How Oklahoma's Second-Largest District Unified 21 Athletic Programs
With Hudl, Oklahoma City Public Schools built a unified yet personalized fan experience, reaching over 80,000 fans and boosting their bottom line.
“It was really important for our scholar-athletes to have an opportunity to get some type of an advantage inside of their athletic programs,” said Sanders. “That advantage gives us connectivity. With a large school district we have to have really tight systems to be able to provide opportunities for our kids and our programs. Hudl provides that.”
Sanders and colleague Tanner Stiles, Sports Information and Partnerships Coordinator, joined the Educational AD Podcast, hosted by longtime AD Jake von Scherrer, to explain how Hudl helps OKCPS’s athletic programs speak the same language.
Talk about a one-stop shop. [Fans are] able to go to that Fan page and have the tickets right there, the livestreams, the rosters and schedules that our coaches are doing beforehand. There's no setup really from the athletic director side.
Fans can do more through a central platform that offers each school a personalized home. “Talk about a one-stop shop,” said Stiles. “They’re able to go to that Fan page and have the tickets right there, the livestreams, the rosters and schedules that our coaches are doing beforehand. There's no setup really from the athletic director side because the coaches are putting in their own rosters and schedules in the Hudl Fan page, essentially.”
It’s not an exaggeration to say that this brings OKCPS athletics to a national audience, and perhaps, even wider.
“It’s created opportunities for us in Oklahoma City Public Schools to reach people further out—we have athletes that have families in other states,” said Sanders. “Because of the ticketing platform or our Fan page, we're able to do that with our livestreaming and we're able to connect our families closer to external family members they may not be able to see on a day-to-day basis.”
Every Camera Is a Revenue Stream
Eight Hudl Focus cameras were just added to district gyms to capture and share basketball, wrestling and volleyball events. Each one provides an opportunity for new revenue.
“I approached mom and pop stores down the street in our community and said, ‘we have three Hudl cameras in our gymnasium here and we want to bring you on as a sponsor,’” said Stiles.
He restructured their partnership package over the summer, including Hudl livestream opportunities. Partner logos can go on pre-event splash pages, ensuring that before a viewer clicks into a livestream, they see the partner logo.
They’re also looking to introduce commercials into their broadcast, in the form of a fifteen to thirty-second unskippable ad that plays before a viewer tunes in to a livestream. “From a sponsorships perspective, the sky's the limit on this, on what we're able to do,” said Stiles.
Case in point: the ability to expand these opportunities outside of athletics. Across OKCPS, Focus cameras capture and share awards assemblies, visual and performing arts events and more. “ Some of the conversation that I have as I'm talking to athletic directors is just to really demonstrate how this product benefits all,” said Sanders.
Von Scherrer offered a creative application from his career. “Our middle school wanted to use the gym for a Shark Tank production, with kids presenting their pitches, if you will,” he said. “We ended up using the Focus cameras to record all that, put it up on the website and we got all kinds of positive feedback.”
“That’s a great idea too,” Sanders laughed. “I actually wrote that down.”