ESPN TikTok Growth

Posted in SportsTagged

I started as the lead of the ESPN TikTok account in mid-July 2019, and grew those 87K followers into 10M+ in less than a year.

The Challenge

  • Is there a way to grow ESPN’s younger audience through TikTok?
  • Does ESPN even belong on TikTok?
    • At this point, the app was very new and many saw it as only a place for dance trends. Traditional sports highlights that were doing well on other platforms weren’t performing well here.

My Strategy

  • Note: Today’s TikTok users are totally different, but this strategy is how I approached a new platform.
  • Really dive deep and learn what type of content active users were engaging with — and give the people what they want!
  • Think about the content and resources ESPN owned, and how I could use that to generate maximum engagement, given that there was no real budget or resources initially invested in this project.

The Results

  • Grew the account from 87K followers to more than 2 million followers in less than 6 months, then 10M+ in less than a year.
  • Second most-followed sports media accounts in North America.
  • Additionally, I provided TikTok consulting to others at ESPN and Disney, including for ESPN Deportes, First Take, Stephen A. Smith’s account and Disney Parks.

Examples of Top Posts I Produced