The Business of YouTube

A weekly strategic lens for senior leaders into how YouTube is reshaping the business of technology, sports, music, entertainment, and culture.

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To your favourite newsletter, The Business of YouTube, brought to you by Paola Marinone and Bengü Atamer, founders of BuzzMyVideos and previously at YouTube and Google. We are bringing our exclusive insights from 20 years of experience leading strategy at YouTube and Google.

From Highlights to Hype: The Ryder Cup’s YouTube Playbook in Progress

Every so often, a major sporting event provides a perfect case study in digital content strategy.

This past week, the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black did just that. Their official YouTube channel transformed from a simple video repository into an immersive, multi-platform hub.

Let's break down what worked, what could be improved, and how they engineered their growth.

The Big Win: The "Event Hub" Content Pyramid

The core of their success was treating the channel like a 24/7 destination, not just a place to dump highlights. They built a content pyramid designed to serve every type of fan:

• Pillar Content (Top - Broad Appeal): The daily highlight reels were the main draw. At a digestible ~10 minutes, they were perfect for the casual fan and were likely boosted by ad spend to maximize reach.

• Thematic Content (Middle - Engaged Fans): Videos like "Best Shots of the Event" and player-specific reels kept engaged fans binge-watching and extended the content's shelf life.

• Access Content (Base - Core Fans): A constant stream of press conferences, live range shows, and podcasts served the die-hards who crave deep context and an insider feel.

This tiered approach ensured no fan was left behind.

Deep Dive: Analysis by Format

Long-Form Video & Titles: (What Worked ✅)

Their strategy for traditional video was flawless from a titling and SEO perspective. Titles used a clear formula: [Content Type] | [Detail] | [Event Name], which is a textbook example of how to win at search and discovery.

Thumbnails: (Mixed Results ✅ / ❌)

This is where the strategy was good, but not great.

• What Worked: Consistency. The uniform branding with the official logo and clean text created a professional, recognizable look across the channel. You always knew you were watching official content.

• The Missed Opportunity: They played it too safe. The thumbnails were informative but rarely intriguing. They showed you who was in the video but didn't give you a compelling reason to click. There was a lack of emotional drama and "YouTube native" flair that drives a higher click-through rate (CTR).

• Improvement Idea: Instead of a static photo for "Matt Fitzpatrick vs Bryson DeChambeau Highlights," a more dynamic thumbnail could show a split screen of both players reacting emotionally to a shot, with a simple catchy text to create suspense. For a "Best Shots" video, a tight crop on a player's face at the peak of a fist pump would be more powerful than a wide shot. The lesson is to design thumbnails to elicit curiosity and emotion, not just to label the content.

Live Content: (What Worked ✅)

They cleverly used live streams to own the narrative around the main event.

• What Worked: By streaming time-sensitive content like pairings announcements and press conferences, they became the official source. This is a brilliant way to engage your audience in real-time without violating expensive live-play broadcast rights.

Shorts: (What Worked ✅)

The Shorts strategy was their engine for discovery and emotional connection.

• What Worked: They were vertical-native clips focused on raw emotion and exclusive moments: the team bus celebrations, a single player's roar, spraying champagne. The punchy titles were designed to stop the scroll and successfully reached a massive audience beyond their subscriber base.

Upload Frequency: (What Worked ✅)

They went on a content blitz, matching the real-time pace of the event.

• What Worked: Uploading multiple times per day ensured they were always the top result for anyone searching for Ryder Cup content, allowing them to capture the hype wave at its peak.

Community Posts: (What Didn't Work / Opportunity ❌)

This was another notable weak spot in their strategy.

• The Missed Opportunity: The Community tab was used as a simple billboard ("Their place. Their time."). They failed to use its interactive features like polls ("Who will be the top point scorer?"), questions ("What was the shot of the day?"), or behind-the-scenes text updates. This was a missed chance to foster conversation and build a stronger community feel.

How They Engineered Growth During the Event

Their growth strategy was two-pronged, perfectly balancing retention and acquisition.

1. Acquisition (Finding New Fans): The Shorts were the primary organic growth driver. Their virality exposed the Ryder Cup to millions of casual sports fans.

2. Retention (Serving the Base): The non-stop stream of live content and deep-dive analysis super-served their existing subscribers, increasing watch time and converting new viewers into loyal fans.

Final Takeaways for Your Strategy

1. Build a Content Pyramid: Plan content for casual, engaged, and hardcore fans.

2. Optimize Thumbnails for Intrigue, Not Just Information: Use emotion, drama, and curiosity-driven text to maximize your click-through rate.

3. Use Shorts for Emotion, Not Just Replays: Capture the raw, behind-the-scenes moments that build human connection.

4. Don't Neglect the Community Tab: Use polls and questions to actively engage your audience.

Want to discuss how to shape your strategy, talk to us.

🚨 New masterclass: The Ultimate Playbook: YouTube Shorts for Sport

You can also be a beta tester (free of charge) for the new feature we have integrated into FullScore to create Shorts from Long form videos. 

Do you want to test our short form clipping tool? Convert a few of your videos into YouTube Shorts, then join the waiting list!

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