Six Nations Rugby And TikTok Announce Landmark Partnership

  • Six Nations Rugby and TikTok have announced a four-year partnership spanning the Women’s Six Nations, Guinness Six Nations and Autumn Nations Series
  • The TikTok Women’s Six Nations signals the first time the Women’s Championship has had a Title Partner, and will commence from the 2022 competition
  • TikTok will become the Official Partner of the Guinness Six Nations and Autumn Nations Series

Six Nations Rugby and TikTok have announced a landmark partnership that will see the entertainment platform become the Title Partner of the Women’s Six Nations.

It will also become an Official Partner to the Guinness Six Nations and Autumn Nations Series, from the 2022 season through to 2025.

For the first time in its history, the Women’s Six Nations will have a Title Partner, with the Championship set to be known as the TikTok Women’s Six Nations. The investment from TikTok will be felt by each Union. Whilst not limited to the Women’s game, this partnership will help each Union continue to develop this area of the game. In doing so, exposure for the women’s game, engagement, participation and major growth are all ambitions of this partnership.

A seminal moment for the Women’s game, and testament to the commitment of Six Nations Rugby and all six Unions, to identify a partner that shares the passion for the development of Women’s rugby.

With a huge year for Women’s rugby set to unfold, TikTok recognises its responsibility to promote the players, teams, Unions and stories within the sport. As such, it has committed significant investment and promotional support to drive the growth of audience engagement with Women’s rugby.

As a platform designed to bring fans even closer to the action, TikTok will offer new and existing rugby fans a window into the Women’s game, one of the fastest growing areas of the sport.

As well as its Title Sponsorship of the Women’s Six Nations, TikTok will also become the Official Partner of the Guinness Six Nations and Autumn Nations Series, ensuring TikTok can engage rugby fans throughout the calendar year.

To date, TikTok has amassed more than 5.1 billion views for its #rugby content, with #SixNationsRugby a rapidly growing hashtag on the platform.

As part of its partnership across Six Nations Rugby, the Unions will commit to utilise dedicated TikTok Rugby Creators embedded within each home Union to enhance the experience for the fans, deliver even better regular content and grow rugby on its platform.

The role of the TikTok Rugby Creator will be to give everyone exclusive access to the game, its culture, people, and big moments, proving TikTok is where all fans play. Rugby fans on TikTok will be able to access content from respective tournament and Union accounts, with in-app activations including custom Effects and Hashtag Challenges that will further engage the rugby fanbase on TikTok.

Commenting on the partnership between Six Nations Rugby and TikTok, Ben Morel, CEO of Six Nations Rugby, said:

“The significance of our partnership with TikTok cannot be understated. The very first Title Partner in the history of the Women’s Six Nations Championship, as well as support for the Guinness Six Nations and Autumn Nations Series is something to be incredibly excited about.

“TikTok shares our ambitions for providing fans with the best possible experience and has the perfect platform for fans to access and engage with rugby throughout the year. Complementing this is the collective aim of giving the sport a global shop window to reach new and existing fans and put the likes of the Women’s game in front of more people.”

Rich Waterworth, General Manager, Europe, TikTok, added:

“TikTok is the perfect platform for sports fandom and entertainment, and we are tremendously excited to be partnering with Six Nations Rugby for the next four years. The fast growth of sporting talent, fan communities, sports trends and commentary on TikTok makes the platform a compelling place to engage new and existing audiences for Six Nations Rugby, bringing the spirit and passion of these iconic tournaments to our diverse and creative community.

“We’re especially delighted to be the Title Sponsor of what is now the TikTok Women’s Six Nations; as a platform that’s built around inclusion, we are passionate about giving an equal footing to men’s and women’s sport.”

The 2022 Guinness Six Nations kicks off on the 5th of February, when Ireland host Wales, Scotland welcome England, and then France take on Italy on the 6th February. The TikTok Women’s Six Nations starts on the 26th of March, following the conclusion of the Men’s Championship.

Breitling Becomes The Official Timing Partner Of Six Nations Rugby

The Breitling partnership is a first of its kind for a Timing Partner, as it will span all Six Nations Rugby competitions, including the first ever timing partner for the Women’s Six Nations, and the Autumn Nations Series.

To welcome Breitling into the Women’s Championship is a significant moment for this area of rugby. Everyone involved in the partnership is committed to the continued development of the women’s game.

Commenting on the partnership between Six Nations Rugby and Breitling, Ben Morel, Chief Executive Officer, Six Nations Rugby, said: “The partnership between Breitling and Six Nations Rugby is a hugely exciting moment for everyone involved. It is a partnership of firsts; an Official Timing Partner supporting the Women’s game and a progressive new partnership, spanning all Six Nations Rugby annual competitions.”

“As such a huge amount of credit goes to the Unions for creating these Championship opportunities, and to Breitling for their enthusiasm to all aspects of this partnership.”

Georges Kern, Breitling CEO, added: “We look forward to being part of the Six Nations Rugby legacy through this exciting partnership. Breitling and Six Nations Rugby are joined by spirit and attitude – both striving for excellence through action, and delivering an ethos of teamwork, inclusivity and integrity”

“At the heart of rugby is a fearless, no-limits state of mind, which our timepieces are the perfect accompaniment to. We look forward to the start of a great season, and an exciting collaboration with Six Nations Rugby, its unions and fans.”

The 2022 Guinness Six Nations kicks off on the 5th February, when Ireland host Wales, Scotland welcome England, and France then take on Italy on the 6th February. The Women’s Six Nations starts on the 26th March, following the conclusion of the Men’s Championship.

Red Bull Racing Connects With Communications Technology Giant Poly

Red Bull Racing announces its official headset and video conferencing hardware partner Poly for 2022 and beyond.

While victory in Formula One often depends on the lightning-fast decisions made in the cockpit and on the pit wall, success is equally dependent on a team’s ability to make the right connections in every area of the business – between driver and engineer, garage and factory, and among the departments that deliver a winning performance each season. And with communication and collaboration being the key to victory, Red Bull Racing is excited to partner with Poly.

With a long history of innovation, Poly continues to push the boundaries as a global communications company that powers meaningful human connection and collaboration, with audio, voice, and video products that ensure every word and gesture are captured with precision, clarity and focus, no matter how extreme the environment or how complex the working conditions.

Poly’s pro-grade communications gear will be implemented across Red Bull Racing’s operations, with its headsets being used by Red Bull Racing team members throughout the 2022 Formula One season and beyond. Its category defining audio, voice, and video solutions will also allow each of the team’s departments to collaborate more closely and more efficiently in the future.

Red Bull Racing Team Principal and CEO, Christian Horner, said: “A World Championship winning Formula One Team is made up of hundreds of people working in unison, though they are often separated by thousands of miles. As such, it’s vitally important that we have clear lines of communication in every area of the business, bringing our entire team together, no matter where they are in the world. Poly’s category defining suite of audio, voice and video solutions will help us to find the competitive edge we need to win.”

Poly CEO, Dave Shull added: “We are thrilled to partner with Red Bull Racing as they build-off of their success from last season. This partnership unites two global organizations focused on performance and innovation.  As the 2022 season kicks off, Red Bull Racing will rely on Poly’s premium audio and video technology to ensure every word and gesture is captured with precision and clarity, delivering a reliable collaboration experience in support of their business, from any location in the world.”

BLAST Premier Announces Two-Year Partnership Extension With EPOS

Leading esports tournament organiser BLAST Premier has announced a two-year partnership extension with premium audio peripherals provider, EPOS. 

EPOS became BLAST’s official audio partner in February 2020 and the extended deal will ensure the brand continues to receive global exposure across the tournament organiser’s seven events this year, reaching an audience of over 150 territories in 18 different languages.  

The partnership will build on the successes of 2021, with the continuation of the ‘Push to Talk’ podcast series into a second season. The series sees hosts and popular Counter-Strike figures Conner ”Scrawny” Girvan and Mohan ”Launders” Govindasamy dive deep into exclusive interviews with the best CS:GO players, whilst discussing the spiciest ‘Hot Takes’ in the industry and answer fans’ most interesting Counter-Strike questions. 

Throughout the partnership, BLAST and EPOS have highlighted the power of audio and the  key role it plays at the top level of Counter-Strike, with the implementation of premium gaming headset H6PRO throughout the broadcast. This is encapsulated by the popular ‘Mic’d Up’ broadcast segment, providing esports fans with a unique insight into how elite players communicate with each other during the most important moments in-game. 

The announcement comes off the back of two recent partnership renewals, following Coinbase and CS.MONEY. With BLAST continuing to increase the value of its global partnership portfolio in line with future growth plans.

Oliver Clarke, Head of Brand Partnerships for BLAST, said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with EPOS as we go into the new season and beyond, establishing long-term relationships with our partners is a key part of our commercial growth plans. Since last year, we have showcased the importance of audio in providing a competitive edge and look forward to bringing this to life in new ways during 2022.” 

Maja Sand-Grimnitz, Director of Global Marketing, Gaming at EPOS, said: ”We’re really excited to extend our partnership with BLAST for the coming two years. As the past two years have already shown, the BLAST Premier and EPOS brand are a great fit, and we can’t wait to show the power of audio through a lot of exceptional events throughout 2022 and 2023. 

“The BLAST Premier Fall Final in November really showed the value and great opportunities in physical events, and we especially enjoyed seeing our new H6PRO Series activated in the arena. Even after two years we still see this partnership offer endless opportunities to deliver great results to BLAST and EPOS but most importantly all the fantastic esports fans around the world.“

BLAST Premier is the world’s leading Counter-Strike tournament series, hosting the best players and teams, offering opportunities to regions across the globe and crowning the world champions of CS:GO. Up to 32 of the world’s best teams take part in the seven BLAST Premier events across the year with a combined prize pool of $2,475,000 on the line. 

Pakistan Cricket Board Combines With Fox Sports To Show PSL In Australia

The Pakistan Cricket Board today joined hands with Fox Sports to telecast its home international fixtures and the HBL Pakistan Super League in Australia. With the broadcast deal, the Pakistan cricket fans and supporters down under will be able to watch the upcoming edition of HBL PSL and the one to be played next year, along with all international home cricket till April 2023 on Fox Sports on Foxtel as well as Kayo Sports (Foxtel Group’s sports streaming service). Foxtel Group now has more than 2.4 million sports subscribers allowing PCB access to the largest audience of sports fans in the country across Foxtel and Kayo. 

This partnership is part of the PCB’s strategy and vision to take top-flight cricket in Pakistan in every corner of the earth after it signed deals with Etisalat (Middle-East and North Africa), Flow Sports (Caribbean), Sky NZ (New Zealand), Sky Sports (United Kingdom), Sony (South Asia outside Pakistan), Super Sports (Sub-Saharan Africa) and Willow TV (North America).

The PCB has also partnered with OTT platforms ICC TV and tapmad TV to broadcast the HBL PSL 7 in all unexploited territories as well as Australia. The countries where the HBL PSL 7, which begins on Thursday, can be watched on the two platforms are: Andorra, Antarctica, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bouvet Island, Bouvet Island, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, China, Christmas Island, Cocos Island, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, East Timor, Ecuador, Estonia, Falkland Islands, Faroe islands, Finland, France, French Guiana, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guyana, Heard Island, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgystan, Laos, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Caledonia, North Korea, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vatican City, Vietnam and Venezuela.

The HBL PSL 7 will be played in Karachi and Lahore. The league’s Karachi-leg will see 15 matches staged at the National Stadium, while the last 19 matches will be played at Pakistan’s home of Cricket, the Gaddafi Stadium.

Papa Johns Heats Up With New Scottish Rugby Partnership

Global pizza delivery brand Papa Johns is marking its 20th year in Scotland through a new commercial partnership with Scottish Rugby.

The multi-year sponsorship will see the company become Scottish Rugby’s official pizza and takeaway partner in a deal that will be focussed on supporting the adult and youth community and club game in Scotland.

Through the new partnership, Papa Johns will also become the naming rights partner for the hugely successful ‘Tartan Touch’ programme, which has enabled people of all ages and abilities to experience an abbreviated form of rugby either as their introduction to the sport or as a fun social activity for experienced players.

Papa Johns branding will be first seen at Scotland matches played by both the men’s and women’s team during their respective 2022 Six Nations’ competitions.

Founded in 1984 in the USA, Papa Johns has become one of the world’s most recognisable pizza brands with over 500 stores in the UK alone.

Papa Johns will this year celebrate the 20th anniversary of its first store in Scotland which opened at Glasgow Broomhill in 2002. Since then, the brand has continued to grow and there are currently 30 stores serving delicious slices to Scots all over the country.

Scottish Rugby’s Group Head of Commercial and Sponsorship, Toni Blackhurst said:

“There has been a huge growth in the home food delivery market in recent years and as such we are delighted to secure a key player in Papa Johns for a multi-year deal as our official pizza and takeaway partner.

“Their ambition to support our community game across Scotland and specifically to be directly associated to Tartan Touch shows how attractive rugby is as a sport at a grassroots level. Tartan Touch has been one of Scottish Rugby’s real success stories in recent years and this has enabled us to seek and secure a title sponsor in Papa Johns.”

Speaking on the latest announcement, Giles Codd, Senior Director of Marketing said:

“This partnership with Scottish Rugby is a truly brilliant opportunity for Papa Johns to support grassroots rugby in Scotland. We have been so impressed with Scottish Rugby’s commitment to boosting local communities through sport, and the Tartan Touch programme is the true embodiment of that. We are very excited to witness the difference that rugby can make for people of all ages and abilities.

“With the Guinness Six Nations about to get underway, there really is no better time for this announcement to come and we look forward to engaging with Scottish rugby fans as an official partner of Scottish Rugby.”

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WTT Signs SEA Broadcast Deal With Eclat Media Group For SPOTV

Today, World Table Tennis (WTT) announced its latest broadcast agreement for Southeast Asia with Eclat Media Group, further highlighting the sport’s remarkable growth and appeal in recent years.  

The three-year partnership starts immediately and includes the following markets: Brunei, Cambodia, Timor Leste, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Macau (non-exclusive), Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand (non-exclusive) and Vietnam. WTT and SPOTV will work closely together to reach new audiences across a region of over 670 million people.

The South Korean group secured exclusive rights for all WTT events – including the World Table Tennis Championships – on SPOTV, its linear television channel and streaming platform.

WTT unveiled the first part of its 2022 calendar earlier this week, featuring an ambitious list of events with the ultimate objective of making table tennis stronger, more attractive, and more global. Oman joins the WTT Series for 2022, hosting WTT Contender Muscat in February, and the first-ever WTT Grand Smash is scheduled in Asia in March. Players will then return to the Middle East with WTT Feeder Doha, WTT Contender Doha, and WTT Star Contender Doha to be played consecutively.

WTT Senior Media Director Melissa Soobratty said: “We are delighted to welcome SPOTV to the WTT family. Southeast Asia is a significant market for WTT, and we look forward to partnering with SPOTV to build a new era for table tennis in the region.”

Mitchell Hong, Chairman of SPOTV and CEO of Eclat Media Group, commented: “Table tennis is an Olympic sport with a massive following in Asia. SPOTV is the platform for key sporting events, and we welcome WTT as a partner to deliver the best table tennis content to our fans in this part of the world.”

SPOTV runs two regional sports channels, SPOTV and SPOTV2, and is currently distributed across territories in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia (MNC Vision, K-Vision, UseeTV, MAXStream), Malaysia (Astro, Unifi TV), the Philippines (Skycable), Singapore (Singtel TV, StarHub TV), Thailand (TrueVisions), and selected East Asia territories such as Macau (Macau Cable TV), and Mongolia (Univision). Its streaming platform, SPOTV NOW, is scheduled to be launched later in 2022.

By broadcasting globally renowned sports properties such as MotoGP, Wimbledon, US Open (tennis), The Open Championships, Badminton World Federation Events, and World Table Tennis, SPOTV seeks to be an inclusive and dynamic platform that profoundly engages the Asian sports fan.

IMG manages the global distribution of broadcast rights for all WTT events and TV production coverage. 

Hyperice Becomes The Official Recovery Technology Of The Global IRONMAN Triathlon Series

IRONMAN today announced that Hyperice, a global high-performance wellness brand, have entered into a new long-term, global partnership making Hyperice the Official Recovery Technology of the Global IRONMAN Triathlon Series. After a near 10-year successful relationship across the U.S. region between IRONMAN and Normatec, which Hyperice acquired in March 2020, Hyperice is expanding its partnership with IRONMAN to cover all global IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 events and will focus on integrating Hyperice’s full suite of technology-driven recovery products.

“Recovery is a critical piece of the athlete journey. We are thrilled to partner with Hyperice, which will give our community access to industry-leading technology that will be paramount in ensuring our athletes achieve their goals,” said Matt Wikstrom, Chief Partnerships Officer for The IRONMAN Group.

https://twitter.com/IRONMANtri/status/1486021051238662145?s=20

Beginning this year, Hyperice will have a presence at IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 events beyond the finish line with ‘Official Hyperice Recovery Zones’ to help athletes recover immediately post-race. Further, Hyperice products will be available within the official IRONMAN Merchandise stores on-site, offering athletes and spectators the opportunity to demo and purchase products.

“Competing in an IRONMAN race is a marker of success for every endurance athlete,” says Jim Huether, CEO of Hyperice. “We have a long-time relationship with IRONMAN beginning with Normatec and now is inclusive of our full-suite of wellness products. Together we have a shared mission to help athletes compete at the highest levels.”

Since its inception, Hyperice has worked closely with athletes and sports organizations in its product and technology development and has existing partnerships with major professional sports organizations and teams including the NBA, NFL, MLB, PGA TOUR, UFC, and U.S. Soccer Federation. The partnership with IRONMAN marks an important step for the brand into the endurance sports space. Together, IRONMAN and Hyperice seek to demonstrate the importance of recovery for athletes of all levels from professionals to recreational athletes, through the benefits of Hyperice’s extensive product portfolio.

Brazilian Football’s Paulista Teams Up With Stats Perform

The Paulista Football Federation (FPF) has now appointed an official betting and data rights partner for the Paulistão Championship and all other FPF competitions.

Stats Perform, the global sports tech leader in data and AI Technology, has secured exclusive rights to distribute audio-visual streaming and data rights to sports betting companies and betting shops worldwide outside of Brazil. The deal was led by LiveMode, the FPF’s commercial partner for all broadcasting and sponsorship rights and brokered by Zeus Sports Marketing (ZSM), an experienced London and Singapore based international media agency who is one of Stats Perform’s trusted commercial partners.  Stats Perform and ZSM already have a deep involvement in Brazilian Football as the official betting and data rights partners with the CBF for the Brasileirão Serié A and Serié B football leagues.

“We are delighted to make this amazing partnership in an area still very little explored in Brazil,” Reinaldo Carneiro Bastos, PFF president, said in a statement. “We keep working hard to bring more and more innovation and technology to all our competitions,” he continued.

The agreement, unprecedented in Brazil, will last for four years and follows the trend already developed by some of the most important leagues in the world, such as the NFL, NBA and other major soccer leagues worldwide. The Federation and LiveMode studied the best practices of these leagues and, together with Stats Perform, will implement the same steadfast measures in FPF competitions, such as enhanced stadium access control.

“Like many of the other major sports properties in the world, we believe that game data is a vital intellectual property of clubs and championships,” said Mauricio Portela, LiveMode Senior Partner.” This agreement will allow the exploitation of the full potential that these data have.”  The agreement kicks in with the start of Paulistão Sicredi 2022.

Commenting on the new agreement, Alex Rice, Chief Rights Officer of Stats Perform, said, “This latest partnership is a testament to the exceptional portfolio of football rights held by our company. Stats Perform is extremely proud to deliver such an outstanding collection of Brazilian football betting and data rights to sit alongside its existing long-term relationship with CBF/ Brasileirão.”

Having brokered this commercial arrangement, ZSM’s Co-Founder and Managing Director, Josh Burack, added, “ZSM has developed excellent relationships in the betting and data sector, with this latest set of rights in Brazil adding to our strong mix. We are delighted to have further strengthened our agency’s growing presence in such an important segment of the marketplace while adding value to FPF, partner agency LiveMode and our long-term client Stats Perform.”

Binance Sign Five-Year Deal With Argentine Football Association

Cryptocurrency platform Binance has unveiled a new deal with the Argentine Football Association that will see them become a five-year sponsor of the national teams.

“Soccer and cryptocurrencies are life in Argentina, so it makes sense for Binance to partner with the Argentine Football Association,” said He Yi, Co-Founder and CMO of Binance.

“Through this agreement, we hope to support Argentine soccer at all levels and introduce Binance, the crypto world and the blockchain to soccer fans across the country and the world.”

Claudio Tapia, AFA President, stated: “Binance meets all the conditions we are looking for. A leading global brand in its field, innovative and with a vision of creating new digital assets,”

“We are very happy to incorporate Binance as a commercial partner of the AFA. An alliance that, without a doubt, will generate excellent results for both parties.”

However, there is some controversy around the deal, as Socios.com claim that via their Chiliz cryptocurrency, which last year signed a deal with Argentine football’s top division and has stated it will be contesting the deal as it is in breach of their deal.