Expanded Sports Follower Base Boosts Expansion of Athlete Content Creators on Snapchat
In a groundbreaking move, Snapchat and TOGETHXR have teamed up to launch the "Snap the Gap" program, an accelerator designed to elevate female athletes as content creators and help them grow their personal brands, increase visibility, and unlock sustainable monetization opportunities through Snapchat's platform.
The program, which selects nine female athletes from various leagues and life stages, including the NWSL, WNBA, NCAA, PWHL, and LOVB, aims to address the historic visibility gap for women in sports. By enabling these athletes to control their own narratives and transform their sporting achievements into media businesses, "Snap the Gap" is another brick in a long-overdue infrastructure for women's sports: visibility, voice, and value.
The initiative leverages Snapchat's massive sports audience of 170 million monthly viewers, particularly its strong youth presence, where engagement with women's sports is rapidly increasing. The program's direct mentorship from Snapchat and content guidance from TOGETHXR will help the athletes turn their athletic journeys into compelling, authentic, and monetizable stories.
The impact of this partnership is multifaceted. Athletes receive tools to build and engage loyal audiences, leading to new revenue streams while shaping culture and expanding community interest in women's sports. The program exemplifies a structural shift in women's sports where female athletes are treated as full-fledged content creators, supported by distribution, coaching, and monetization, enhancing their career longevity beyond competition.
"Snap the Gap" also aims to balance authentic storytelling with platform demands and safeguard athlete wellness and IP. The program provides mentorship, content coaching, and monetization tools to the selected athletes, ensuring they maintain control over their stories and revenue on their terms.
Snapchat contributes platform-native growth tactics, such as optimizing for Spotlight, leveraging AR tools, and converting attention into creator revenue streams. The program's goal is to let athletes control their stories and revenue on their terms, offering a chance to own their narrative arc and monetize it in a way aligned with their schedules and values.
"Snap the Gap" is not a one-off initiative. It is an accelerator with potential for more cohorts, deeper platform integrations, and cross-platform syndication to YouTube or CTV. The program focuses on resource provision (mentorship, editorial support, growth tooling) rather than just payouts, and TOGETHXR supplies content strategy, production guidance, and a values framework to maintain the athletes' stories as authentic and mission-driven.
Brands and leagues can learn from "Snap the Gap," with strategic cues including resource provision, cross-sport and cohort-based thinking, measuring community, and protecting athlete bandwidth. The program aims to measure community (saves, shares, conversion into tangible outcomes like merch, ticket sales, sponsor lift) instead of just impressions.
With almost 9 in 10 Snapchat users engaging with sports weekly, and the Spotlight feed logging 25M+ sports minutes daily, Snapchat's product suite (Stories, AR lenses, private groups) mirrors the growth of women's sports communities through grassroots enthusiasm, peer recommendation, and niche fandoms. By lowering the barrier to entry for revenue opportunities for the athletes, "Snap the Gap" could lead to brands sponsoring series, not just slapping logos, as they see authentic communities forming around these stories.
In summary, "Snap the Gap" empowers female athletes to expand their influence, amplify women’s sports content, and gain financial opportunities in a historically underserved sector through tailored mentorship and Snapchat’s digital reach.
- The business partnership between Snapchat and TOGETHXR has created an accelerator program called "Snap the Gap," where female athletes from various leagues can transform their athletic journeys into media businesses, leveraging technology such as Snapchat's platform for increased visibility and sustainable monetization.
- The initiative extends into the worlds of entertainment and social-media, allowing these athletes to control their own narratives and create authentic, compelling, and monetizable stories, while also addressing the historic visibility gap in sports.
- This program represents a shift in the infrastructure of women's sports, as it focuses on providing resources like mentorship, content coaching, and monetization tools, with the aim of empowering female athletes to own their narrative arcs and gain financial opportunities in a sustainable manner.
