Citius, Altius, Fortius. And Funnier.

How snapchat filters will change sport engagement

Meet Generation Z. With a proclaimed attention span of less than a minute, these teens have no patience to read newspaper articles or watch traditional TV broadcasts. Only instant gifs, short stories on Snapchat or 10 second vids on Instagram draw their interest. Blink, share and forget might be a good way to describe this youngest generation. Their hunger for entertainment, the expectation of finding everything in one click, and chatting as primary communication tool obviously has it’s effect on sport engagement.

Sport coverage turns into a fun thing, way more than it has been for many years. Instead of reading wordy and boring match reports or watch some old guys presenting a sports program, short filtered movies with amazing, dramatic or funny events is the new standard. This doesn’t mean the regular match coverages and interviews are gone, but you’ll be presented with a new level of experience added to it.

Modern Olympic Games founder Pierre de Coubertin’s motto was Citius, Altius, Fortius: Faster, Higher, Stronger. Parallel with the constant changes in sport, the International Olympic Committee might want to reconsider this quote as well and add the factor Funnier to it.

Snapchat is the new stadium

Nothing goes above attending real sport events, where you can see and feel the excitement of the athletes, no matter if it’s at professional or amateur level. But more than ever there’s just not enough time to do it all. That’s why Snapchat’s into sports. This social platform with 10 billion views per day makes it possible to feel the vibes of visiting a match through content made by millions of people all over the world. The Olympics in Rio last summer were never that close, with fans telling stories from inside the park and stadiums. With country specific geofilters everybody felt as if they were part of the Olympic dream.

“Imagine a live score geofilter for your local football team”

To take the next step, the photo app recently announced to bring live sports scores to high school football. Soon there will be a new type of geofilter that shows sports scores for local high school football games in real time. Imagine a live score filter of your local football team, how about that sports experience!

Snapchat is definitely here to stay and users can’t wait for more incentives. Snapchat’s Discover is another way of pleasing the audience. Several news magazines creating sharable news that only lasts for 24h, and then it’s gone. Every day it’s fast, fun and new. Every 24 hours there’s a subject you might like. Sports fans choose Bleacher Report, a top media company, that provides sports fans of news items on their website. For Snapchat they created a shortened version with visual and very funny content. You can choose: read if you’re interested and just tap to the next item if you’re not.

The future of sport engagement

Who knows what the next ‘next generation’ will like and what their interests will be. What comes after their important device? What if their own sports movements can be seen? Maybe this could be a unique crossover between being online and being active on the playground. Then they really get faster, higher, stronger. And funnier :)