'We're in a league of our own': How X is planning to take over the World Cup, starting with Draw Day

"The biggest sports tentpoles, from the Super Bowl to the Olympics, have become the closest thing platforms have to guaranteed windfalls. Everyone circles the same moments, intent on wringing as much commercial upside from a captive global audience. Against that backdrop, X is angling for an early edge heading into next year's FIFA World Cup. The platform is using the tournament's draw as an early proving ground for a broader strategy to reassert its creator content around live events."

""The idea is to plant a flag in the World Cup conversation and marketplace on what is the first marquee moment," Monique Pintarelli, the platform's head of Americas, told Digiday. The hope being that it piques enough advertisers interest to see the social network as a place to park swathes of their marketing dollars for the soccer tournament. "We're in a league of our own when it comes to our ability to deliver on this intersection of live culture and sport," Pintarelli said."

"For Draw Day, X teamed up with football journalist and creator Fabrizio Romano, who currently has 26.5 million followers on the platform, to produce a variety of exclusive vertical and horizontal short-form content before, during and after the event. In particular, Romano will do a livestream after the TV broadcast of Draw Day, sharing his insider insights with his followers."

X is positioning itself to capture advertiser interest around the FIFA World Cup by using the tournament's draw as an early proving ground. The platform partnered with creator Fabrizio Romano to produce exclusive vertical and horizontal short-form content and a post-broadcast livestream to deliver insider insights. X is building a fan destination experience and show page to centralize daily content for fans and newcomers. The strategy aims to reassert creator-driven coverage of live events, demonstrate X's ability to intersect live culture and sport, and persuade advertisers to allocate significant marketing dollars to the platform for the tournament.

Read at Digiday