Chinese short video app platform, TikTok, has been on the news for multiple reasons in recent times. The latest report on TikTok shows that the company has signed a sponsorship deal with Major League Baseball’s (MLB) New York Yankees and Yes Network. This is quite interesting because this is an American company. This is coming at a time when the U.S. president has given ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company) 45 days to sell or get banned.
According to Sportico, this deal has been on the table for the past six months. However, there are claims that if Trump’s ban eventually becomes active, the deal will self-terminate. For now, the deal will definitely run into September. If this deal is not cut short by any external process, it will run for two years. In addition, if TikTok succeeds in selling its American business, the deal remains in place. Furthermore, TikTok is also banking on a court proceeding that could stop Trump’s executive order. If this happens, then the deal is safe.
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TikTok will pay the Yankees about $10 million over three years
As for the finances of the deal, the Yankees’ initial sponsorship agreement is worth about US$10 million. Part of the deal will permit the erection of TikTok’s logo inside the Yankee Stadium. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, all sporting activities in the U.S. hold behind closed doors for now. Furthermore, TikTok will include New York Yankees content on its platform. It appears that both companies are leveraging their popularity amongst young users.
Over the past two years, TikTok’s growth has been exponential especially among teenagers. According to a report from Qustodio, children between four and fifteen spend an average of 80 minutes on TikTok daily. This is about five minutes short of the time they spend on YouTube.
In addition, the advent of the coronavirus pandemic accelerated the adoption of TikTok. Within the lockdown period (January to April), the app recorded massive downloads. According to Sensor Tower, users in India and the U.S. downloads this app more than every other region. However, TikTok is already facing a ban in India. Thus, losing its second-largest market will be a big blow for the company. Please note that the Chinese equivalent of TikTok is Douyin. Thus, most of the downloads value for TikTok does not include what happens in China with Douyin.
In a bid to expand its business outside China, it made some high-profile appointments. Most notable is the addition of Kevin Mayer, a former Disney executive who is now TikToks chief executive as well as chief operating officer of ByteDance.