ABOUT THIS ENTRY

In 2020, WSE had just five shows on Snap. Since then, we have nearly quadrupled our content offering and now boast nearly two dozen shows on Snap. We also hold the title as Snap’s No. 1 sports publisher, as measured by monthly uniques. On average, WSE content rakes up 86 million unique views monthly. Content is broad and deep, from traditional mainstream sports to physical feats, backyard sports, and other oddities -- like hot air balloon performance art -- that appeal to digital sports fans.

How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?

WSE has a different approach to content creation than most publishers. Fans, frankly, inform WSE content on Snap and all digital platforms. WSE frequently publishes compilation reels of athletes. We are able to track the data to see what athletes are resonating with our fan community. When we see fan viewership and engagement spike, we immediately go to work producing and publishing more content around that particular athlete or topic. Case in point: WSE surfaced a story around Justin Martinez, and his transformation from “obese” to “beast” that we published on our GYM HEROES Snap channel. The episode generated 5.3M uniques with an average watch time of 1:11. Clearly, this content was overindexing so WSE went to work to create more stories around Martinez, diving deeper into his story. The elevated episode that resulted generated 9.7M uniques with an impressive average watch time of 2:08. Essentially, WSE gives fans a voice in the content we create. WSE’s innovations in analytics and data mining, combined with our content managers’ keen ability to spot trends early in the cycle, are raising the bar on “excellence in engagement.”

Objective: When you’re already #1, the bar is set high. WSE set out to maintain its position as the #1 sports publisher to Snap. After that, all goals related to growth:
increase viewers and engagement;
deliver more diverse stories and expand representation for underrepresented groups;
broaden coverage areas;
maintain/expand our leadership position in niche programming (think fishing, rock climbing, etc.);
engage new demos;
court brand partners;
increase programmatic revenue; and,
be a trusted partner to Snap in their growth markets of Mexico, the Middle East, Africa and more.

Strategy & Execution: Today’s digital sports fans consume content differently. They want highlights, memes, takes, commentary, analysis, off-field culture, and stories on the players and movements that are shaping the world of sports. This was WSE’s sweet spot. Leveraging content from leagues and rights holder partners, as well as original content and user-generated content, WSE set about to tell stories in a format that appealed to the video viewing habits of Gen-Z and millennials.

Content is broad and deep, from traditional mainstream sports to physical feats, backyard sports, and other oddities -- like hot air balloon performance art -- that appeal to digital sports fans. Diversity in storytelling is key. We tell diverse stories and make sure to represent marginalized groups of people who are accomplishing incredible feats of athleticism and occasionally pop culture. We follow the data, and when something starts to gain traction, we act quickly, digging deeper to tell those stories. This net new content keeps our followers engaged. Among our most popular Snap shows are GYM HEROES that spotlights the fitness journeys of incredible everyday people; POP THERAPY that features the work of physical therapists; and PHENOMS that tells the motivational and transformation stories of female athletes.

Results: WSE’s Snap shows reached an all-time high of 86 million views monthly, on average;
PHENOMS, our show that features women accomplishing extraordinary feats of athleticism, is among our fastest-growing, and was awarded the 2021 Hashtag Sports Award for “Best Female Representation in Sports Storytelling”;
We launched more than a dozen new shows in new coverage areas for us, including FTBL (soccer), BUCKETS (basketball); BREAK POINT (tennis); and more;
We increased coverage by more than 25% in niche sports areas like fishing, and rock climbing;
Demographics across the board have expanded in key markers of gender, age, and more;
We locked in deals for branded partnerships with Nike, Gatorade, Gymshark and others, paving a durable foundation for which to demonstrate success and secure future partnerships;
While exact revenue numbers are confidential, we can say for certain that our efforts with Snap have profoundly increased the organizations’ programmatic revenue, and Snap is the top revenue driver for WSE; and,
*We continue to work alongside Snap as they push into both new innovations as well as new regions worldwide.ince its inception, 

Production

• Wave Sports + Entertainment (WSE)

Credits

James Molinaro
Director
WSE

David Goffin
EVP, Studio and Creative
WSE

Trevor Rainbolt
Sr. Producer
WSE

Dan Buhl
Sr. Producer, Showrunner
WSE

Nikki Robinson
Sr. Producer
WSE

Xavier Aldana
Sr. Producer
WSE

Quin Baker
Design Lead
WSE

Taylor Pierce
Sr. Editor
WSE

Jason Lansing
Sr. Editor
WSE

Allison Miller
Producer
WSE

Marc Romo
Producer
WSE

Ruben Saenz
Producer
WSE

Dan Perry
Writer
WSE

Alicia Leo
Associate Producer
WSE

Chris Tarantino
Associate Producer
WSE

Meredith Fox
Associate Producer
WSE

Felix Pinerio
Editor
WSE

Jack Nevins
Editor
WSE

Keriann Fitzpatrick
Editor
WSE

John Moffat
Editor
WSE

Charlie Dolgenos
Assistant Editor
WSE

Jeremy Hamilton
Associate Writer
WSE

Kevin Chai
Designer
WSE

Ahlize Gutierrez, Jr.
Producer
WSE

Sharon Cheng
Design Intern
WSE

Mack Sovereign
Executive Vice President, Content & Strategy
WSE