Zype Success Story: Varsity Sports Now

By Sofia Fernandez on February 25, 2020

How Varsity Sports Now used Zype Live to grow their subscriber base by nearly 500%

It’s 2020, and the video industry is growing at a faster pace than ever before. The expectations of media consumers have grown rapidly over the past few decades, and with more options than ever before, the pressure is on for brands to deliver compelling content. Companies of all sizes are being forced to adapt as it becomes more and more clear that in order to survive in the streaming era, they must incorporate video into their business strategies.

Among those businesses is Varsity Sports Now (VSN), who produces and distributes some of the most binge-worthy high school sports video on-demand and live broadcast content in the state of Louisiana.

Eric Richey, CEO and Founder of VSN, has been working in the Louisiana sports industry covering high school sports his entire career, so when he was presented with the opportunity to create a digital network, it was a no-brainer.

“Many of the things that we did over the last 10 years were centered around high school sports in Louisiana. We did docuseries, shows, and websites, so it was a great opportunity to put all of those projects together under one umbrella.”Eric Richey

Although Varsity Sports Now was already using Zype’s platform to publish a ton of great video on demand content to their website, they were still missing something that would engage existing viewers, while capturing a new audience. That’s when VSN began exploring live broadcast capabilities, powered by Zype’s Live infrastructure.

“When I had the idea to develop a statewide network, I was really pushing a lot of the shows we’d been doing over the last several years. Once we realized how far live streaming moved the needle, we really shifted our focus into the live stream arena,” Richey noted. “Instead of dipping our toes in the water, we went head first– live streaming over 150 events across Louisiana during the fall sports season in 2019.”

Adopting Zype Live was a huge success (check out archives of their 2019 live games)! VSN’s subscriber base grew by 460% within a week of broadcasting their first game, and they were able to set themselves apart by providing both historical and live sports coverage for teams and coaches in the Louisiana tri state area.

VSN also wanted to up their discoverability and give their current audience new places to tune in, so they leveraged Zype’s App Distribution tools to launch new video distribution channels. With the help of Zype’s Professional Services team, they were able to publish three applications: Apple iOS, Apple TV and Android mobile.

As for 2020, the company will continue to invest in the VSN network by securing large-scale live sports events, such as semi-final and state championship games, and are looking to expand their coverage to other states.

Download Varsity Sports Now on iOS, Android, and Apple TV or watch on the Web today!

Want to learn more about how Zype Live can help transform your video business? Request a demo!