MLS VP/Brand & Integrated Marketing David Bruce said that at least half of the league’s "marketing and media spend goes to Facebook," according to Sahil Patel of DIGIDAY. Bruce said that this includes "marketing and advertising to get people to buy tickets or attend MLS-hosted events, but most of the Facebook spend goes toward tune-in messaging." To get people to watch MLS' second Heineken Rivalry Week of the year on TV, the league "created 12 video ads for Facebook and Instagram, where they’re being targeted to soccer fans, team-specific MLS fans and other likely sports viewers across both social platforms." Bruce: "There’s no area of our business that we haven’t activated on Facebook and Instagram this year." MLS created the 12 ads for rivalry week "in-house specifically for Facebook and Instagram." This means the "videos are square, have large graphics and don’t feature the voice-over narration that’s common in TV ad spots." The ads run 10 and 15 seconds long and have "tune-in information within the first three seconds of the video." While most of the creative "focuses on star players and highlights, MLS will show the tune-in information once or twice more within the ads." Bruce said that MLS' tactics have "been working." A rivalry week Timbers-Sounders game in June that received a similar Facebook-led promotion campaign drew 26% "more viewers than the average MLS game on ESPN2" in '16 (DIGIDAY.com, 8/24).
