The best soccer teams from around the world are playing each other in the third annual International Champions Cup, and viewers are able to enjoy the action like never before.
Meerkat, the darling of this year’s SXSW conference and leading live streaming app, has partnered with the ICC to bring fans exclusive, on-the-ground footage of their favorite teams.
The International Champions Cup is a tournament comprised of 17 games played during a span of two weeks. This year’s North American tournament features Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona, and leading clubs from around the world including three MLS teams. The ICC takes advantage of their excess and Meerkat’s platform to stream content before, during and after select matches.
“What is nice about Meerkat is that we are utilizing the app and platform not for what is on the field, but what is happening around it,” said David Shamash, marketing analytics coordinator at Relevant Sports, hosts of the ICC. “We are using it as a way to give access to everything else – it is not the standard thing you will find on television.”
The ICC works with the players and teams to capture pre-game on-field experiences and press coverage not normally accessible to fans.
“Getting to go to the games is awesome and getting to see them on TV is awesome, but I want more than that,” Shamash said. “I really want to give the fans the full experience. Meerkat is really helping us do that.”
For Meerkat, a partnership with the ICC gives their app content that competitors like Periscope do not have. More importantly, it gives passionate fans a way to show off their knowledge of the game, and to interact with sports fanatics from around the world. The nature of the platform – the ability to host your own live stream – lends itself well to the digital age celebrity brought about by video platform Youtube. And with Meerkat’s new Cameo feature, fans are able to take over the ICC’s stream to bring viewers at home the experience from stadium seats.
“If you are watching the game and you have the game in one hand and the stream in the other you get to see the excitement going on with the fans,” Shamash said. “It is just a better game experience overall.”
With the coverage of the ICC and other sporting events, sports commentary has found its way onto Meerkat. Chris Lopez (@christofurlopez), who covers sports, and Malia Probst (@themalia) and are two examples of users who are gaining “celebrity” status through their Meerkat streams.
“We are excited to see what people do with it on their own,” said Sima Sistani, vice president of media at Meerkat. “We definitely saw an up-tick in people streaming about their own post-game analysis about these matches. It is a monkey- see-monkey-do scenario: you see somebody do it, you get it, and then you want to go embrace it yourself. Even after the women won the cup we saw more people in their backyard wearing soccer shirts. What we can do is work with awesome content creators to help be a catalyst in helping inspire people to do more. People are really trying to add their own analysis into the game”
So far, the partnership has been a success. Viewership has spiked since the start of the ICC and soccer fans are creating more content than other channels. Not bad for an app just a few months old and international soccer tournament in only its third year.
Do not be surprised to see this partnership renewed for future editions of the International Champions Cup. We will be there to bring you coverage of everything sports and Meerkat.