
Social Content Whitespace For the Aerial Sport Audience on TikTok in Q4 2022
Key Takeaways

Top content opportunities in Q4 2022 for the Aerial Sport audience on TikTok include:
- Hot Air Balloon Drop: Freddy Chase, a skydiver, posts videos of himself standing or holding onto the edge of a hot air balloon and letting go or jumping off into free fall.
- Parachute Fail: Close calls when a parachute fails during a jump. These videos showcase BASE Jumpers who have saved themselves from life-threatening situations by thinking fast and having backup systems.
- Human Flight: These videos showcase a Jet Suit or hoverboards in action.
- Extreme Cliff Jump: Videos show BASE jumpers leaping off extremely high cliffs and free-falling.

Content Opportunity Methodology
- Measure & Categorize: Sample a large number of social posts to find ones that are significantly outperforming the average.
- Identify Top Themes: Identify the themes that are resonating most with the audience by sorting the themes by their aggregated performance metrics.
- Identify a Benchmark: Identify content themes that are performing above and under an average benchmark for the industry based on views & engagements.
- Identify Opportunities: Look at the data and find the content themes that are resonating with the audience based on a set of top creators.
- Repeat For Each Platform: Repeat the analysis for every platform that matters to your brand and audience to find platform-specific opportunities.

TikTok Content Bucket Definitions
- Hot Air Balloon Drop: Footage of a skydiver holding on to or standing on the edge of a hot air balloon and then dropping off.
- Parachute Malfunction: Close calls when a parachute fails during a jump.
- Human Flight: Creators defying gravity with a jet suit or hoverboard.
- Extreme Cliff Jump: BASE jumpers leaping off extremely high cliffs.
- Bridge Jump: Footage of BASE jumpers leaping off or being catapulted off a bridge.
- FPV Drone Freestyle: Epic footage from an HD camera mounted on an FPV racing quadcopter showcasing the pilot's skills with drone flips, rolls, power loops, and proximity flight.
- Unpacked Jump: Footage from jumps where the canopy is not in the container prior to the jump.
- Aerial Acrobatics: Footage of skydivers performing acrobatic stunts while free-falling.
- Paragliding Stunt: Paragliders performing daring stunts while flying through the sky.
- Group Skydive: Multiple people skydiving as a group.
- 360° Wingsuit Footage: Footage of BASE wingsuit flying captured on a 360-degree action camera.
- G-force Pull: Footage of pilots while experiencing different levels of G-force.
- Proximity Flying: Wingsuit pilot takes off and flies in proximity to cliff faces, valleys or buildings.

Hot Air Balloon Drop is an extreme performing content opportunity, averaging 3X the views & engagement rate on TikTok.


Excellent performing content opportunities for the Aerial Sport audience on TikTok include:


Good performing content for the Aerial Sport audience on TikTok include:


Substandard performing content for the Aerial Sport audience on TikTok include:


Low performing content for the Aerial Sport audience on TikTok include:


Content Opportunities:
1. Hot Air Balloon Drop
Freddy Chase, a skydiver, posts videos of himself standing or holding onto the edge of a hot air balloon and letting go or jumping off into free fall. In the first video below, before letting go, he thanks his fans for helping him reach 1M followers on TikTok. On the second video below, he is wearing a suit and pretending to take a call before jumping off the balloon.
Tactics to Implement:
- Fan Appreciation: The first video below shows Chase holding a sign that says "Thank you 1M" with a personal message before free falling. Messages like this helps build stronger relationships with your fans.
- Unusual Element: The video on the right capitalizes on an unusual skydiving element, such as wearing a suit while taking a call on the edge of a hot air balloon.
Content Opportunities:
- Hot air balloons are steadier and quieter than planes or helicopters, which makes it easier to record skydivers’ interactions before they jump. Add excitement by incorporating an unusual element to the jump—such as wearing a suit or playing rock, paper, scissors.
25.8M Views
7.9M Views

2. Parachute Malfunction
Infinite Adventures posted videos of an incident where his canopy got stuck in a tree on a cliff, and he was hanging by just his harness. In the second video below, a jumper falls onto another jumper’s canopy at Bridge Day 2022. These videos strictly only show incidents when athletes were safe and unharmed.
Tactics to Implement:
- Bridge Day: Bridge Day is a yearly festival hosted in West Virginia where daredevils BASE jump into the Gorge below. The hashtag #bridgeday has generated over 45M views on TikTok.
- Onscreen Bait: The video on the right hooks the viewer by using the onscreen text “WAIT FOR IT” with the warning sign emoji.
- In The Moment: Infinite Adventures’ video gives the viewer insight into his thoughts during this intense situation.
Content Opportunities:
- Equipment failures can have serious consequences in an extreme sport such as BASE Jumping. These videos showcase BASE Jumpers who have saved themselves from life-threatening situations by thinking fast and having backup systems. Share real situations where athletes were able to turn around dire situations quickly.
12.4M Views
4.1M Views

3. Human Flight
These videos showcase a jet suit or hoverboards in action. The videos were shared by the founders of the respective companies that made these products (Richard Browning of Gravity Industries and Franky Zapata from Zapata).
Tactics to Implement:
- 360° Action Camera Footage: Both videos were filmed using a GoPro Max or an Insta360 camera, allowing the viewer to see the action from all angles.
- Hashtags: Of the videos analyzed, those featuring 7 hashtags generated the most engagement and views on average.
Content Opportunities:
- Human flying videos shared by Richard Browning and Frank Zapata received nearly 80 million views in Q3 2022, reflecting people's growing interest in developing and manufacturing personal flyers for land and aquatic applications.
3.7M Views
3.6M Views

4. Extreme Cliff Jump
Videos show BASE jumpers leaping off extremely high cliffs. One includes a 360° view from Théo Audebaud as he jumps face-first off a cliff, and another shows footage taken by a bystander as a professional BASE jumper leaped off a cliff in Switzerland.
Tactics to Implement:
- Short & Sweet: Of the videos analyzed, those 10-20 seconds in length generated the greatest amount of views and engagements on average.
- Sound Sync: When Théo counts down from three, the intro to the song is playing, and when he jumps, the song's verses begin. The music adds to the intensity of this jump, making it even more thrilling.
Content Opportunities:
- Videos showcase athletes performing high jumps from altitudes where they can free fall. Look for opportunities within nature to push boundaries regarding cliff jumps. Capture the leap from the jumper's perspective using a 360° action camera.
4.1M Views
1.9M Views

Outliers:
These videos were omitted from their content buckets as ‘viral’ outliers for exceeding 3x the views and engagements of their respective benchmarks.
Hot Air Balloon Drop
Length: 15 seconds
Content: Freddy Chase says his “final words” before letting go of the hot air balloon’s edge.
86M Views
Bridge Jump
Length: 12 seconds
Content: POV footage from Johnni DiJulius’ jump from the top of a boom lift over a bridge at Bridge Day 2022 .
41M Views
Extreme Cliff Jump
Length: 11, 14 & 8 seconds
Content: Footage from a 360° action camera featuring a BASE jumper diving off the top of a cliff, followed by the person with the camera capturing their free fall from above.
73M Views
31M Views
22M Views
FPV Drone Freestyle
Length: 26 seconds
Content: FPV drone pilot, ItsKenFPV, navigates his craft through an abandoned warehouse in this impressive video. Video uses a split screen so viewers can see the controls.
3M Views
Human Flight
Length: 14 & 8 seconds
Content: In the first three videos below, Richard Browning founder of Gravity Industries, uses a jet suit/jetpack to fly over the ground. Both videos are accompanied with trending songs. In the fourth video below, Franky Zapata shared a video of someone taking off using the Flyboard Air.
8M Views
8M Views
8M Views
5M Views
G-force Pull
Length: 19 seconds
Content: Aerobatic pilot pulls 7G’s while keeping a relaxed face.
315K Views
Parachute Fails
Length: 52 seconds
Content: Infinite Adventures shared an alternative angle from his BASE Jump accident in which he got his canopy stuck in a tree.
27M Views
Paragliding Stunts
Length: 19, 8 & 9 seconds
Content: In the first video below, a tandem paragliding pair stands on top of another paraglider’s wing. The second and third videos below show a paraglider performing flips while descending through the air.
8M Views
3M Views
2M Views
Proximity Wingsuit Flying
Length: 59 seconds
Content: Footage from Jeb Corliss’ 2011 flight, when he became the first person to fly through a mountain in a wingsuit.
23K Views
Aerial Acrobatics
Length: 19, 5 & 6 seconds
Content: Red Bull athlete Maja Kuczynska showcases her aerial acrobatics while free-falling. In this video, Maja performs a split leap in mid-air. In the third video below, Maja does the moonwalk mid-air by "popular demand."
Tactic: Moonwalking seems to be a popular request amongst followers. Check out this other example.
3M Views
2M Views
1M Views
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