Work Diaries: Ace-ing the Australian Open with YouTube Creators!
For more than three years, Amanda Abdi has been a Strategic Partnerships Development Manager at YouTube, helping creators to realise success through effective content strategies that leverage YouTube’s many tools.
Here, Amanda takes us behind-the-scenes at the YouTube Creator Workshop for Australian & New Zealand creators, hosted by the Australian Open (AO) at Melbourne Park. The day was an amalgamation of creator education, in-market engagement between team YouTube, the AO team, and gaming, lifestyle, fitness and tech creators, and (of course) lots of fun.
Over to Amanda…
Around the Court.
I’ve supported the Australian Open YouTube channel since the beginning of 2024, and the team has been doing some amazing things on our platform. They’re at the forefront of innovation for Australian sports, and this is reflected on their channel – the 2024 season generated the highest viewership (1.8 billion views) and engagement (2.5 billion impressions and over 3,000 likes and comments on average per video) of all the tennis Grand Slam tournaments globally.
We all know that the Australian Open is a world-renowned Grand Slam, and I was excited to work with the AO team on various initiatives including listing their AO Official Store on their YouTube store tab and optimising their content strategy. Their upload consistency on their channel on and off-season has contributed to their channel growth and success to-date.
The Players.
We wanted to bring together some of the top Australian and New Zealand creators across lifestyle, entertainment, technology, fitness and gaming verticals. In the end, we managed to bring together 20 YouTube creators (across 26 YouTube channels with over 45 million subscribers cumulatively) and host them at the AO Women’s semi-finals and experience AO’s magic firsthand across their hospitality and F&B areas, including the AO TOPCOURT and AO Live music festival featuring Benson Boone. It was a 12-hour whirlwind of tennis, creativity, and connecting.
15 - Love: Time to get this day started!
We first met up and headed to AO’s TOPCOURT at Melbourne Park’s Middle Terrace, which is their latest innovation in fan experience, blending sport and entertainment. This exciting new precinct was designed specifically for a new generation of fans with cutting-edge tech, immersive gaming with augmented reality, live music and the hottest trends in food, fashion, and beauty.
A look into the AO TOPCOURT experience that featured Pop Tennis courts and pop-up stores
30 - All: Time to get to work.
For the YouTube Creator Workshop, we headed to the Courtside Bar at Court 6 where creators heard from the AO team during a panel discussion, moderated by YouTube’s Chris Ledlin, about their digital strategy and how they use YouTube to connect with fans.
John Garcia and Xavier Muhlebach of Tennis Australia shared some YouTube best practices and talked about their digital business. We also had a great networking session where creators and the AO team exchanged ideas on content strategy for both the creators’ and AO’s YouTube channels.
Our YouTube Creator Workshop panel discussion with AO’s John Garcia and Xavier Muhlebach, moderated by YouTube’s Chris Ledlin
Game point: Time to wrap up.
After the workshop, AO hosted us on an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the Australian Open grounds and we were given an inside scoop into backstage areas most fans could only dream of!
From walking through the behind-the-court areas, including the player’s lounge to the production studios, we were given an all-access pass into Melbourne Park’s Centerpiece. Creators were interviewed by the AO team, filmed content around the grounds, and even had the opportunity to play tennis in pairs at Court 11.
Lyanna Kea (4.6M subscribers) playing some padel at TOPCOURT
David Tran of GuitarZero2Hero helping Nick of Nick & Carrie and Bryce Haggett (Lyanna Kea’s Digital Content Producer) capture content on Court 11
David Tran of GuitarZero2Hero filming content and getting interviewed by the AO team in the production studio at the Centerpiece building
We then had a blast at the Google Pixel activation, taking photos and learning about the Pixel’s AI editing features - and we were so excited to experiment with the new Gemini features on the latest Pixel 9 Pro.
Lyanna Kea, Bryce Haggett and Andrew of Bombastic at the Google Pixel Studio’s photo area with YouTube Partnerships Manager, Amanda Abdi
A smaller group of creators from the workshop explored the Google Pixel Studio with YouTube Partnerships Manager, Amanda Abdi
To end off the day, some creators went to AO LIVE to watch the Benson Boone concert while others decided to catch the start of the Australian Open Women’s Semifinals at Rod Laver Arena.
We definitely had a ball at the Australian Open! It was a lovely sight seeing everyone connect and volley ideas back and forth.
Stay tuned for more exciting updates from the YouTube Australia Partnerships team!
Special thanks to:
- Tennis Australia: John Garcia, Xavier Muhlebach and the AO team for coordinating logistics, hosting the creators at Melbourne Park, and making the workshop happen.
- Creators Attendees: Bombastic, Getfitbyivana, GuitarZero2Hero, Jojo’s ASMR, LT.LICKME, Lyanna Kea, Mike’s Mic, Molly Clancy, Nick & Carrie, Primal Video, sixteenleo, Vindooly, and Vin And Kym.
