By Krystal Scanlon • July 31, 2024 •
Ivy Liu
X (formerly Twitter) might face hurdles for many reasons, but sports isn’t one of them.
It’s always been one of the cornerstones of the platform, from the infamous Oreo “dunk in the dark” Super Bowl moment to NBA player Eric Bledsoe’s “I Don’t Wanna Be Here” post. This year’s Olympic Games are set to amplify that impact even more.
Over the weekend, the Olympics racked up 17 billion impressions, 2 billion video views, and 49 million posts, according to X’s own figures. For perspective, this year’s Super Bowl — arguably X’s top annual event — brought in 10.5 billion impressions, 1.1 billion video views, and 19.2 million posts, per X.
Few platforms are as tailor-made for the real-time thrill of sports as X. The platform has always marketed itself as a place for live conversation. And that’s exactly what X’s execs are emphasizing to advertisers, especially as rivals like TikTok look to posture themselves similarly.
“When it comes to real-time moments in particular around sports, there’s no substitute,” said Monique Pintarelli, head of Americas at X. “There’s no comparison to what we can deliver in terms of audience and fandom and engagement in those moments.”
Yet, Pintarelli and her team know they can’t afford to rest on those laurels. They have to make it more difficult for advertisers to take their money elsewhere when it comes to advertising around sports.
To do so, they’re working with sports data and tech firm Genius Sports to introduce a new product called Trend Genius. This tool enables marketers to pinpoint and engage with real-time conversations around the Games, ensuring their ad dollars stay firmly planted on X.
Here’s how it works: when a conversation hits a certain threshold, pre-programmed ads are automatically triggered to appear for users most likely to engage. As the conversation fades, the ads pause until the buzz picks up again.
“It is broad enough [the thresholds] that advertisers will be able to get reach, but narrow enough that it’s relevant to people that will drive engagement,” said Josh Linforth, chief revenue officer of Genius Sports. And those thresholds are set depending on what an advertiser wants to achieve within a specific trending conversation.
While the product is currently live, he said advertisers saw a 12% increase in engagement from using Trend Genius in testing, though didn’t specify numbers.
Despite this new tool, many marketers are still hesitant due to ongoing concerns about the platform. Nonetheless, with the universally celebrated Games in full flow, it’s an ideal opportunity to make a strong pitch.
“Sports has been the main re-entry point back onto the platform for brands, which demonstrates that that’s where they have missed us the most,” said Pintarelli, though she didn’t share which specific brands. “Sports continues to be the number one conversation on the platform by a longshot.”
In fact, six out of ten sports fans use X, “20% more than on other platforms,” according to data released by the platform ahead of the Games. The implication is clear: while sports isn’t the sole reason people stick with X, its sports fans are among the most dedicated users.
“X tends to be used as a real-time broadcast channel because of the immediacy of how the content is surfaced,” said Malph Minns, managing director of Strive Sponsorship.
However, this advantage is less unique now than it used to be. Platforms like Discord, Reddit, and even WhatsApp have also become hubs for real-time sports conversations, though to a lesser extent, Minns explained. Essentially, X is using sports as a springboard to challenge its rivals across various domains — whether it’s short-form videos (TikTok), long-form content (YouTube), or community-driven sports discussions (Reddit).
“X still has a role, because of the legacy audiences built there,” said Minns. “For me, the threat to X from a real-time and immediate conversation standpoint is coming from these platforms rather than the likes of TikTok, which is focused far more around snackable content.”
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