Barstool Sports, a driving force in sports, comedy, entertainment and men's culture, took on the 2016 Presidential Election in a way only Barstool could. Aiming to own election coverage through a comedic, honest and direct lens, Barstool utilized Facebook Live as a platform in which they could react to and report on election coverage in real time while interacting with their fans.
Barstool News Network leveraged existing Barstool talent and a rising platform for their fans to take on the 2016 Election by the common man, for the common man.
Barstool Sports fans or "Stoolies" crave content and the opinion of Barstool personalities unlike any other fanbase. They are as interested in Barstool's reaction and response to national events as they are in the events themselves.
Barstool leveraged this demand with the launch of Barstool News Network, creating live coverage of the 2016 Presidential Election that gave Stoolies the ability to consume election news and the Barstool response all at once. Barstool honed reactions of their bloggers, fans and people around the country to create a comedic, relatable, informative newscast in true Barstool form.
Barstool reached beyond their New York headquarters with live feeds from personalities in Times Square, Ohio, Philadelphia, Boston, California, Texas and Iowa. In addition, the team had people representing Canada, Miami and Minnesota through use of humor and green screens. The team revived fan-favorite Barstool characters from previous programming such as the Canada Boys.
The Facebook Live platform allowed the opportunity for a conversation with viewers instead of confining viewers to a one-sided expereince. Stoolies joined the conversation in the comments section and shared their feelings on updates along the way.
Barstool Sports has a rabid Facebook Live audience that has grown immensely as Barstool has taken advantage of the platform. The more content Barstool creates; the more viewers they have. Hundreds of thousands of Stoolies tune in to Facebook Live regularly to watch the Barstool personalities watch their favorite teams win or lose a big game, watch the Bachelor, walk to work or audition new employees. Each video garners hundreds of thousands of views and interactions. Barstool News Network: Election Night was another example of Facebook Live success.
