TikTok and Twitch: Engaging the Next Generation of Sports Fans Online

Delivery

This report comes in PPT.

Key Findings

With accelerated shift towards virtual living, social media and gaming are go-to trends in engaging young consumers

The cancellation of live events has shifted engagement through social media and gaming platforms from a “nice to have” to a necessity, making a comprehensive digital strategy essential. As a result, the sports industry has been increasingly relying on the video-sharing app TikTok and video-streaming platforms Twitch and YouTube to maintain engagement with young consumers around the world.

With customised TikTok content, sports properties have been able to increase their engagement with Gen Z

70% of sports teams in the top five US leagues and five topflight European football leagues are on TikTok. By aggregated following across the league and their teams, NBA, NFL and La Liga are the top three leagues on TikTok, while NFL, La Liga and Premier League engage with their fans on the platform most actively.

TikTok is offering higher follower engagement and tools to monetise it

With its user base projected to continue to grow despite geopolitical headwinds, TikTok has also offered sports properties higher engagement levels from their followers. In addition, TikTok has been investing in enabling advertisers to monetise their activity on the platform through live-streaming and social commerce.

Sports properties increase presence on YouTube to catch up with esports

Sports properties of all sizes, from the Premier League to IPL’s Royal Challengers Bangalore, have significantly grown their followers on YouTube as result of their increased content output, reproducing esports’ already strong presence.

esports attracts fewer fans than traditional sports, but records higher fan engagement

While sports properties tend to have more YouTube followers, esports properties have higher engagement with their fans: top esports teams have on average over 94,000 views per video, compared to 40,500 for traditional sports properties.

Live-streaming function and mobile gaming key to engage with Gen Z

At least one in five Gen Zers live-stream content once a week in nearly all countries where esports are popular. Equally important is mobile gaming among Gen Z, driven by limited device ownership outside the smartphone.