Top 10 Benefits of Broadcasting School Events

Demand for high school events is sky-high, with no end to growth in sight. School event schedules are filling up quickly, players are lining up to play, and communities want to watch.

Streaming viewership is skyrocketing as well, indicating that fans nationwide want live and on-demand coverage of high school events. Schools across the country are broadcasting their events to provide more viewing options to fans, promote equity in their programs, and drive more revenue.

Broadcasting with the NFHS Network

The NFHS Network provides schools with the software and tools needed to produce and broadcast professional-grade events online. Schools broadcast live coverage of sports, graduations, news, guest speakers, interviews, award ceremonies, and more.

More than 2.5 million events have been streamed on the NFHS Network, featuring over 9,000 schools. These once-in-a-lifetime experiences are deeply meaningful to students, fans, school leaders, and communities. Network member schools have a unique opportunity to broadcast events for sports at all levels and expand access to events for their fans.

“The number of fans that access the games is amazing. That’s middle school, JV, Varsity, soccer, football, field hockey, and more.”

Bryan Geist, Athletic Director at Northern Lehigh High School (PA)

The NFHS Network enables schools to promote their programs and athletes and get more fans engaged by capturing on-campus events with automated cameras and production tools. That means less work for athletic directors and school administrators, who want the benefits of streaming without the extra work of managing cameras, crews, and editing.

“I begged my district to consider the NFHS Network. Glad they saw the light, and we got set up with the Network. The whole experience with the NFHS Network is fantastic.”

Mike Collins, Athletic Director at South Plantation High School (FL)

Top 10 Benefits of Broadcasting Athletics & Activities

We had a chance to catch up with some of our faithful school partners on campus at high schools across the country. Overwhelmingly, there were 10 key outcomes that schools have consistently achieved by broadcasting their events.

1. Broadcast Events Effortlessly
   
   Many schools want to stream their events but may not have the resources on staff to produce broadcasts. The NFHS Network offers fully automated cameras that broadcast your events for you with helpful post-production software. You won’t need to staff anyone to turn on the equipment, film events, or edit and post the videos online. 
   
   
2. Create Equity by Featuring All Levels & Sports
   
   When someone mentions event streaming for high schools, it’s easy to visualize football on ESPN or a similar platform. However, that’s the tip of the iceberg when you consider all the events you can capture for your community. A captive audience awaits all teams and events on campus. With the NFHS Network, you can stream every game at every level, including Freshman, JV, and Varsity for boys and girls sports.
   
   
3.  Optimize Your Financial Resources
   
   Cost shouldn't be a barrier to entry for high schools to stream their events. The NFHS Network provides accessible broadcast solutions to give all schools the opportunity to stream. Schools also receive personalized support from our dedicated success team.
   
   
4. Save Time with Automated Event Schedule Input
   
   Athletic directors and school administrators are busier than ever. With the NFHS Network, you can automatically add your events from your current scheduling platforms. You can also send your event details to our team, and we’ll schedule them for you.
   
   
5. Provide a Seamless Experience in the Postseason
   
   The playoffs dominate prime time for streaming. As the official partner of 56 state associations, the NFHS Network is proud to broadcast postseason events. If your state is an NFHS Network partner, you can broadcast all state postseason events hosted at your school and pay zero rights fees. You can also provide a seamless fan experience throughout the year. Fans, families, and participants can access your event broadcasts in the same place and the same way when you offer regular and postseason events on the Network.
   
   
6. Drive Revenue with Advertising
   
   High demand for events to watch means that community sponsors want to get involved too! As viewership increases, you are creating a valuable place to promote community businesses. That’s called sponsorship inventory, and video makes your ads even more engaging. For sponsors, video advertisers get 66% more qualified leads than non-video marketers. The NFHS Network can secure sponsorships on behalf of schools to generate more revenue.
   
   
7. Reach More Fans and Improve Engagement Automatically
   
   Our exclusive fan marketing technology promotes your events for you to grow your fanbase and increase subscriptions. This benefit is unique to the NFHS Network. It means that you will gain more subscribers, your students and community will be more engaged, and your revenue will increase. When more people know about your program, more students, fans, and sponsors want to be involved.
   
   
8. Give Your Fans More Ways to Watch
   

    

   With live and on-demand broadcasts at their fingertips, your fans can watch your events wherever, whenever. Fans can access event broadcasts on any device at their convenience. This includes regular season, on-campus, off-campus, playoffs, championships, and more. By offering more options for your fans to access your events, you can foster loyalty and enhance their experience.
   
   

9. Improve Team Performance with Coaching Software
   
   We know how hard your teams work to win games and improve their skills. With easy access to game film, coaches can save time and focus more on reviewing plays with student-athletes and refining strategy. Network member schools can automatically receive game film and easily download it to any coaching platform. Plus, they’ll receive a discount on VidSwap coaching software by Pixellot.
   
   
10. Choose Automated or Manual Production
    
    Schools that partner with the NFHS Network have the option to broadcast events automatically without any need for staffing or to produce broadcasts manually with a group of students. With fully automated cameras, you can be as involved as you’d like with broadcasts. The Pixellot cameras will automatically track the action with panning and zooming, and you can feature the live audio for streaming. With the Student Broadcast Program, students can gain real-world experience with media production and sports commentary. Many students in the program go on to excel in careers in broadcast journalism.

By broadcasting events, high schools can improve accessibility, enhance the fan experience, and generate more revenue. To learn more, contact us for information.