The National Football League has become the latest major sports property to look to capitalize on the growth of short-form video platform TikTok.
The NFL has signed a multi-year partnership with the popular social media app, which will include uniquely packaged highlights, sideline moments, and behind-the-scenes footage.
Additionally, the NFL and TikTok will partner together around a series of NFL-themed hashtag challenges, beginning with the #WeReady hashtag challenge from September 3-5 ahead of the start of the league’s 100th season.
The NFL and TikTok will also be partnering together on unique marketing opportunities for brands to activate around NFL content on TikTok.
“Partnering with TikTok is a natural extension of our media strategy,” said Blake Stuchin, the NFL’s vice president of digital media business development in a statement. “The platform reaches a fast-growing global audience of NFL fans and future fans. The NFL programming and hashtag challenges are a perfect way to kick off the NFL’s 100th season – with fun, new content that will entertain fans and invites them to celebrate and experience their NFL fandom in a way that’s authentic to the unique experience of TikTok.”
The NFL joins the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the International Cricket Council, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and soccer teams including Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, as well as many others, on the app, which allows users to post up to 15-second video clips which are often accompanied by music and video effects.
TikTok has garnered a reported one billion downloads and, according to app analytics firm Sensor Tower it was the third most-downloaded app worldwide in the first quarter of 2019, ahead of Facebook and Instagram.
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