Over the past five years, Sports Information has changed so much that in most places, including here, it even has a new name: Athletic Communications. Running an Athletic Communications department has gone from keeping stats and writing game recaps to being the center of marketing and public relations for the entire Athletic Department, which is a huge shift in responsibility. Fans' hunger for video content has been a big part of that change and it's led to the need to adapt or die in the Sports Information world. It's a task that USC Aiken has placed as a top priority, and it's been worth it.
 
The Past
 
In August of 2013, the school hired two people to operate the department – Brent Hager and Cody Keisler. It was then that the department started to realize that video would become central to what the job required in 2013 and the department immediately set out to learn as much as it could. That first year, USC Aiken streamed a select (aka tiny) number of games on Ustream and produced three different types of videos on Youtube: Video Introductions, Senior Spotlight and Coaches Corner. For the entire year, USC Aiken had only 9,100 views across all of the videos. While it wasn't much, it pushed the department to want much, much more.
 
Once USC Aiken got a taste for video (and liked it), the next step was to get equipment that was capable of more and grow the platform that it could be published on, social media. Doing research and buying cameras isn't all that hard, but gaining followers to actually watch what is produced is another task entirely. USC Aiken upped the Youtube and Facebook pages, dropped Ustream and started an athletics Instagram, hoping to make the content more accessible to both students and fans alike. It definitely helped. That second year, the number of views went up to 13,300 ( 25%).
 
The real growth didn't come until year three. Over the course of 2015-16, the Athletic Communications office started to get more comfortable with video content, adding more shows/features and streaming every home event possible. It ended up by paying huge dividends - with the total views on the year jumping up to 106,400 ( 576%).
 
The Present
 
Since then, USC Aiken Athletics has grown rapidly, with 2017-18 being a biggest year yet at 259,500 total views ( 28% over the previous year). How much the fans watch has gone up as well, with the watch time jumping up to more than 1,062,100 minutes watched this past year alone. Of course, that's not too hard to do with how many different types of content that is published.
 
Athletic Communications produces 15 different kinds of features, ranging from athletic news with Pacer Minute to telling student athletes' stories on A Closer Look to finding out coaches' thoughts right after a game with Postgame interviews. Athletic Communications started publishing the videos on more platforms than ever, with nearly every video going out on Youtube and Facebook and most going out on Instagram and Twitter as well. During this time, the department has also picked up a lot of new equipment since 2013, including multiple 4k cameras, a green screen and a gimbal.
 
Athletic Communications has become a full-fledged publishing operation, releasing at least one video every day of the week throughout the academic year. The department also creates custom graphics for gamedays, student athlete achievements and announcing new recruits. The future is very exciting because there is never a dull moment.
 
The Future
 
Looking forward, there's one thing Athletic Communications wants to concentrate on: telling the USC Aiken story in the best way it can be told. The content produced is going to reflect that vision. The department is looking to change some of the mainstays like "A Closer Look" and "Versus" to feel fresh. The department will also be reinventing some of the oldest content, like trading out Intros and Three Things videos for a new segment called The Hot Seat. Athletic Communications want to make more content that people enjoy in and of itself.
 
Accessibility is another area in which the department will improve in the coming years. Last year, closed captions were added to a number of videos and hope to expand that effort over the next year. The department also starting to take different types of conditions into account when we design content, hoping to be as inclusive as possible for Pacer fans and students.
 
Another big focus is going forward will be the quality of the things that are made. To that effort, the department is going to be looking at adding more custom graphics, giving everything a higher quality feel. By using new techniques and equipment, the content will be even more enjoyable and watchable.
 
The future for athletic content at USC Aiken is wide open and Athletic Communications is ready to push the envelope on the types of content that is created. USC Aiken wants to thank you for watching the videos and supporting the efforts to take USC Aiken Athletics further and make it more accessible than ever before. Without Pacer Nation wanting to see more of athletics, USC Aiken wouldn't have had the amazing opportunity to provide you with this content and ultimately tell the USC Aiken story better than anyone else can.