Cheerleading has always been seen as a part of another sport and not one in itself. Like an appendage come loose from the body of another, it was never able to enter the mind of a viewer in any serious many. That is until now. cheerUPDATES, a news, media, and entertainment company that’s changing the way people watch cheerleading, has now become a global entity. Here’s how.
When the founders of cheerUPDATES decided to take elite cheerleading to the world, they knew they had an idea that could not be ignored. The world of cheerleading has a general perception, even among the participants, who might sometimes see it as a thing you do before you get serious about life. The idea that cheerleading is far more than generally perceived was enough to have people sit up and take notice. And notice they did! A decade since its inception, the company now boasts millions of annual visits and impressions that exceed 2 billion. cheerUPDATES is the perfect example; when an idea meets technology and passion, then anything is possible.
The key members of cheerUPDATES knew from the start they had to work from the ground up to make a dent in the concrete impression created around cheerleading globally. To do so, they did not merely focus on changing the perception of the audience but of the participants and their families as well. Once the participants knew what cheerleading was all about, their newfound respect for it spilled into their routine and changed its image drastically from a mere performance to a performance built on passion, art, and rigor.
When cheerUPDATES started its operations in 2012, social media had already started to crackle, but the fire that it is today was yet to happen. The founders were quick to cash in on it in a bid to reach wider audiences of participants, families, and viewers. Their goal was to create relevant and useful content around it, year-round. This has helped them stay in the public eye consistently. And as a niche field, in one sense, it has a lot of new information to offer. Interestingly in 2021, after years of seeing the difference the reporting had made, Tate Chalk, the founder and CEO of Nfinity Athletic, personally invested in cheerUPDATES to accelerate their mission of transparency and fairness while helping the company scale up.