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- Yankees and TikTok started talks six months ago
- Deal hands MLB franchise team-branded content on platform
- Short-form video app gets branded signage inside Yankee Stadium
Major League Baseball’s (MLB) New York Yankees and the Yes Network have signed a sponsorship deal with Chinese short-form video platform TikTok, according to Sportico.
The deal comes despite US president Donald Trump’s ongoing attempts to ban the ByteDance-owned social media platform, which he has accused of posing a risk to national security.
The Yankees and TikTok have been working on the tie-up for about six months, Sportico said, adding that the deal will reportedly run into September and expire should Trump’s ban come into effect. If TikTok’s US operations are sold, or if a court challenge to Trump’s executive order issued last week is successful, then the deal will reportedly run for another two years.
The report added that the Yankees’ initial sponsorship agreement is worth about US$10 million. As part of the deal, TikTok is set to receive branded signs inside Yankee Stadium, which is currently hosting games behind closed doors due to Covid-19.
In return, the MLB franchise will get team-branded content on TikTok’s platforms as they look to tap into the platform’s younger user base.
Since TikTok’s worldwide release in 2018 on the back of its merger with Musical.ly, the platform has become more popular than Facebook among 13 to 16-year-olds. A recent study by digital safety app maker Qustodio found children aged from four to 15 spend 80 minutes per day on TikTok, about five minutes shy of their average time on YouTube.
Adoption of TikTok has been accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, with the app generating the most downloads ever in a quarter during the first three months of 2020, according to data published in April by Sensor Tower.
The platform has also made a number of high-profile appointments as part of its expansion efforts. In May, Kevin Mayer, Disney’s top streaming executive, was announced as TikTok’s chief executive, as well as chief operating officer of ByteDance, the app’s Chinese parent company.
Major League Baseball’s (MLB) New York Yankees and the Yes Network have signed a sponsorship deal with Chinese short-form video platform TikTok, according to Sportico.
The deal comes despite US president Donald Trump’s ongoing attempts to ban the ByteDance-owned social media platform, which he has accused of posing a risk to national security.
The Yankees and TikTok have been working on the tie-up for about six months, Sportico said, adding that the deal will reportedly run into September and expire should Trump’s ban come into effect. If TikTok’s US operations are sold, or if a court challenge to Trump’s executive order issued last week is successful, then the deal will reportedly run for another two years.
The report added that the Yankees’ initial sponsorship agreement is worth about US$10 million. As part of the deal, TikTok is set to receive branded signs inside Yankee Stadium, which is currently hosting games behind closed doors due to Covid-19.
In return, the MLB franchise will get team-branded content on TikTok’s platforms as they look to tap into the platform’s younger user base.
Since TikTok’s worldwide release in 2018 on the back of its merger with Musical.ly, the platform has become more popular than Facebook among 13 to 16 year-olds. A recent study by digital safety app maker Qustodio found children aged from four to 15 spend 80 minutes per day on TikTok, about five minutes shy of their average time on YouTube.
Adoption of TikTok has been accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, with the app generating the most downloads ever in a quarter during the first three months of 2020, according to data published in April by Sensor Tower.
The platform has also made a number of high-profile appointments as part of its expansion efforts. In May, Kevin Mayer, Disney’s top streaming executive, was announced as TikTok’s chief executive, as well as chief operating officer of ByteDance, the app’s Chinese parent company.
