TikTokThursday 2 February – From incredible tries and heroic tackles, to exhilarating scrums and last-gasp penalties, the TikTok community will once again have a unique window into rugby's greatest Championships as TikTok's partnership with Six Nations Rugby enters its second year.
As an Official Partner of the iconic Guinness Six Nations and the first-ever Title Partner of the TikTok Women's Six Nations, the entertainment platform is taking fans inside all the action of the 2023 Championships with unmissable content from TikTok creators, fans, and the teams and players themselves.
TikTok's official #SixNationsRugby Search Hub will house the wealth of content in-app throughout both the Men's and Women's Championships, bringing the best off-pitch highlights, gameday rituals, fan reactions, and creator content to For You feeds around the world.
The global TikTok community can also get involved by taking part in bespoke hashtag challenges and using custom Six Nations Rugby effects, filters and sounds in their creations.
All this builds on the record-breaking success of the partnership in 2022, which showed fans a different side of rugby and helped the game reach new audiences beyond its traditional fanbase.
Over the course of the Men's and Women's Championships, there were almost six billion views of posts with the hashtag #SixNationsRugby, with players, creators and the TikTok community coming together to share their best moments and put their own spin on trends. This included everything from Maro Itoje (@maroitoje) giving us an inside look at the England camp, to creator and amateur player Jemma (@theproplife) inspiring women and girls to try rugby.
It also comes after a seminal year for the women's game as TikTok became the first-ever Title Partner of the Women's Six Nations. With its own moment in the rugby calendar, the 2022 Championship smashed all attendance records for women's matches, with a 69% increase in stadium support, while TV audiences watched in 137 countries thanks to significantly ramped up broadcast coverage. There were more than 100 million video views on the @TikTokW6N TikTok channel and 110,000 new followers, helping lay the foundations for the game's continued exposure and growth.
Rich Waterworth, General Manager, Europe at TikTok said: "The Six Nations Championships have shown the unique role TikTok can play in amplifying iconic sporting moments and bringing the excitement to a diverse new fanbase. We've seen this come to life through all the creative ways our community has embraced the tournament, from sharing their match reactions to jumping on rugby-inspired TikTok trends.
"As a platform built around inclusion, we want to give both men's and women's sport a platform to grow and inspire the next generation. 2022 was a milestone year for rugby on TikTok and we can't wait to see what's in store for 2023."
Ben Morel, Chief Executive Officer of Six Nations Rugby, added: “Everything we do at Six Nations Rugby is driven by the commitment to create or enhance the experience for fans. The partnership with TikTok has offered a new route to deliver on this commitment, bringing fans even closer to all the action, as well as putting fans alongside the players and teams at the heart of the game.
Last year, the partnership exceeded all expectations, through growth and levels of engagement with our audience, on the platform. For the Women’s Championship, the partnership put the teams, players, and fans on centre stage, like never before.
As we go into the 2023 Championships, everyone involved is hugely excited to see how we can build on what we started together last year and continue to offer fans unrivalled access to all of the action that these Championships are famous for.”
TikTok's Swipe Out Hate campaign is back for another year, with the same aim of protecting rugby fans on TikTok from those who spread hate and division. To elevate Swipe Out Hate even further, Union Captains from both Men's and Women's teams will front the campaign alongside creators for the first time, explaining what respect and sportsmanship means to them and sharing how people can report hateful content. Read more in our Community Guidelines.
The 2023 Guinness Six Nations kicks off on 4 February, when Wales take on Ireland. The TikTok Women's Six Nations starts on the 25 March, following the conclusion of the Men's Championship.
Whether you're supporting England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland or Wales, head to TikTok and follow your nation for behind the scenes content and exclusive access to the teams.
Creators to follow:
- Jemma Norton (aka @theproplife)'s content champions women's rugby and focuses on inspiring more women to play the game. Growing her TikTok profile has helped Jemma give back to grassroots rugby by selling official The Prop Life merchandise.
- Ben John (aka @therugbytrainer) is a former Welsh rugby player whose athlete performance business has exploded on TikTok. Ben now runs his own rugby skills academy and posts regular ‘how to’ videos and match reaction content on the platform.
- The Rugby Guy (@therugbyguyofficial) teaches rugby skills on TikTok and shares his funny reactions to the game's biggest moments.
- Max Brown (@maxbrownyo) is a rugby fitness creator who has been involving his grandma in some wholesome, rugby-inspired content.
- @kurtious is a Malaysian businessman living in Scotland who started playing rugby aged 28 and now promotes the inclusive rugby club Glasgow Raptors. Thanks to his diverse and positive content, kurtious has built a community of nearly half a million TikTok followers.
