TikTok has made another substantial investment in women’s sport by becoming the Official Entertainment Platform of UEFA Women’s EURO 2022.
TikTok’s history with women’s sport
After the social media giant’s successful partnership with UEFA for EURO 2020 and following the incredible growth of women’s sport on the platform, TikTok has made its third significant investment in women’s sport.
The company’s newly-announced sponsorship of UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 follows their successful title sponsorship of the Women’s Six Nations and their unique partnership with Burnley FC Women, who currently stream all their home games live on the platform.
In recent years, TikTok has become an online hub for women’s sport. The platform has been home to everything from behind-the-scenes tours from the England women’s team to football freestylers who are inspiring young women to get into the beautiful game. On the platform, the hashtag #womeninsports has racked up almost a billion views.
All these successful partnerships have undoubtedly helped propel TikTok further towards the mainstream, and the brand’s latest investment in women’s sport looks set to further cement this position.
How will the partnership work?
UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 kicks off on 6 July, and games will take place across England. During the tournament, fans on TikTok will have no problem creating unique and engaging content. From EUROs-inspired hashtag challenges to live videos and innovative special effects, the TikTok community can engage with the tournament in a variety of creative ways.
On top of this, TikTok is also launching a UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 TikTok account ahead of the tournament, which aims to inspire and entertain the global football community with exclusive behind-the-scenes content, plus current and archival footage.
Which other brands have invested in women’s sport?
Of course, although TikTok has invested heavily in the sponsorship of women’s sport, the social media giant is not the only brand that is actively sponsoring women’s competitions, teams, and players.
With the popularity of women’s sport growing (in 2019 more than 1 billion people watched the FIFA Women’s World Cup), more and more brands are spotting the unique advantages that the sponsorship of women’s sport provides.
For example, Mastercard has entered a partnership with World Rugby, becoming the founding global member of Women in Rugby. Similarly, last year, PepsiCo signed a landmark five-year partnership with UEFA. As a result, Pepsi, Lay’s, and Gatorade are now the main official sponsors of UEFA women’s football.
Slowly but surely, major brands are realising that women’s sports is one of the biggest sponsorship opportunities available. After all, these sponsorship deals allow brands to position themselves as modern and progressive, while also engaging new audiences.
What’s the strategic rationale behind this deal?
“It’s a win-win for both sides of this announcement, but also, for the women’s game as well.” says Andy Roberts, CMO at Planet Sport.
“TikTok continue their eye-catching association with elite football in Europe and will lend their considerable userbase of more than 1 billion monthly users, further developing their position as the go-to platform for Gen-Z.
TikTok’s userbase skews strongly female, at 57%, and the players themselves are already involved on the platform so investment in premium rights like the Women’s EURO 2022 makes for an ideal property to activate alongside their other female sports sponsorships.”
“From UEFA’s perspective, it’s a perfect, active, commercial partner to align with. TikTok can help drive the narrative of the tournament within the ranks of TikTok’s creative content-producers, provide wider coverage for their sponsors and create fresh talking points to elevate the tournament to hard-to-reach potential fans.”