Dive Brief:
- Snapchat and STATS, a sports data and technology company, have expanded an existing partnership to include additional data points for more leagues that users can share according to a STATS press release. New data points include pitch count, men on base and outs in addition to the live score and inning.
- The expanded partnership extends that capability to more data and statistics for more than 30 leagues including NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA Football and EPL.
- The geofilters are based around sports venues and Snapchat users attending games can add STATS data to photo and video snaps that they can then share.
Dive Insight:
Sports fans are gravitating toward digital for viewing games and enhancing the in-stadium experience. Savvy platforms like Snapchat and Twitter recognize that passionate sports fans have the potential to be avid users and are doubling down on their services for this audience. Both platforms offer the kind of real-time relevancy that makes a lot of sense for fast-paced professional sports.
Snapchat's new smart eyewear called Spectacles is another way the platform is connecting with sports fans. Recenlty, the NHL's Minnesota Wild became the first professional sporting team to embrace Spectacles, using them to give fans a behind-the-scenes look.
Snapchat’s parent company, Snap, Inc., is expected to IPO in March and the social media app has been actively adding features that enhance the user experience as well as tools and features to appeal to marketers. On the user side, Snapchat has been facing increasing competition from Facebook as its user base has continued to grow.
This year Facebook rolled out Instagram Stories, a feature that took its name from an extremely similar feature Snapchat already offered its users. Facebook also tested a Snapchat-like feature in its Messenger app creating disappearing messages that combine photos and video along with text, stickers and doodles. The expanded partnership with STATS gives Snapchat users a way to share a live sports experience with friends and easily add stats from the event.