Online sports video

What type of sports video have you found works best online and connects with readers? Pre- or postgame reports from writers? Player/coach locker room or podium interviews? Game highlights? Off-the-field features? Or something else entirely? Wondering about the best use of time and resources.

 

I put together videos for a radio station and did some of the same for ESPN Los Angeles.com for high school basketball playoffs.
I have found that the most popular videos are a combination of highlights and interviews with players.
I try to keep interviews to under a minute.
I try to include no more than five highlights from a game.
Brevity is key. People aren't looking for 15 minute highlight reels. They are looking for quick updates.
I have also found that videos are most popular with people ages 30-45. That tells me coaches, parents and family are probably watching the videos more than kids. I would have figured it would the other way around, with the kids watching and downloading, sharing on cell phones and such. But the numbers I get tell me something different.

 

We did a player of the week video in football that worked really well. We generally didn't have game footage because we picked the player based on each week's performances. So we'd have to take a look at what everyone did before we made a pick. But we'd go out and shoot some footage of the kid in practice early in the week and get a few minutes of interview footage. When we cut it all together we tried to hold the whole thing to around 2 minutes.

We did something similar for basketball season, but made it more of a spotlight on a team rather than player of the week because everyone plays twice a week and there's a lag between the time we shoot the footage and the time that it's edited and posted on the Web. We didn't want to feature a kid who then went out and and played like crap in his next game before we had a chance to get our video online. Football works well because the games are only once a week.

We also did wrapups on state football and basketball playoff games, though again, the delay in getting the stuff edited and online was a drawback. In general all these things got a pretty nice amount of traffic on our Web site. We plugged them in print and via Twitter and Facebook to make sure people knew they were there.

 

We've tried a few different things at the college level. People will watch a press conference, provided it doesn't go too long. But if it's a stand-up or I'm on camera we try and keep it to 3-4 minutes. Nobody wants to see my ugly mug for much longer than that. We've had some pretty good success with these. I agree that brevity is key. Using photos or highlights really adds to the quality, too.

A few examples (and a shameless chance to drum up a few hits):
A 1-on-1 interview with a player mixed in with some highlights the school was able to provide us: http://www.huskiewire.com/multimedia/videos/?id=69
Our newest venture, Football 101 with a player: http://www.huskiewire.com/multimedia/videos/?id=80
A video diary from a bowl game: http://www.huskiewire.com/multimedia/videos/?id=57
High school, but two local kids agree to play for the local D-I football team: http://www.huskiewire.com/multimedia/videos/?id=70

Hope that helps.