One of, if not the, primary goals of SportsCenter on Snapchat is to reach a growing audience that no longer consumes sports from traditional televisions sources. Specifically, this includes a young demographic that is turning to social media to fill this need. Our aim is to present all of the great video, statistics, and stories that sports offers in a way that is organic to the Snapchat platform: fast paced, fun, and humorous.
Modern sports fans want their content as quickly and as entertaining as possible. A major challenge that we face is to present all of this great video and compelling storylines in a way that doesn't feel stale or dated when our fans are watching 6+ hours after these events have occurred. We tackle this challenge in many ways including making sure our video is dynamic - something on screen changes once every 3 seconds at minimum, telling stories in unique ways that are different than what is produced in the immediacy of events occurring, and speaking the natural language of social media in an effort to make our fans feel that they are part of the show.
We increasingly see fans consuming content through digital media and social media. We reach as many of these fans as possible by going directly to where they are consuming this content and serving it to them in an organic way that is appealing to these viewers. With an increasing number of platforms where people can get the content they want, this type of content creation is the future.
Our shows reached an average of 1.5 million unique viewers per day. Not only did this lead to us tripling our branded sales executions from the previous year, but we reach an important younger audience (17-34). This group largely is cutting the cord and becoming less likely to be previously affiliated with the ESPN/SportsCenter brand. Our efforts help this brand affinity and are leading the charge to ensure that the future of ESPN is just as bright, if not brighter, than our past in an industry that changes every day.
