Athletes finding success on Snapchat's creator platform, bolstered by the app's sports audience.
======================================================================================
In a groundbreaking move, TOGETHXR and Snapchat have partnered to launch "Snap the Gap", an accelerator program aimed at empowering and elevating female athletes as influential content creators on Snapchat. The program aims to help these athletes develop their personal brands, grow engaged audiences, and generate sustainable revenue through platform-native strategies.
Nine female athletes from various leagues, including the NWSL, WNBA, NCAA, PWHL, and LOVB, have been selected for this program. "Snap the Gap" provides these athletes with platform-native monetization opportunities, such as ad shares and sponsored lenses, which are not contingent on federation payouts or endorsement deals.
The program seeks to address a visibility gap in women's sports, allowing athletes to control their stories and revenue on their terms. It also aims to lower the barrier to entry for revenue opportunities for the athletes, who are shaping culture and growing communities across women's sports.
Snapchat contributes platform-native growth tactics, such as optimizing for Spotlight, leveraging AR tools, and converting attention into creator revenue streams. TOGETHXR, on the other hand, supplies content strategy, production guidance, and a values framework to ensure the athletes' stories stay authentic and mission-driven.
The program is designed to allow storytelling to fit the rhythm of sport rather than interrupt it, with direct mentorship from Snap being crucial for this balance. Almost 9 in 10 Snapchat users engage with sports weekly, and the Spotlight feed logs 25M+ sports minutes daily.
"Snap the Gap" institutionalizes the perspective of showing the slog in women's sports, including rehab setbacks, travel hassles, team culture, and identity beyond the uniform. This approach is expected to contribute to greater gender equality in sports media coverage, increasing visibility and engagement for women in sports on a platform with over 170 million sports viewers monthly.
Snapchat's product suite mirrors how women's sports communities grow through grassroots enthusiasm, peer recommendation, and niche fandoms. The program provides mentorship, content coaching, and monetization tools to the athletes, allowing them to own their narrative arc and monetize it in a way aligned with their schedules and values.
TOGETHXR's involvement acts as a safeguard against the lowest-common-denominator content trap, focusing on visibility with integrity and sustainable formats for the athletes. If the program proves successful, expect more cohorts, deeper platform integrations, and cross-platform syndication to YouTube or CTV.
For brands and leagues, strategic cues include resource investment, cross-sport and cohort-based thinking, measuring community, and protecting athlete bandwidth. For women's sports, "Snap the Gap" is another brick in a long-overdue infrastructure: visibility, voice, and value.
[1] Snap Inc. (2023). Snap the Gap: A content accelerator for female athletes on Snapchat. [Online] Available at: https://about.snap.com/news/snap-the-gap-a-content-accelerator-for-female-athletes-on-snapchat/
[2] TOGETHXR. (2023). Snap the Gap: Empowering female athletes as content creators on Snapchat. [Online] Available at: https://www.togetherxr.com/news/snap-the-gap-empowering-female-athletes-as-content-creators-on-snapchat
[3] SportsPro. (2023). Snapchat and TOGETHXR launch Snap the Gap to empower female athletes as content creators. [Online] Available at: https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/snapchat-togetherxr-launch-snap-the-gap-to-empower-female-athletes-as-content-creators/
- The partnership between TOGETHXR and Snapchat, through the "Snap the Gap" program, is not only fostering the growth of female athletes' personal brands and revenue streams in the lifestyle and business sectors, but also bridging the technology gap by optimizing for Spotlight and leveraging AR tools.
- In the realm of sports, "Snap the Gap" serves as a platform for these athletes to share authentic stories about their experiences beyond the uniform, thereby driving greater technology-enabled engagement and potentially paving the way for more equitable sports media coverage.
