The Australian Football League (AFL) has announced a new multi-year partnership with the leading social video platform, TikTok.
The agreement will see the establishment of an official Australian Football League Women’s (AFLW) profile as the tournament expands to 18 teams for the 2022 season. The new teams for this season are Sydney Swans, Hawthorn Hawks, Essendon Bombers, and Port Adelaide Power.
Since 2020, the AFL has amassed 220,000 followers on TikTok, and with the addition of the AFLW channel, the network hopes to expand its reach into women’s sports. TikTok has established devoted content for events such as rugby union’s Women’s Six Nations and the 2022 Women’s Euro international soccer tournament in the last 18 months.
The collaboration will also deliver original content for AFL fans, which consists of behind-the-scenes and player-focused videos and much more.
Kylie Rogers, AFL Executive General Manager of Customer and Commercial, said, “The AFL continues to grow in Australia as does TikTok, especially with kids and families, so we are excited to partner together and harness the potential to engage new generations of fans around the game.
“Short-form mobile video is one of the most engaging and effective formats commercially. TikTok’s power and diverse reach will allow us to deliver fresh and engaging content to our already passionate fanbase. Sport is a hugely popular category on the platform and with over one billion users worldwide, TikTok will allow us to grow our game locally and abroad.”
Jonathon Oake, Sport Business Development at TikTok Asia Pacific (APAC), commented, “TikTok is a vibrant hub of sporting content for millions of users across Australia, and this new partnership will deliver more AFL content to the platform than ever before. We see enormous user appetite and growth potential for the AFL in reaching fans across the world via short-form content.”