The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has announced a new partnership with social media giant Snapchat which aims to elevate the competition’s engagement amongst a younger audience.
The collaboration will see the platform produce a host of specific features and filters that allow fans to emphasise their excitement for upcoming events, as well as broadcasting shows the aim to elevate anticipation for events.
One of the shows that will feature on Snapchat is the ever popular Embedded series, which provides a unique insight into fight week and provides fans with a deeper understanding of what the fighters go through in preparation for an event.
Anmol Malhotra, Snap’s Head of Sports Partnerships commented: “We want to make being a UFC fan more fun no matter where you are, and we’re thrilled to have UFC utilizing all of our offerings, from content to creative tools. We’re excited for UFC to join a wide range of sports leagues around the world in delivering Snapchatters the ultimate fan experience.”
David Shaw, the UFC’s SVP of International and Content added: “Snapchat is one of the world’s leading mobile storytelling platforms and we’re thrilled to partner with them to engage with new and existing UFC fans alike and to help generate excitement for viewership of upcoming events.”
The agreement between Snapchat and the UFC is similar to the February partnership struck between the social media platform and the National Hockey League (NHL) which saw added ice hockey content featured on the mobile app.
At the time Heidi Browning, Chief Marketing Officer for the NHL, stated: “This expanded deal provides us the ability to not only put our premium content in front of Snapchat’s younger and more diverse audience but to also tell deeper and more creative stories regularly through the perspective of our passionate fan base.”
This latest sports partnership involving Snapchat comes ahead of this weekend’s highly anticipated UFC 245 event, which features three title bouts including Kamaru Usman’s clash with bitter rival Colby Covington, Max Hollaway’s latest featherweight title defence against the powerful Alex Volkanovski and Amanda Nunes’ rematch with Germaine de Randamie.
Furthermore, engagement is expected to continue growing for the mixed martial arts leader when combat sports megastar Conor McGregor makes his long awaited return to the Octagon next month when he is set to take on Cowboy Cerrone.
