Remember going on your Snapchat last year and watching the "MLB Wednesdays" story each week? That was the app's big foray into the sport. Their next experiment is coming a week from today.
The MLB and all of its 30 teams will post Snapchat stories on Friday, March 11, to document this year's Spring Training from inside the dugout and clubhouse. The SnapBat will also make its official debut, which is a baseball bat that acts as selfie stick.
Some real big stuff.
Each MLB team will have its own Snapchat story come next week, as the players will be having some fun with the camera to give fans a firsthand look into what's going on in spring training. Snapchat will also compile the best content throughout the day and make a Live Story of their own.
Here are all 30 @MLB clubs on @Snapchat so you're prepared for 3.11.16. pic.twitter.com/eRgzIxa91S
— MLB (@MLB) March 4, 2016
MLB Advanced Media is expected to witness a hike in revenues, and their partnering with Snapchat is expected to be an enormous catalyst. A report from Forbes suggests that 2016 revenues for MLBAM are projected to reach $1.1-$1.2 billion in 2016, which is up from about $800 million in 2015, MLB President of Business and Media Bob Bowman said.
Major League Baseball bans its players from using social media platforms during games, which everyone witness last year when the Boston Red Sox benched Pablo Sandoval for using Instagram during a game. However, this is spring training, where the atmosphere is much looser and a lot less competitive, so a Snapchat experiment couldn't hurt. It could actually help facilitate further engagement in spring training games since they're generally overlooked for the most part.
The MLB's Snapchat story during the postseason also likely helped engagement in the games, as live updates were provided and highlights from the games were documented by the fans.
The MLB launched its Snapchat account in February of 2014, and its presence on the app has grown steadily. If this experiment proves to be successful, you can bet it's going to part of the league's media platform in subsequent years.
