X hopes that by highlighting the popularity of sports discussions within its app, it can better appeal to advertisers ahead of the Olympics.
According to X:
“Over the weekend of 13-14 July 2024, the sports world lit up as champions were crowned in several major international tournaments. And as the sports world lit up, so did X. Fans tuned in to watch the action and gathered at X to share their passion and struggles before, during and after the event. And brands, experts and the athletes themselves joined in, live.”
As we can see from this overview, while X’s user base hasn’t grown since Elon Musk purchased the app, it remains a key destination for discussions about live events, and the sports community in particular remains very active on the app.
Twitter may be gone and some of the relevant discussion may have switched to Meta threads, but X is still great for covering live events, with a real-time feed and an established community that allows users to keep up with what’s happening as it happens.
This is crucial to the sports debate, and as our analysis shows, sports fans remain clearly supportive of the app. For many, Twitter is a habit, an important medium that helps them connect with like-minded fans, and they seem unlikely to change that unless they have to.
Again, while X’s viewership numbers aren’t growing, it’s still an important consideration and it’s worth factoring these statistics into your planning if you’re looking to connect with sports fans.
And the Olympics are certainly going to be another big focus.
“The road to the Olympics is heating up. Conversation about the event has increased 112% in the past month. With 6 in 10 sports fans on X (20% more than other platforms), we expect engagement, viewership and conversation to reach record levels during the Olympics. As athletes from around the world arrive in Paris, including many who took part in this weekend’s championship matches, the world will join them in watching the action, excitement and celebration live on X.”
Of course, sports is a big topic on other social platforms — Snapchat is home to a lot of sports discussion, as is TikTok — but X is also a key connector for ad-hoc chatter.
You can find a summary of X’s Sports Conversations here .
