The West Virginia University baseball team during its historic season utilized Periscope, a mobile live streaming app that allows followers to view events in real-time while having the ability to comment, ask questions, or “heart” the post.
West Virginia’s use of Periscope is a transcending idea that not only promotes the program for fans and marketing purposes, but also bring recruits closer to the team and their unique experiences.
“The main ways I have used Periscope have been giving fans a live look at pregame batting practice, and live during road games that are not on the radio or live streamed,” Charlie Healy, the Assistant Director of Athletic Communications who is behind West Virginia Baseball’s use of Periscope, explained to SportTechie.
“Periscope is a great tool to give fans a unique look at the Mountaineers. During batting practice, I have taken fans up to the batting cage or on the field as the team prepares for the upcoming game. Not only does it give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the team, but it gets fans excited for the upcoming game.”
West Virginia used Periscope during its game against Penn State while playing at PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“With the game at PNC Park, our digital media manager, Grant Dovey, set up a Periscope 360 camera on the field near third base during batting practice,” Healy explained. “With fans already excited about the game, they tuned in with record numbers for the 20-minute broadcast.”
Healy credits the fact that the experience was “unique,” saying, “it was the first time we had used Periscope 360, and also the first time we had put the camera actually on the field, directly in the action.”
The goal of using Periscope at PNC Park was simple for Healy, who explained, “We were hoping to give our fans a different angle on a fun experience at a Major League ballpark, and the fans responded, which was fun to see. The field level views provided during the livestream allowed recruits and fans to experience the unique venue and engage at a more personal level with the program.”
Some #Periscope360 from PNC Park today! #HailWV https://t.co/h4EgfdAXM3
— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) May 10, 2017
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West Virginia Baseball also utilized Facebook Live throughout the year. Healy goes through a typical broadcast, saying, “I usually went live for 20-30 minutes from the stands behind home plate and hosted a ‘show,’ previewing the upcoming series, talking about the team and periodically engaging with fans.”
As the team continued its success throughout the year, interest in social media live streams “increased exponentially.”
West Virginia Baseball recently received a berth to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1996. After finishing fifth in the Big 12 standings, this year’s tournament appearance is the first for Randy Mazey’s program as a Big 12 member. Despite losing to twice to Wake Forest, ending West Virginia’s tournament run in the NCAA regional final, this season will go down as one of the best in recent program history.