TikTok’s Olympics have been intimate and full of personality

TikTok’s hardcore of users in the Gen-Z bracket means that it has emerged as one of the most important broadcast channels for the athletes themselves, further shifting the sports media landscape in new digital directions.

Why it matters

Many of the Olympic events don’t tend to attract huge interest in normal years, but the 2020 Olympics – happening, tellingly, in 2021 – have shown that unpolished, personality-led content can boost the profile of individuals beyond their teams. For brands, this will have implications around who to sponsor.

Separately, the Washington Post reports, TikTok has outpaced other video sites’ growth in the US, despite starting from a lower pace. It has seen daily user growth of 1.8% to YouTube’s 3.6%

What’s happening

• Sports-related content is some of the best-followed on TikTok, according to Conviva data on WARC.
• When US gymnast Sunisa Lee won a gold medal, she racked up five million likes dancing to a background track on TikTok in celebration. But this followed behind the scenes clips of her makeup and nails. The person matters as much as the sport.
• Others have found it an outlet for fumbles and fails that humanize athletes. Instructional and educational videos, especially from sports not generally understood by the population at large, but no less spectacular, have also found a large audience.
• There are question marks around what the official broadcaster will do given its understanding that TikTok fills a very different purpose from traditional linear coverage, especially among younger viewers who are less likely to watch.

Sourced from the Washington Post, WARC