Confronted with an unexpected abundance of both free time and neighbors in need, some athletes are utilizing large subscriber bases for their personal YouTube channels to not only stay engaged with their fans as games have stopped, but also to challenge them to help those in need.
Golden State’s Steph Curry, for example, released a one-minute video earlier this month asking his channel’s 1.2 million subscribers to “join our team and help us provide more than 1 million meals to ensure that no child in our area worries where their next meal comes from while schools are closed.”
Curry and his wife, Ayesha, said they are making the donation in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic to the Alameda County Community Food Bank, where they said more than 18,000 students in Oakland rely on their school for two or more meals each day. As of last week, the video had been viewed 126,073 times and raised $1,736.
Similarly, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson (70,300 subscribers) and his wife, Ciara, posted a video this month announcing that they are donating one million meals to Seattle Food Lifeline. In the clip, which had 227,360 views as of last week, Wilson mentions how the economic fallout from COVID-19 has affected everyone, including Alaska Airlines, a brand with whom he has a longtime partnership.
The increase in such activity and the growing importance of direct video connection with followers — YouTube’s portfolio of 80+ sports personalities now collectively boasts more than 25 million subscribers and has generated more than a billion views — comes three years after the social network began directly helping athletes create or enhance their own YouTube channels.
“You’ve always been able to start your own channel, but we discovered that a lot of athletes had just stopped posting and many of them just weren’t growing their base,” said Caroline Kutler, who left ESPN in late 2016 to oversee the social media network’s new athlete-focused effort. “We had built a strong relationship with teams and leagues, but we realized that there was a gap at hearing from athletes in their own voices.”
Kutler said much of her time initially was spent reaching out to players’ agents, but the success of the behind-the-scenes looks that are provided on these channels has led to the athletes contacting her.
Although she is a staff of one — with counterparts in the U.K., Brazil and Asia — YouTube has consultants to help determine each athlete’s goal.
“Some athletes already have ideas and specific stories and even their own production partners, so those channels can launch quickly,” Kutler said. “Others just know they want a channel but don’t know what the best content should be. So that takes much longer to get going.”
Content for NFL quarterback Cam Newton’s channel, for example, is created by his production company, Iconic Saga, and digital productions studio Liquid Light.
Newton has collaborated with YouTube creators Mr. Beast and Deestroying to create what he calls “newsworthy” content. His videos have ranged from Newton in a hospital bed recovering from shoulder surgery to a private session at Bank of America Stadium breaking Odell Beckham Jr.’s world record for most one-handed catches of a football (51 in one minute).
“The advantage of YouTube over other means of getting my message out to my fans is that there are no limitations on how short or long the content you want to put out there,” Newton said in an email. “YouTube allows you to be you and tell your story without a time limit.”
Other athletes, such as Curry and the Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant, have produced co-branded content with their respective business partners. That content is always free, but by subscribing to an athlete’s channel, users receive immediate alerts whenever new videos are posted. Kutler said there is no actual financial transaction between YouTube and the athletes, but it raises the profiles of all sides.
“It makes the athletes more marketable, so that’s their ROI,” she said.
And in current times, with sports indefinitely postponed, the channels give famous sports personalities another way to directly connect with, help and challenge their biggest fans.
