Athletes and National Ski Associations expand social media footprint with access to competition videos

The idea is only logical for the 21^st century: after having finished their participation in a FIS World Cup event, athletes from all disciplines and their respective National Ski Associations (NSAs) can access competition footage and use it to create content in their social media accounts. 

Over the last several weeks, FIS has been working to iron out the digital media rights situation and create the platform that allows for this to happen: the FIS Content Exchange Platform (CXP), a hub from where athletes and NSAs download high-quality video material of their events for use on their own Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok channels.  

Shortly after each competition, with a couple of clicks and straight from their phones, athletes and NSAs have access to edited clips from their performances, taken directly from the TV world feed with commentary and already cropped into both 16:9 and 9:16 formats.  

The results have been what could be expected: enabled to tell their own stories, athletes and NSAs have been registering soaring reach and engagement on social media. 

Throughout the first 30 days of the 2024/25 season of the FIS World Cup, 30 NSAs and more than 100 athletes have used video assets from the CXP to create social media posts, which have reached more than 5 million people with an exceptionally high average engagement rate of 7%.

“The CXP is one of the many ways we aim to employ our content production and digital channels as a valuable service for our key stakeholders: the athletes and NSAs,” says FIS Digital and Innovation Director Benjamin Stoll. “We are particularly keen to support the storytelling abilities of smaller ski and snowboard nations.” 

A recent example came from Argentina, where the national association uploaded raw footage to CXP and, within days, received an edited clip, which was shared on FIS TV and on social media platforms, including a collaboration post between FIS and the NSA on Instagram.

Competition footage through the FIS CXP will be available for all athletes and NSAs taking part in FIS World Cup events this season, as well as during the FIS World Championships and selected competitions of the FIS Junior World Championships, for usage upon their official social media channels (currently Instagram, Facebook and TikTok) under defined rules and regulations.