MLS misses out on Reddit deal with major US sports leagues
Reddit has announced content partnership deals with the NBA, NFL, and MLB. With these new agreements, Reddit has the license to post video highlights on its website, plus the opportunity to do AMAs (Ask Me Anything) with star athletes from those leagues. In return, Reddit intends to share the revenue it obtains from advertisers with the leagues it has partnered with.
Reddit has a strong and loyal audience that stretches to over 500 million global users. Even though half of those are in the United States, where sports highlights are easy to come by, there remains a strong pool to choose from. For Reddit, American sports often depend on star power. These content partnerships could lead to AMA sessions with athletes like LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Judge, or recent Open Champion Xander Schauffele, as Reddit also signed an agreement with the PGA Tour.
“The country’s major sports leagues see the opportunity to reach global audiences on Reddit,” said Jen Wong, Reddit’s chief operating officer. “We’re continuing to build more ways for businesses and organizations to engage with Reddit’s communities; this benefits our communities, program partners, and advertisers.”
Noticeably absent among the “country’s major sports leagues” is MLS.
Reddit content partnerships are a missed opportunity for MLS
With such a strong cohort of American users and viewers, it makes sense for Reddit to target the traditionally strong sports. The NFL and NBA remain the two most popular sports in the United States, and they have a growing international audience. Likewise, Major League Baseball has been working to expand its fan base outside of the United States with games in Mexico and England. This deal, however, takes a deeper dive. International and domestic audiences should be able to develop a deeper appreciation for individuals with things like AMAs. Then, the highlights keep the interest fresh, particularly on Sundays in the NFL.
Major League Soccer faces the obstacle of breaking into an established global fan base. MLS is not the top league of its sport like the NBA, NFL, MLB, or PGA Tour. Soccer fans may be more inclined to tune into highlights for the Premier League, the Bundesliga, or the UEFA Champions League. Yet, MLS has several star players. Having them do an AMA or releasing behind-the-scenes videos may show a new side to MLS.
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Despite having MLS highlights behind the Apple paywall, Major League Soccer has seen a dramatic increase in views of its highlight videos on YouTube. If the league had been able to do a similar deal with Reddit to post highlights on the social media platform, MLS could have seen similar success.
Reddit still remains an opportunity to grow MLS‘s audience. Coupled with the popular AMAs, it could have been a much-needed boost for Major League Soccer.
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