Social video app TikTok has been announced as ‘official fans’ of both the Guinness Men’s and Women’s Six Nations Championships.
The partnership proposes to give users of the app a ‘unique window’ into the 2024 Guinness Six Nations and help raise awareness of TikTok’s online safety features through its #SwipeOutHate campaign.
SwipeOutHate aims to protect rugby fans on TikTok from anyone who seeks to spread hate and division while educating the community about the range of reporting tools to prevent harmful behaviour on the platform. The campaign will run throughout both the men’s and women’s Guinness Six Nations.
The 2024 Guinness Men’s Six Nations Championships kicks off 2 February when Ireland takes on France. The Women’s Six Nations Championships starts on 23 February, following the conclusion of the Men’s Championships.
Aoife Moran, Sports Marketing Lead EUI at TikTok, said: “Since the start of our partnership with Six Nations Rugby, rugby has truly taken off on TikTok and it has been amazing to see how our platform has evolved into a vibrant destination for rugby fandom online.
“But we know there’s always more to do when it comes to eradicating online hate speech in sports. With our #SwipeOutHate campaign, we’re shining a light on the measures we’ve put in place to ensure TikTok is a positive environment for rugby fans everywhere.”
TikTok’s users will have access to exclusive content from both competitions such as match highlights, training clips, fan reactions and creator videos, which will all be accessible by searching #SixNationsRugby in the app’s Search Hub.
The app has announced that its creators will play a big part in promoting the competitions and its online safety campaign, looking to build on the record-breaking success of its partnership with Six Nations Rugby.
Currently the #SixNationsRugby hashtag stands at over nine billion views and the official @sixnationsrugby channel has reached over half a million followers.
TikTok has also played a role in the growth the women’s game as the #womensrugby hashtag has over 900 million views, with 159,000 followers of the @womenssixnations channel and 2.3 million likes so far.
It is an exciting time for women’s rugby after the British & Irish Lions rugby union touring team has announced the addition of a women’s side for the first time in its 136-year history.
Sarah Beattie, Chief Marketing Officer at Six Nations Rugby, stated: “TikTok has been an incredible partner for Six Nations Rugby, helping us on our mission to reach and engage new fans with each of the Championships.
“This continues to be a key focus, and through the new strategic marketing partnership, TikTok will play an important role in helping us grow rugby’s audience, celebrate the game and its stars as well as foster that incredible sense of community that rugby instinctively generates through compelling content.”
