March Madness is down to the Final Four! And amidst a culture of highlight reels and instant replays, video content has proven a powerful weapon for the NCAA’s social media teams as they face-off in the final stages of the tournament.
This week we used the TrackMaven platform to see how the final teams stack up on YouTube. As the Final Four competitors, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Duke, and Michigan State should have plenty of buzzer-beaters to stoke the fires with their fan bases. So which team is leading the pack?
Kentucky vs Wisconsin
Our first matchup is between the Kentucky Wildcats and Wisconsin Badgers. Both teams are major heavyweights on social channels, so this showdown is sure to be a good one.
First, we used the TrackMaven platform to compare the teams’ YouTube subscribes throughout March Madness. Kentucky has a solid lead over Wisconsin in total subscribers, with 24,000 versus 14,500 subscribers respectively.
Throughout the tournament, Kentucky also managed to build on their larger YouTube following. Kentucky’s YouTube audience has grown 8.61% throughout March Madness, compared Wisconsin’s 7.02% subscriber growth.
Let’s take a closer at the YouTube subscriber growth for both teams throughout the tournament. In the graph below, we can see that Wisconsin’s YouTube audience (purple) grew sharply after their March 22nd victory over Oregon.
After each subsequent win (over North Carolina on March 26th and Arizona on March 28th) Wisconsin’s audience growth increased further, reaching a 1.03% daily change in subscribers by the end of the month.
Kentucky’s YouTube audience growth, however, followed an opposite trend, spiking early in the tournament.
The Battle For YouTube Engagement
To get a better look at the content driving each team’s audience growth, we measured the total video views for each team’s YouTube content. The following graph compares total video views in March 2015 for both teams. Kentucky’s YouTube engagement dominance is clear, as the team’s nearly 750,000 video views dwarfs Wisconsin’s 160,000.
Things only get slightly better for Wisconsin when we normalize the YouTube views based on average views per video per 1,000 subscribers. Kentucky’s normalized engagement (450.21) is still significantly better than Wisconsin’s (138.73), making it difficult for us to even call this a close race.
On YouTube, Kentucky’s larger following and greater video engagement earns a decisive victory over Wisconsin.
Duke vs. Michigan State
Next up we’ve got the matchup between the 7th seed Michigan State and 1st seed Duke Blue Devils. If Duke’s performance on YouTube is anything like its Twitter and Instagram engagement, Michigan State is facing some stiff competition.
As the graph below shows, Duke’s YouTube fanbase is nearly triple that of Michigan State. Duke’s subscriber count approaches 34,000, while Michigan State’s nears 12,000.
This remains a David and Goliath matchup when we take a look at how the teams’ YouTube audiences have grown throughout the tournament. Duke’s YouTube audience grew 6.32% during March Madness 2014, while Michigan State’s saw only 2.49% growth in total subscribers.
Therefore, Duke not only started the tournament with a larger Youtube audience, but also grew at a larger rate relative to its size than Michigan State.
The Battle For YouTube Engagement
With its gargantuan YouTube audience, Duke proves to be a true YouTube powerhouse when we analyze the two teams’ total YouTube video views from across the tournament. Duke’s video content reaped five times more views than Michigan States’, with 450,000 versus 80,000 total views, respectively.
Even when we account for differences in the teams’ YouTube audience, Duke’s dominance is clear. Duke averaged 526 views per video per 1,000 followers during March Madness, double that of Michigan State at 208 average views per video per 1,000 followers.
Which YouTube Content Strategies Drove Success?
Our analysis of the Final Four teams’ YouTube content revealed Kentucky and Duke to be the clear winners. So what content marketing lessons can we learn from the Wildcats and Blue Devils?
For Kentucky, riffing off of pop culture proved a winning YouTube strategy. The team’s “Uptown Dunk” video, for example, reaped over 350,000 views and counting, 35 times more engagement than their average video.
Duke, however, proved a more consistent generator of YouTube hits. From a one-on-one showdown between Senior Quinn Cook and Dallas Cowboy Tony Romo to a two-minute March Madness hype video set to a soundtrack featuring The XX, the Blue Devils are a veritable YouTube hit factory.