The ice hockey franchise is using live social video to connect with fans during the 2020 NHL Draft and beyond.

The LA Kings, two-time Stanley Cup and three-time Western Conference winners, is expanding its online presence to engage fans at the 2020 NHL Draft and leading up to the new season.

The Kings have used cloud video platform Grabyo to produce two bespoke live social broadcasts for their 2020 Draft shows.

This year’s Draft was completely virtual, and the league and most teams were challenged to stay engaged with fans. During a period when most people will be staying at home, providing second-screen experiences for social and mobile platforms has become essential, in order to recreate the communal experiences that fans are missing in-person.

Before and after the live draft, the franchise delivered live build-up and reaction shows to its social channels including interviews with former players, fans and analysts. The shows acted as an online meeting space for fans to discuss their opinions or ask questions to hosts using social comments. Optimized for mobile viewing, fans were able to watch the shows on their mobile devices while following coverage of the draft on TV or online.

The Kings’ draft show reached over 2.5M impressions, and over 550k views.

Using Grabyo’s remote contribution features, the show’s guests were able to appear from the safety of their own homes. Both live shows were produced fully remotely using Grabyo, with the Kings’ team collaborating from their own homes, anywhere in the world.

Outside of the draft, the Kings are ensuring fans remain connected to the franchise through regular social live programming. Its weekly live show, called “All The Kings Men Live,” is delivered directly to Facebook, Twitch, Twitter, and YouTube using Grabyo.

The show takes fans through the week’s team & NHL news and is highly interactive, inviting audience comments to dictate the talking points of the show. Giving fans more control over what they see on screen creates a more enriching experience, thus driving longer watch times and higher engagement with the broadcast.

The Kings have leveraged the increasing popularity of live social broadcasts to not only find a new way to reach fans, but to create additional sponsorship opportunities.

These prominent placements on live social broadcasts give brands high exposure that is also available to view at any time afterwards. As the US emerges from lockdown, increased digital video consumption looks likely to remain and prominent content sponsorships will be an effective way for teams to continue providing value for brand partners.

LA Kings uses Grabyo’s advanced live streaming platform, Grabyo Producer, to produce and deliver its live social broadcasts to social media. Accessed through a web browser, Grabyo Producer is a real-time vision mixer, enabling production teams to remotely create and manage broadcasts – bringing in external guests, overlaying image and VOD assets, and employing audience participation features. Grabyo has direct integrations with all major social, mobile and online platforms, ensuring easy delivery of live video content.

“We know we have to be doing more now than ever to give our fans the access they want to the franchise. Ahead of the draft, we want to make sure our fans have a place to go for all things LA Kings, and a place to share the experience with each other. Thanks to Grabyo, we have been able to scale our live production capabilities to create more programming for our fans in a sustainable way.”

Pat Donahue, LA Kings.

For more information, or to find out how Grabyo can support your video production needs, get in touch.