Brisbane Heat recognised at 2023 Australia and New Zealand Sports Technology Awards

The Big Bash League’s Brisbane Heat has taken out a major award at the 2023 Australia and New Zealand Sports Technology Awards, winning the ‘Social & Fan Engagement’ category for the club’s excellence in social media.

With over 2.1 million followers, the Heat remains is the most followed sporting team on social media across Australia and New Zealand – a position it has held for six consecutive years.

Over the 2022/23 BBL summer, the Heat rolled out more social media content than ever before, boosting content output by 169% from the year before, resulting in 186 million impressions over the season.

The Heat’s strategic focus to publish more video content paid off with the club attracting 150 million video views in 2022/23, and becoming the first club in the Big Bash League to reach 100,000 TikTok followers.

Explaining that the team work hard to deliver engaging, world-class content all year round and are thrilled to be acknowledged for their efforts, Brisbane Heat General Manager of Marketing and Corporate Affairs, Pete Lock explained “the Heat’s marketing and social media team are very deserving of this award. We’re all very aware of the team’s passion, love for the brand, creativity and commitment to deliver high quality and engaging content, but it is very pleasing to be acknowledged by others in the industry.

“We have a fan-first approach across the entire organisation and take pride in staying attune to trends in pop-culture, music and entertainment to delight our fans, engage new audiences, provide value to our partners, and celebrate our athletes in an authentic and humorous way to grow the game we love.”

“The Heat’s vision is to be a ‘globally recognised sports entertainment brand’, and winning this award proves we’re on the right track to achieving just that.”

"Social media plays a vital role in helping us connect with our fans, provide value for our sponsors, and also grow the profile of players. Stay tuned as we bring you plenty of laughs, highlights and player stories with the WBBL and BBL just around the corner."

A full report on the 2023 Australia and New Zealand Sports Technology Awards will follow.

Image credit: Brisbane Heat.