The NFL’s Black Friday Game, How to Audit Your Social Strategy, and Notes From the In-Season Tournament

Each week, we sift through a ton of content and then debate it ad nauseam at FEVO HQ. And since good content, like the mind, is a terrible thing to waste, we are also sharing it here with you, our fans, in the form of this weekly blog post on e-commerce, media and life on the internet.

Geek Files: We watched — and shopped — Amazon’s first Black Friday NFL broadcast

Did the November 24th football game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets kick off a new American tradition of shopping while watching football? Throughout the first ever Black Friday Game (streamed exclusively on Prime thanks to the company’s hefty rights deal with the NFL), Amazon bombarded viewers with exclusive deals via on-screen QR codes. It’s perhaps the commerce giant’s first step towards acclimating the American public to shopping while watching, a code it — along with other brands — has been trying to crack for years now. This direct-response form of advertising, already popular in China, may soon become the norm for brands and consumers stateside, as well. Will sports be the wave that opens the floodgates? 

Forbes: NBA attracts Netflix and other streamers with success of In-Season Tournament

Speaking of new events and streaming, the NBA’s In-Season Tournament has been quite the success so far, with the knockout rounds set to start next week. The innovation has led to increased viewership and increased broadcast rights opportunities for the league, which was exactly the objective: consider that the NBA specifically created “In-Season Tournament nights” on Tuesday and Friday to create a collective sense of appointment viewing among fans. As the tournament evolves in coming years, it will be interesting to see how the marketing agenda changes and whether fans continue to embrace the fledgling competition.

Social Files: How to conduct a social media audit

Social Strategist Tommy Clark shares a great guide to rethinking your social media strategy in four parts, with details and questions to ask at various parts along the way. While this article positions itself as being for B2B companies, it is also highly relevant for brands across the board and features many useful steps when thinking about your brand’s social media presence holistically. It’s never a bad time to take a step back and think about how you’ve been doing things and whether it’s a good time for some updates. 

And a few more nuggets of assorted internet wisdom:

Walmart’s 23-episode ‘RomCommerce’ features more than 330 products consumers can buy  (Adweek)

NFL players: Arrowhead Stadium is best venue to play in (The Athletic)

WWE smashes its social media record with return of CM Punk (Quartz)

Premier League clubs plot private equity deal for women’s league (Bloomberg)

History of pro sports teams relocating (Clutch Points)