2021 in Review: WBSC on social media, expanding digital horizons
With the return of baseball and softball to the international stage, millions of people around the world engaged with WBSC content on social media while the organisation also reached out to more fans via new platforms.
The year 2021 and the return of baseball and softball to the international stage (in a new Covid-world) was very well received by fans on social media. The Olympic Baseball Qualifiers, the Baseball and Softball Olympics Tournaments as well as the U-23 Baseball World Cup and U-18 Softball World Cup were tournaments that reunited the baseball and softball community again, realising an increase of the World Baseball Softball Confederation's (WBSC) social media channels of 147k for the year, meaning 19% growth from 2020, reaching a grand total of 897k followers.
The WBSC’s biggest social media presence continues to be on Facebook, where the world governing body’s following has grown to 526k (+71k, 15%). On Twitter, the WBSC official accounts total 153k followers (+21k, 16%). On YouTube, the WBSC has registered 151k (+28k, 23%) subscribers, while Instagram saw the biggest growth in terms of percentage from 2020 with an increase of 26%, up from 53k to 67k.
Instagram proved especially popular with showcasing the stars of the future, with amazing young softball centre fielder Tatianna Roman from Puerto Rico becoming the most viewed video of the year thanks to her clutch catch in the U-18 Softball World Cup in Peru earlier this month.
The return of international events also saw live-action back on the WBSC's YouTube channel with two Olympic Qualifiers, the U-23 Baseball World Cup and the U-18 Softball World Cup all broadcast live. The WBSC Baseball Americas Olympic Qualifier opening round game between Canada and Cuba was the most popular live streamed game of 2020 followed by Chinese Taipei v Mexico during the Opening Round of the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup.
However, little surprise that the most popular WBSC YouTube video of 2021 was baseball's man of the moment Shohei Ohtani and his incredible play during the WBSC Global Series 2016 when he hit a ball through the roof of the Tokyo Dome when he was playing for Japan against the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, the WBSC and GameTime.Sport strategic partnerships with leagues around the world continued in 2021 with the iconic Cuban Series Nacional Baseball Series, the Australian Baseball League, the Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League, the Venezuela Professional Baseball league, the Australian Women’s Baseball Showcase, and the Japan Girls High School National Baseball Championship all streamed live of YouTube.
An expanding digital presence
The WBSC also took the strategic decision in 2021 to open accounts on three important platforms: Spotify - along with other important podcast platforms - TikTok and LinkedIn.
The WBSC's presence on Spotify is headlined with the official podcast of the WBSC - The Global Game. During this year legends of baseball, softball and Baseball5 such as Mike Scioscia, Cat Osterman, Stacey Porter and Briandy Molina along with big names Ian Kinsler, Jenn Salling, María Soto, José Contreras, Jessica Mendoza, Kaleigh Rafter and rising stars Julio Rodríguez and Robert Pérez Jr all featured on The Global Game along with one of the biggest names in Japanese baseball Yoshinobu Yamamoto and WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari.
In addition to The Global Game, the WBSC also shared on Spotify athletes' favourite playlists, bringing the international stars of baseball and softball closer to the fans.
The WBSC made its debut on TikTok at the time of the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup in September, a move which has already proven to be very popular with an average of 1,000 new followers joining per month.
With all these digital platforms engaging with an increasingly global audience and plenty of more tournaments in store for 2022, the WBSC's social media journey is on an exciting trajectory. And don't forget, if you find yourself in need of more, you can also sign up to receive a summary of the latest and greatest news with the WBSC's weekly or monthly newsletters.
