TikTok and Six Nations Rugby have formed a four-year partnership that will transform the Six Nations Rugby Championships. The entertainment platform will become an official partner to the Guinness Six Nations and the Autumn Nation Series. Unequivocally the biggest winner in this new partnership is the Women’s Six Nations, which will now be known as the TikTok Women’s Six Nations. This is the first time that the Women’s competition will have a title sponsor. As part of TikTok’s partnership agreement across the Six Nations competitions, each of the countries will have a dedicated TikTok Rugby Creator attached to each home Union. This will enhance the overall experience of the fans as regular and updated rugby content will help drive the sport on the platform. The initial reaction on TikTok has been phenomenal, with more than 5.1 billion views for its #rugby content.
Targeting younger audiences
Behind the brave move by the Six Nations to partner with social media giant TikTok is the desire to attract a younger audience to the current rugby fan base. In recent years, rugby bosses have come under a fair bit of criticism for their lack of evolution. They have been accused of being too rigid in their ways, so they are hoping this partnership will have a similar positive impact on the sport that Formula One enjoyed with its exposure from Netflix. Rugby will be accessible to the 700 million viewers who use the TikTok platform, with content creators racking up impressive follower counts that can reach into the millions. There is no mainstream broadcaster that has that kind of audience pull. While women’s rugby is set for its biggest year in 2022, the sport still suffers from a lack of identity, so the hope is that the TikTok partnership will be an absolute game-changer for the sport. This could be the rise in popularity that the Women’s game so badly needs.
