Adidas Teams With Twitter and Intersport to Live-stream High School Girls’ Sports
LIVE ACTION SPORTS: High school sports are practically a religion in certain U.S. states, and now Adidas will soon be wooing more of their own devotees by live-streaming girls’ high school volleyball and soccer games.
Through a partnership with Twitter and Intersport, Adidas will spotlight select women’s high school teams from across the country in competition and will continue that effort through the year. As part of the second installment of the athletic brand’s “She Break Barriers” initiative, this digital effort is meant to help offset the dearth of media coverage for women’s sports in the U.S. Research shows that only 4 percent of the sports media coverage is dedicated to women’s sports, according to UNESCO.
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The six games in the @3StripeLive series will be streamed internationally on Twitter and they will be produced by Intersport. As more companies race to build consumer loyalty at an increasingly younger age, Adidas is trying to get an edge on the competition by doing something rivals like Nike and Under Armour are not.
Friday night football games didn’t just inspire a drama series; they are also community-building across the U.S. Texas high school football games can reel in crowds of 50,000-plus. And just as such gatherings lead to endless debates about various highlights, Adidas is trying to build a conversation rooted in women’s sports via this new venture with Twitter. Athletes, fans and wannabe’s are meant to join the conversation on Twitter and Instagram via @adidas and @adidaswomen. Adidas was unable to predict viewership at this time, according to an Adidas spokeswomen.
Adidas senior vice president brand director Kate Ridley said, “It is essential that girls have access to sports — to play it, to practice it, and, yes, to watch it. If girls don’t see role models through sports media, they won’t have a reason to join or stay in sports.”
Addressing Twitter’s pride in being “part of this movement for equality,” Twitter’s vice president of global client solutions Sarah Personette said. “Pairing these live games with the conversation on Twitter will provide young fans an avenue to see and discuss what’s happening around the sports they love.”
The new Adidas short film features the Utah Royals’ Becky Sauerbrunn, world record hurdler Keni Harrison, ESPN’s Maria Taylor, WNBA player Layshia Clarendon and marathoner Rahaf Khatib as well as young athletes. Adidas also plans to work in local communities to help remove barriers to sport and collaborate with women’s sports organizations to further equality.
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