Social Content Opportunities for the Ski Audience on TikTok in Q1 2023

Key Takeaways

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Top content opportunities in Q1 2023 for the Ski audience on TikTok include:

• POV Trick: Athletes take viewers through the motions of a ski trick from their perspective as they land a flip.

• Ski Vlog: Athletes share moments from their ski trips or segments from being on the hill with voice-overs or text on screen.

• Follow-Cam: One athlete follows another as they ski down the mountain passing in front and behind one another.

• Quality Air Time: Exploring big air moments as athletes make their mark in the sky and land it… or not.

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How the Social Content Opportunity Analysis™ Methodology Works

1. ‍Measure & Categorize Posts. Sample a large number of social posts to find ones that are significantly outperforming the average.
2. ‍Identify Top Themes. Identify the themes that are resonating most with the audience by sorting the themes by their aggregated performance metrics.
3. ‍Measure The Benchmark. Identify content themes that are performing above and under an average benchmark for the industry based on views & engagements.
4. ‍Identify & Rank Opportunities. Look at the data and find the content themes that are resonating with the audience based on a set of top creators.
5. ‍Repeat For Each Platform. Repeat the analysis for every platform that matters to your brand and audience to find platform-specific opportunities.

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TikTok Content Bucket Definitions

• POV Trick: Athletes take viewers through the motions of a ski trick from their perspective as they land a flip.
• Ski Vlog: Athletes share moments from their ski trips or segments from being on the hill with voice-overs or text on screen.
• Follow-Cam: One athlete follows another as they ski down the mountain passing in front and behind one another.
• Ski Comedy: Relatable or funny moments for athletes to recognize from their own experiences on the hill.
• Quality Air Time: Exploring big air moments as athletes make their mark in the sky and land it… or not.
• Race Problems: Moments gone wrong in Austria’s alpine skiing competition Hahnenkamm Races.
• Downhill Moments: Following athletes down segments of mountains to enjoy their view and skiing techniques.
• Don’t Look Down: Pre-drop-in where athletes show their POV view of narrow mountain tops or prepare drop-in routes.
• Legal or Illegal: Asking ski fans on TikTok whether near misses and falls should count in alpine skiing competitions.
• Big Drops & Drop-Ins: Views of drops and drop-ins where athletes fall in from major heights then continue on their journey.
• Trick in Passing: Viewing athlete tricks from the perspective of a bystander on the side of the hill.
• Ski Prep: Athletes share their clothing & equipment choices for a day of skiing or how they prepare for the upcoming season.
• From A to B: Moments from alpine and slopestyle courses where athletes artfully get from point A to B on their skis.

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POV Trick and Ski Vlog are extreme performing content opportunities, averaging 3x the views & engagement rate on TikTok.

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Excellent performing content categories for the Ski audience on TikTok include:

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Low performing content categories for the Ski audience on TikTok include:

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Content Opportunities:

1. POV Trick

Athletes take viewers through the motions of a ski trick from their perspective as they land a flip.

Tactics to Implement:

• Short-Form Videos: These videos tend to be 17 seconds on average.
• Slow Motion: Due to the nature of performing tricks from a POV perspective, these videos were filmed with a high frame rate and slowed down to help the viewer follow along. 
• Original Audio: 63% of the total views and engagements for this content featured no added audio so that fans could hear the sound in the moment, especially bystanders cheering the athlete on. 

Content Opportunities:

• This section has been leveraged by creators using the TikTok Reply feature to engage with their audience and make content that they want to see, ie. fans asking for other similar videos without added audio. Find ways to leverage the Reply feature with low-hanging content such as a POV slopestyle run.

4.2M  Views

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3M Views

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2. Ski Vlog

Athletes share moments from their ski trips or segments from being on the hill with voice-overs or text on screen.

Tactics to Implement:

• Video Length: These videos tend to be 1 minute and 20 seconds on average.
• GoPro: 100% of videos in this category feature GoPro footage. 
• TikTok Text to Speech: Videos in this category use this feature to set the stage for the content of the video as an introduction.
• Stream of Consciousness: 50% of the views and engagements in this category were driven by videos where the creator talks to the camera sharing whatever is on his mind as he skis. 

Content Opportunities:

• Storytelling is the main driver behind the success of these videos. The athlete sets the stage by offering viewers a look into his ski runs from his perspective based on a series of events. 
• This athlete often starts his videos with “The day that I…” such as “The day that I fell into the water below 0 degrees”. 

5.5M  Views

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4.7M Views

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3. Follow-Cam

One athlete follows another as they trek down the mountain passing in front and behind one another.

Tactics to Implement:

• Video Length: These videos tend to be 23 seconds on average.
• Filming Equipment: 89% of the footage in this category was filmed with GoPros, while 11% was filmed with a drone. 
• Natural Reactions: The top-performing video uses additional audio but ensures the viewer can still hear the videographer’s reaction as the athlete “lands” the flip. 

Content Opportunities:

• The follow-cam method is a grounded technique to bring any skier into the feel of spending a day with friends and other athletes on the slopes. 
• Create videos where viewers can marvel at the technique of a fellow athlete filming another while also riding down the same path. 

3.4M  Views

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1.5M Views

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4. Quality Air Time

Exploring big air moments as athletes make their mark in the sky and land it… or not.

Tactics to Implement:

• Video Length: These videos tend to be 12 seconds on average.
• Filming Techniques: 54% of the views and engagements were driven by content filmed with drones, while 21% was driven by content filmed in a stationary position with a long shot. 
• Throwbacks: 19% of the views and engagements in this category were generated by old footage shared by competitions like FWT. 
• Follow Through: Footage in this category was made up of 50% moving footage and 50% stationary footage. However, footage that moved with the athlete generated +71% more views & engagements compared to stationary footage.

Content Opportunities:

• It’s all about the drop. Quality airtime videos benefit from the audio that builds up and then drops as the athlete launches into the air as seen here. 

1.3M  Views

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769K Views

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Outlier Callout:

Favourite Video Compilation

Brands take 3 or more of their best, favourite or top-performing videos from the year and compile them into one TikTok, creating a “top video compilation”.  

Tactics to Implement:

• Video Length: These videos tend to be 1 minute and 18 seconds on average.
• Themed: Videos feature a unifying theme around the content chosen for the compilation. For example, “three videos that got me noticed last winter” or “our favourite athlete povs”.
• What Goes Around Comes Around: TikTok has a positive cycle when it comes to top-performing content. This means that if a video performs well once, it will most likely perform well again.

Content Opportunities:

• This is an under-utilized tactic on TikTok, containing only two videos within this category. The opportunity is a low-hanging fruit to apply to existing content.

3.9M Views

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2.9M Views

*The following outlier videos were omitted from the data set to avoid any skewing.

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Outliers:

These videos were omitted from their content buckets as ‘viral’ outliers for exceeding 3x the views and engagements of their respective benchmarks.

From A to B

Tactics:

This video is 8 seconds in length, -53% shorter than average. It features footage of a specific gate in an alpine race that athletes were struggling to reach.

4M Views

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Tactics:

This video is 43 seconds in length, +153% longer than average. It features a GoPro POV of what it’s like to go through a slalom. There is no added audio. 

2.5M Views

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Don’t Look Down

Tactics:

This video is 7 seconds in length. It features the athlete cutting down a path for a drop-in from high up as the viewer watches the snow fall deep below.

3.1M Views

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Downhill Moments

Tactics:

This video is 10 seconds in length, -50% shorter than average. It features the athlete navigating through a gnarly drop wearing an Insta360 camera for an all-around POV.

2.6M Views

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Tactics:

This video is 12 seconds in length, -40% shorter than average. It features the athlete skiing downhill with their dog on their back.

2M Views

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Quality Air Time

Tactics:

This video is 11 seconds in length. It features incredible FPV Drone footage of Markus Eder with visually stimulating slow motion.

2.9M Views

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Race Problems

Tactics:

This video is 8 seconds in length. It features the use of a split screen to show the athlete mid-crash and the corresponding reaction of the audience. 

12.9M Views

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Tactics:

This video is 8 seconds in length. It uses text on the screen to guide the viewer into the crash, noting that the athlete was close to finishing before going down.

4.1M Views

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Ski Recommendations

Tactics:

This video is 88 seconds, +52% longer than average. It features someone talking directly into the camera with a caption to answer a question about when to level up ski gear.

652K Views

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Trick in Passing

Tactics:

This video is 9 seconds in length, -36% shorter than average. It uses the reply feature to respond to a viewer who wanted to see a trick from a different perspective.

1.9M Views