Sports Media Report
The National Lacrosse League (NLL), the largest and most successful professional lacrosse property in the world, today announced it will improve the League’s ability to share real-time game highlights with its fans through a new partnership with Grabyo, the leading cloud-based video production, editing and distribution platform.
“As we continue to focus on enhancing the fan experience with our digital-first strategy, we realize the value of speed and ease of use in getting video to our fans wherever and however they are consuming content,” NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz said. “This partnership gives us a best in class capability to meet those needs and fits perfectly with our plans to push the envelope in engagement with anyone who loves the speed and athleticism of our elite athletes.”
The content will be selected, curated, and published by a team of game night producer/editors and social media producers working across all League games.
“We have always seen lacrosse as a growth sport because of the demo of the audience and their high engagement rate across digital. The NLL is both best in class and the most successful business in the sport” said Michael Kelly, President, Americas at Grabyo. “Our cloud-based platform provides the ability to turn around premium quality video in real time, allowing NLL to reach and engage with fans across multiple platforms and devices.
The league will use Grabyo’s browser-based video platform to produce and share highlights, instantly across its social channels. The NLL will deliver clips optimized for mobile viewing, building on its fan-first digital strategy tailored to modern sports audiences.
The partnership will reduce the time and resources needed to build a meaningful content proposition across social media.
NLL fans will experience the new, in game highlights feature with the launch of the 2019-20 NLL season on November 29.
The NLL is North America’s largest and most premier professional lacrosse league, ranking third in average attendance for pro indoor sports, with 13 teams in key markets across North America. The NLL experienced substantial growth last season with nearly a million total ticket sales, a 28-percent increase from 2017-18, and 60 percent of ticket sales were from people who never played lacrosse. Digital viewership also rose significantly through Turner and B/R Live, showing substantial increases in total unit sales (up 151 percent from last year), average unique viewers (+27 percent) and average minute audiences (+14 percent). Sponsorship revenues are projected at a 29-percent increase from 2018 to 2019.
