With around 8.3 million fans tuning in each year1, the Rugby Six Nations 2023 was the perfect opportunity for rugby to grow its audience and shake off its traditional elitist image. In TikTok’s second year as a sponsor, the social media platform was uniquely situated to draw fans and followers into the action with winning social media activation tactics.
Rugby Six Nations 2023 – on the pitch
The Men’s Rugby Six Nations 2023 played out as a battle between Ireland and France – with Ireland coming out on top.
- Ireland – won a third Six Nations Grand Slam.
- France – their winning streak was disrupted only by a brilliant Ireland.
- Scotland – Scotland’s tackle success rate of 92% was the best of any team.
- Italy – performances were vastly improved on previous years.
- Wales – their biggest pitfalls were a lack of attacking threat and a leaky defence.
- England – has a challenging tournament that included the lowest tackle success rate and worst goal-kicking rate.
In stark contrast, England claimed victory in the conclusion of the Women’s Six Nations. Against closest competitor France, England managed a tournament-clinching 38-33 win in the second half, after storming a 33-0 lead in the first half. This triumph marks the fifth Six Nations title in a row for the Red Roses.
Six Nations 2023 Championships – on TikTok
While Guinness holds the title sponsorship for the Men’s Six Nations, TikTok became the Women’s Six Nations title sponsors – and partnered up with the men’s tournament. With its young and diverse fan base, the short-form video app is a great way for the sport to evolve and embrace the latest social marketing tactics in 2023.
Why does rugby need TikTok?
To compete with other sports at the club level, rugby needs to shift its perception as the “posh schoolboy sport” to increase its viewership, expand its cultural relevancy, and appeal to grassroots players.
This made it all the more important for Rugby Six Nations 2023 to embrace the latest marketing strategies and target a more diverse audience – while also encouraging participation among its core viewers.
Rich Waterworth, general manager of TikTok Europe, believes that the partnerships with the men’s and women’s championships have shown “the unique role TikTok can play in amplifying iconic sporting moments and bringing the excitement to a diverse new fanbase.”2
In this sense, TikTok can help elevate rugby in two main ways:
- TikTok has the young, urban, and diverse audience groups that rugby needs – for example, of the platform’s one billion global users, the majority are Gen-Z and Millennials aged 34 and under. Known as the teenager’s social platform, Black and Hispanic teens also report using TikTok more often than White teens3.
- TikTok’s approach to content marketing and user content creation shows fans a different side to rugby – from taking part in bespoke Six Nations 2023 hashtag challenges to using Six Nations filters and effects, TikTok rugby fans can participate in ways that weren’t possible previously, helping rugby grow as a direct-to-consumer sport3.
TikTok’s demographic also made it ideal for the Women’s Six Nations 2023 title sponsorship. One quarter of the platform’s entire global audience is made up of women aged 18 to 243. TikTok has built its identity around inclusivity and diversity, and this puts it in a great position to help galvanise interest in women’s sport.
Partnership success in 2022
The TikTok Rugby Six Nations partnerships kicked off in 2022, with the platform signing a four-year deal to become the first ever title partner of Women’s Six Nations, as well as an official partner for the men’s championship. It was a year of record-breaking success that demonstrated how well positioned TikTok is for reaching new audiences for the sport.
During the men’s and women’s championships, posts with the hashtag #SixNationsRugby reached almost six billion views2. These posts included TikTok creators and rugby players like Maro Itoje participating in trends and sharing their best championship moments.
During TikTok’s seminal year as title partner, the 2022 Women’s Six Nations saw significantly ramped up TV coverage in 137 countries as well as a record-breaking 69% increase in stadium support. TikTok played a part in the unprecedented hype – the bespoke @TikTokW6N channel achieved more than 100 million video views and 110,000 new followers2.
The social media success of the Men’s and Women’s Six Nations 2022 helped lay foundations for rugby’s continued exposure. In the year between the 2022 and 2023 tournaments, the #Rugby hashtag has risen to almost 12 billion views2.
TikTok and Six Nations 2023 – social activations
Using social activations, TikTok encouraged fans to directly participate in bespoke Six Nations activities – deploying the same activations during both the men’s the women’s championships.
This includes:
- Bespoke hashtag challenges – including the creation of videos using of archive footage. All content is hosted in the #SixNationsRugby Search Hub throughout both Men’s and Women’s championships.
- Bespoke Six Nations sounds, filters, and effects.
- Best match highlights.
- Training ground footage.
- Pre-match rituals.
- Fan and pundit reactions.
- Content created by sports influencers and professional rugby players – including @therugbyguyofficial, who appeals to Scotland’s fans using TikTok trends like ‘Just Hay Fever’, @theproplife, who supplies behind-the-scenes content, and @jodieounsley, who provides insights into professional rugby player life.
- Spotlighting content on global For You feeds.
These social activations serve to draw fans into the action, show a different side to the sport with behind-the-scenes content, and reach new audiences in TikTok’s young demographic.
