Sportsman Channel’s Facebook Growth Skyrockets
OutdoorHub 01.24.13
Growth Skyrockets More than 270% While Engagement and Reach Metrics Soar. Network Surpasses 300k Facebook Likes Milestone; Mobile Users Helping to Drive Growth.
Sportsman Channel, the leader in outdoor TV for the American Sportsman, announced today some impressive Facebook statistics including that its Page grew by more than 270%, year-over-year growth, now surpassing 300k. The impressive growth and engagement statistics comes as the network is experiencing tremendous growth across all areas of its business including social media, programming, ratings and advertising.
Sportsman Channel is also reporting strong engagement and reach metrics. For example, during the week of Jan. 14-20, more than 1 million people engaged with content from Sportsman’s Facebook page, marking astonishingly strong reach. During the past two months alone, 25 times Sportsman has reached more than 30k people with a single post, peaking with 75k on a one post. (Reach is defined as the number of unique people that have seen a post.)
In the last month, 46% of Sportsman’s Facebook growth came from mobile, supporting that data that points to widespread technology and mobile usage with sportsmen and sportswomen. Sportsman Channel has made a commitment to engage and provide content across all platforms and devices to deliver high-quality content when and where viewers want it. According to Simmons research, 62% of Sportsmen are social media users. Of that percentage, 41% have visited Facebook in the last 7 days. Additionally, reflecting the rise of mobile usage, Sportsmen are 30% more likely than the average adult to have a hand-held smart device.
“Superior content, coupled with context, relevancy and real-time engagement, makes our social platforms, particularly Facebook, resonate so strongly and passionately with our fans,” said Gavin Harvey CEO of Sportsman Channel. “We are undoubtly the leaders in outdoor TV and have stretched this to our social communities with ongoing content like rewarding and exclusive contests; access to our talent via chats; important news and information; entertaining multimedia content; and much more.”
The impressive figures are a result of a strategic, multiplatform social approach that puts a focus on quality content, real-time response and engagement across numerous networks including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. The strong results have supported the network’s success in other areas from TV ratings to sponsorships to promotions. Additionally, executives cite their industry-leading programming lineup—which includes the new and highly popular NRANEWS Cam & Co., news-talk TV program—as other reasons for growth.
“Sportsman Channel is the No. 1 outdoors TV destination with the nation’s most experienced, skilled and informative talent that truly embodies the vast lifestyle and interests of today’s more than 80 million sportsmen and sportswomen,” added Harvey. “We understand the long-term benefits of having incredibly vibrant social communities and we weave social into everything we do whether driving awareness for programming and ratings or providing value-add for advertisers. And our partners and ratings are benefitting.”
Below are a few Sportsman Channel social media statistics:
- Facebook growth: Jan. 2012 (110k); Jan. 2013 (300k); 270% growth
- Since mid-August we have added 100k fans in only 5 months.
- In the last month, 46% of our growth has come from mobile.
- 45% of our audience is between 13-24 with the largest segment being male 18-24 at 26%
- For the week of Jan. 14-20, over 1 million people reached with content from SC’s FB page
