Soccer media company Copa90’s World Cup Snapchat Discover channel "drew 31 million unique viewers over 45 days," with nearly 40% of viewers "swiping up on content to view more," according to Lucinda Southern of DIGIDAY. Copa90’s team of six Snapchat staffers "flew to Moscow to start publishing a week and a half before the start of the World Cup." The content "consisted of short memes, filmed skits, fan scenes and longer documentaries, a combination of reactive and pre-planned content banked in the months before the World Cup, and was published in the morning U.K. time in English, French and Arabic." Copa90 Editorial Dir Tom Brandhorst said, "Being isolated from the rest of the office with our own lanes to run in meant we had [our] own domain to go crazy in." Copa90’s top-performing episode was its "portrayal of female football fans on traditional TV coverage, fetching 6.2 million views on the first snap," and 40% of its audience on Snapchat during the World Cup "were female." The number of subscribers "steadily increased throughout the tournament to 450,000." Encouraging people to "return to the platform regularly, rather than passively scroll through content during dead time, is key for Copa90 and Snapchat." Visa "sponsored the series, sold by Snapchat on a revenue-shares basis with Copa90." Head of Copa90 James Kirkham said that it has been "significantly profitable" (DIGIDAY.com, 7/23).
