’s traffic volumes during the 2022 UEFA Europa League
The details:
| Testing Period: 5th – 19th of May, 2022 Primary Tactics: Promotion on social media and related websites, and sending push notifications at specific times |
Even though this publisher didn’t feature the live match, instead posting highlights and reviews a day later on May 19th, he still drove incredible results.
Like the Champions League Final, his secret to success was building excitement two weeks ahead of the event via social media/relevant sites and making his website known as the place to go to learn about the final.
Once again, he sent push notifications to remind users about the highlights when his traffic started to dip. This is why his impressions remain steady and constant over the two weeks.
This strategy resulted in an impressive 7 million impressions in one day, resulting in over $34,000 in profit and reaching over 29 million users.
Case study 3: UEFA Europa League 2021
If we go even further back in time, we can see more stellar performance from this sporting publisher.
The details:
| Testing Period: 1st to 10th of May, 2021 Primary Tactics: Posting highlights during highly anticipated group stage matches and preparing his websites in advance of traffic surges |
In 2021, during the Europa League group stages, this publisher shared highlights that gained over 26 million impressions in one day.
His secret?
On May 6th, he shared his highlights from two matches: Arsenal vs. Villarreal and Roma vs. Manchester United.
The surge of impressions this publisher received during the UEFA Europa League in 2021
Our publisher shared his insight and advice to other publishers based on his stellar performance during this sports event,
“Group stage match days are real traffic generators. Just prepare your websites for the traffic surge. Lucky for me, I work with a very experienced Account Manager, and she gives me a heads-up before important events to set everything in order. And, as she likes to say, that includes paying providers ahead of time to avoid any inconveniences.”
Case Study 4: Paris Saint Germain Signs Lionel Messi in 2021
In the final case study from this publisher, we’re talking about how Paris Saint Germain signed Lionel Messi to join Kylian MBappe, and Neymar Jr on their team in 2021, the exciting matches that followed, and how this publisher capitalized on this historic football transfer.
Our publisher even gave his two cents, saying,
“For all non-believers, remember when Lionel Messi joined PSG back in August 2021? Fans from around the world were ecstatic to finally witness the dream team of Lionel Messi, Kylian MBappe, and Neymar Jr on a football field.”
The details:
| Testing Period: 15th to the 29th of August, 2021 Primary Tactics: Posting match highlights, sharing news on social media and sports sites, and using push notifications |
Our publisher’s traffic volumes during the matches with the new, all-star PSG team.
This publisher attracted millions of impressions on the days following the all-star Paris Saint Germain matches. There were particularly impressive spikes of over 3 million impressions on August 15th, after the PSG vs. Strasbourg match, and on the 21st and 22nd, following the Brest vs. PSG match.
We can see the highest number of impressions was credited to August 20th, after the Ligue 1 match between Reims and PSG – this publisher gained a massive 9.2 million impressions.
His secret?
Once again, he made use of highlights, social media and related sites, and personalized push notifications.
How to Replicate this Publisher’s Success
If we break down the learnings from each case study, replicating this publisher’s success is simple.
Let’s look at the 5 steps you can take to scale your impressions and profits during the next big sporting event:
- Promote early and often: Start promoting your website’s unique value at least two weeks before the event starts. Use relevant social media sites and relevant websites as your core promotional platforms.
- Make the most of push notifications: Push notifications are the key to reviving traffic when it starts to lull. Send friendly reminders to your users to remind them to check out your relevant sports content.
- Use mindful messaging: Make sure your messages in push notifications, social media posts, and other promotions are relevant, personalized, and up-to-date with the latest information regarding the event.
- Prepare your site for high traffic volumes: If your site is well-known, you can expect an increase in traffic volumes during these events. You can prepare for this by making sure loading speeds, hosting, and servers are ready to handle the rise in traffic.
- Use winning ad formats: To ensure you get the best results possible, use the best-performing ad formats for your website vertical and audience. Our specialists recommend OnClick Popunder and Direct Link ad formats.
Tips for the Best Performance During Sports Events
The Monetag team has a few recommendations for publishers to get the best performance possible during sports events:
- Boost 3 – 5 Popunders each half hour on days with crucial games, with a short gap in between each.
- Popups can also be shown via Sport In-Page Push skins. These skins make the ad more inviting to click on and drive higher engagement. Better yet, we offer custom designs for this ad format.
- Try ad combinations to boost your profit. We recommend combining Popunders + Vignette Banners or Popunders + In-Page-Push ads.
To Sum Up….
To sum it up, when it comes to sporting events and online publishing, it’s all about scoring big.
By following the strategies of successful sports publishers, you too can hit the back of the net and capitalize on the excitement surrounding these events.
With the right tactics, you can score three to ten times higher traffic volumes and profits than usual.
So don’t be left on the sidelines – suit up, get in the game, and score big with your audience.
