Snapchat and Sports

One potential opportunity for Snap existed with the sports industry. In December 2017, Snap published a report about Snapchat users as avid sports fans. The study compared Snapchat users to non-users, and found the former group rated sports as important to them. This finding held true for a variety of sports and properties, including the National Basketball Association (NBA), professional soccer, college basketball and football, boxing, the National Hockey League (NHL), and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) (Hutchinson, 2017).

The Snapchat application attracted a younger demographic, which partially explained the connection between Snapchat users and sports. Industry analysts also attributed this popularity to Lenses and social media influencers who highlighted various sports. These promotions were reflected in Snapchat consumption, as users frequently interacted with the application during sporting events. In addition to their Snapchat usage, these consumers more often used social media in general, shared photos and videos, provided game updates, and took part in contests relative to those who do not use Snapchat. Surveyed users indicated they bought team merchandise more often than non-users. These individuals felt social media platforms and other technologies allowed them to track their preferred sports and teams and gather more information about their favorite players. They also indicated that they enjoyed watching game highlights as opposed to an entire sporting event (Hutchinson, 2017).

To leverage this sports interest, Snap leaders sought to develop more engagement with users in three areas: (a) Snapchat functionality, (b) media companies, and (c) sport properties.

Snap made changes to its functionality to allow more user interactions when attending sporting events and watching games at home. Relationships with two companies in particularStats and Tagboardallowed Snap to capitalize on this interest in sports exhibited by its users.

Stats. Snap signed a partnership with Stats, which gave users access to game scores, first from the NBA and Major League Baseball (MLB), followed by college and high-school games. Stats planned to expand its offering to include cricket, lacrosse, and rugby, as well as to provide more expansive details from other professional sports such as the National Football League (NFL). In conjunction with scores, users would have access to Geofilters and other features to make Snapchat more integrated into sporting events (Dave, 2017).

Tagboard. Snap also partnered with Tagboard to increase in-game engagement at live sporting events and on television. Tagboard, a software company, worked with social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Their software allowed users to post pictures, tweets, and other social media content on Jumbotrons at live sporting events. Teams such as the Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Vikings, and New Orleans Pelicans, as well as the Golf Channel, used Tagboard at their events. Tagboard executives felt these social media activities created an environment that encouraged fans to share their experiences and interact with other fans. They believed teams could also use this attention to encourage fans to follow their Snapchat accounts and increase engagement at their events and beyond (Flynn, 2017).

Media outlets also wanted to explore potential opportunities with Snap. These included ESPN, Fox Sports, and the Olympic Channel.

ESPN. Snap worked with ESPN to create sports programming for the application. This followed the steps taken by NBC News and CNN to offer specific content for Snapchat users. ESPN opted to provide a condensed version of its sports news program, SportsCenter. Episodes would appear on the application twice per day during the week and once per day on Saturdays and Sundays. The episodes would last from three to five minutes and feature Katie Nolan and other ESPN hosts. This decision marked a transition for ESPN from creating stories for the Discover area of Snapchat to offering its own show. Executives from ESPN and Snap hoped the daily shows would attract more users to the application and encourage them to use it with greater regularity (Lynch, 2017).

Fox Sports. Snap partnered with Fox Sports to provide specialized content during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. This included a Publisher Story for the duration of the tournament. Snapchat users could keep up to date with the daily action through match previews and highlights. The application feature Our Stories would give users an opportunity to see archival content from the World Cup and perspectives from World Cup viewers around the globe (Cohen, 2018).

The Olympic Channel. Similarly, Snap signed a multi-year arrangement with the Olympic Channel to provide more content from the Olympic Games on its application. This would include Our Stories, which like the FIFA World Cup contract would access archives. The application would offer a show, Far From Home, and feature athletes striving to qualify for the Olympics. Beginning with the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, Snapchat offered Lenses and Geofilters featuring the Olympic Games and its mascot. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) leadership viewed this as a way to connect with a younger demographic in unique ways, beyond their television broadcasts (IOC, 2018).

Finally, Snap developed relationships with several specific professional sports leagues, including the National Football League, Indian Premier League, and Union of European Football Associations Champions League.

National Football League (NFL). Snapchat signed a multi-year contract with the NFL to provide professional football content to its users. An estimated 42 million users viewed this content during the football season. NFL executives saw this as an opportunity to reach a younger demographic and provide footage in a different way than their more traditional delivery methods. This media included a daily channel with articles, videos, and live stories, as well as views from different parts of stadiums. The league also created Snap Lenses for the playoffs to increase engagement. In turn, Snap benefited from advertising revenues from related NFL sponsors such as Gatorade and Pepsi, several of whom created special Snapchat Lenses for the Super Bowl.

Indian Premier League (IPL). Snap agreed to a partnership with four IPL teams: Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The teams would appear within the Stories part of the app, and additional options could include Lenses and Geofilters. This deal represented one of the first forays by Snap into India, a country Spiegel avoided in the past. A former Snap employee alleged that Spiegel characterized India as poverty-stricken and believed the company should avoid it and focus on wealthier countries. The IPL relationship reflected a shift in sentiment and a potential path to further expansion outside of its previously limited markets (Banerjee, 2018).

Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League. Snap also joined forces with UEFA. This relationship would allow another professional sports league to provide customized content for Snap users. The content would include Our Stories with in-match and other perspectives from athletes, teams, and fans. Adidas, as a UEFA Champions League sponsor, would present related advertisements around the Our Stories content (Connelly & Stewart, 2017). As with the NFL partnership, this arrangement would give Snap access to a major sports property and its corporate sponsors.

Next Steps

Industry analysts argued these partnerships allowed Snap to distinguish itself from competitors such as Twitter and Facebook. Recognizing its primary demographic preferred to consume sports in highlights rather than full broadcasts, the company focused on shorter segments, Our Stories, and other content in briefer and more condensed formats. Additional features, such as Lenses and Geofilters, allow users to interact with sport media properties in different ways, beyond simply watching or attending games (Connelly & Stewart, 2017).

The question for Snap was whether these initiatives would help the company address some of its strategic challenges and ultimately generate a profit. Snap offered multiple products with varying levels of success. Expanding into the sports market represented a potentially viable opportunity for the company. Spiegel and his leadership team needed to identify in what product life cycle stages their current products existed and what next steps they should take, including whether to stay in the market and how to expand the market and extend product life stages where needed.

Question: Summarize the different partnerships, which Snap has, and explain their advantages to the company.