Triathlon New Zealand Annual Report 2025 - Flipbook - Page 18
Communications & Marketing
From Platform
to Scale
Tri NZ’s content and marketing ecosystem matured into a high-reach, highengagement engine in 2025, expanding beyond its core audience while reinforcing
participation pathways and laying the foundation for future growth.
A Year of Consolidation and Reach
Building on the transformational shift of 2024, the 2025 calendar
year marked a period of consolidation, validation and expanding
reach for Triathlon New Zealand’s Communications and Marketing
function.
With a simplified and more sustainable content model in place, the
focus shifted from innovation to consistency, delivering regular,
high-quality storytelling that reflects the full breadth of triathlon in
Aotearoa.
This approach has translated into significant audience growth at
scale, while reinforcing Tri NZ’s ability to connect directly with its
community in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.
Scaling Audience in a Fragmented Media Landscape
Tri NZ’s Facebook platforms generated 5.9 million views
across 2025 — more than triple the previous year — while total
engagement increased by 19 percent year-on-year. Audience size
also grew by 10 percent to 18,674.
Storytelling That Converts: SBR-Tri.com and The Full Send
SBR-Tri.com continued to act as Tri NZ’s primary storytelling
platform in 2025, publishing 91 long-form articles and generating
86,827 total reads — an average of 954 per article.
Against a broad and varied audience base, including many lowengagement or one-off participants, this reflects a strong and
consistent core readership engaging with in-depth content.
Complementing this was the introduction of The Full Send
newsletter, a streamlined, weekly communication designed to
deliver timely updates, preview key events and maintain regular
contact with the triathlon community.
With a database of 11,556 subscribers, The Full Send achieved an
average open rate of 25.41% across 2025, rising to 26.73% in early
2026. This sits in line with — and trending above — global media
and publishing benchmarks, reinforcing the value of Tri NZ’s email
database as a key owned communication channel.
Together, these platforms form a cohesive ecosystem:
Importantly, this growth has extended beyond the existing
community. More than half of all engagement (51.7%) came from
non-followers, highlighting the increasing effectiveness of Tri NZ
content in reaching new audiences.
• SBR-Tri.com for depth and storytelling
• The Full Send for consistency and retention
• Social platforms for reach and discovery
• Triathlon.kiwi for NSO engagement
This trend was mirrored on Instagram, where reach surged by 693
percent to 1.2 million. Content interactions doubled, while profile
visits rose by 46 percent and follower numbers climbed to 9,283.
Together, these metrics point to a maturing ecosystem, one that
is not only growing but becoming increasingly discoverable and
relevant in a competitive digital environment.
Participation Pathways: Marketing the Suzuki Series
A key focus in 2025 was the development of a more structured
and integrated marketing approach to the Tri NZ Suzuki Series, the
NSO’s flagship participation product.
SOCIAL MEDIA
GROWTH SNAPSHOT (2025)
This work centred on clearly articulating the pathway from local
racing through to national championship competition, and ultimately
international representation with Team NZL at World Triathlon Age
Group Championships.
• 5.9 million Facebook views (↑ from 1.7M in 2024)
• 389,929 engagements (↑ 19% YOY)
• 18,674 Facebook audience (↑ 10% YOY)
• 51.7% of engagement from non-followers
• 1.2 million Instagram reach (↑ 693% YOY)
• 18.7K interactions (↑ 100% YOY)
• 9,283 followers
Triathlon New Zealand
The strategy also places increased emphasis on supporting clubs
and event providers through aligned messaging and coordinated
promotion, ensuring a more unified and visible domestic racing
calendar.
Annual Report 2025
Page 18
