Dany Mota of Entella competes for the ball with Ivan Marcano (L) and Aleksander Kolarov of AS Roma during a Coppa Italia match at Olimpico Stadium on Jan. 14, 2019. (Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images)
Serie A soccer club AS Roma has partnered with Snapchat to produce a weekly show on the mobile platform’s discovery page. AS Roma is the first Italian soccer team to launch a weekly show on Snapchat.
Fans who subscribe to the free AS Roma Snapchat account will be able to watch exclusive player challenges and highlight reels, with new content being produced every week. Roma’s channel will also include a profile page where users can access previously aired episodes. Stories posted on Snapchat typically only stay visible for 24 hours before disappearing, but Roma has maneuvered around that with its profile page.
“We are happy to have signed this agreement with one of the biggest social platforms in the world,” said Francesco Calvo, Chief Revenue Officer at AS Roma, in a team press release. “With this partnership, we have access to new tools that will allow us to deliver even more Roma content to our fans all over the world through the Snapchat platform.”
Roma launched its official team Snapchat account in 2015. Two years ago, the club started using Spectacles, a brand of smart glasses developed by Snap Inc. dedicated to recording video on Snapchat. Roma players have worn Spectacles during training, allowing fans to see short moments on the pitch through a player’s perspective. Roma’s new weekly Snapchat show is expected to include match day, training, and off-the-pitch content.
SportTechie Takeaway
AS Roma has been experimenting with ways to connect with fans in the age of social media. Last month, Roma became the first Italian soccer squad to partner with Twitter to stream live matches on the platform. Two years ago, it partnered with social media agency Fastory to design interactive stories on Snapchat and Instagram. These efforts may help increase Roma’s younger audience, since Instagram and Snapchat especially are social media apps that mostly serve a youth demographic.
