How the NFL is using creators to attract a more global Super Bowl audience

The NFL will be hosting more than 150 creators in New Orleans for Super Bowl week, leaning into their connections with social media followers around the world as it seeks to expand the global audience for the Big Game in the Big Easy, and football in general. The creators chosen by the league to produce social content both on Feb. 9 and throughout the week leading up to the Super Bowl span multiple niches—including fashion, gaming and, of course, sports. Some will be small creators local to the host city while others will be “some of the biggest creators on the planet,” said Ian Trombetta, the NFL’s senior VP of social, influencer and content marketing. The NFL has been collaborating with creators for several years now, including at last year’s Super Bowl, where the league flew a group of YouTube stars out to Las Vegas to film content surrounding the Big Game. The role of creators at Super Bowl LIX will be “bigger than ever,” Trombetta said. “With the Super Bowl, we want to reach as many people as possible—more casual audiences, younger audiences and international audiences,” he said. Super Bowl commercials Tracking the latest brand and agency plans Click here Creators planning to be in New Orleans with the NFL include Monet McMichael, Khaby Lame, Adam Waheed, Drew “Druski” Desbordes, Kai Cenat and Darren Jason Watkins Jr., better known as IShowSpeed, according to the NFL. Attracting international audiences, in particular, is a key focus of the NFL’s creator strategy for the Super Bowl this year, Trombetta said. Several creators from each of the league’s primary markets outside of the U.S., including Germany, Brazil, Mexico and the U.K., will be on hand to film social content, he said, “which is a really great way for us to extend the storytelling and reach more fans in these markets where we mostly likely are not the No. 1 sport.” How the NFL told ‘Football Country’ stories to kick off the season For many people, the Super Bowl “may be the only time [they’re] really tuned into the NFL, particularly if you’re sitting in an international market,” he added. “So we want to capture as many of those fans as we can, and hopefully find ways to keep them engaged.” Several of these global creators will also play a large role in a flag football game between two teams of creators on the night before the Super Bowl, Trombetta said. The game, which will be livestreamed on YouTube and then be available through video on demand, will also feature former NFL players Cam Newton and Michael Vick as quarterbacks, he said. The NFL has worked closely with YouTube on its creator strategy since 2023, when they (along with creator company Whalar Group) kicked off the “NFL Creator of the Week” program. YouTube’s role in the Super Bowl will be larger this year, as the platform is sponsoring the NFL’s Super Bowl Tailgate for the first time. TikTok had previously been the title sponsor of the annual livestreamed event since its 2021 launch. More: Inside the NFL’s gaming strategy and virtual tailgate plans The virtual tailgate, which includes a concert headlined by Post Malone, will be hosted by Juwan Johnson, a tight end for the New Orleans Saints, and his wife Chanen, who has emerged as one of the biggest “WAGs” (an acronym referring to the “wives and girlfriends” of pro athletes) on social media. The NFL selected the Johnsons to host the tailgate as part of the league’s growing “helmets off” strategy of transforming some of its players into digital creators, Trombetta added, “whether they’re current players or past NFL legends.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by NFL (@nfl) The NFL also unveiled a new “Access Pass for Legends” program this week, an expansion of its existing “Access Pass” creator program in partnership with YouTube that provides former NFL athletes with official footage to use in online content and access to NFL events such as the Super Bowl. Some of the inaugural creators in that program, including former NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall, will also be on the ground in New Orleans creating social content around the Super Bowl, Trombetta said. The NFL is also inviting dozens of its creator partners to attend and capture content at its series of events including Super Bowl Opening Night on Feb. 3, where several creators will interview players from the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles days before they meet in the Super Bowl. Other creators will stream the video game Madden NFL 25 with some of the players across the two teams that night, Trombetta said. And at the NFL Honors awards show on Feb. 6, creators will serve as red carpet correspondents and help the league create content with some of the award winners backstage, he said. Additionally, the NFL is teaming up with Tubi, a streaming service owned by Fox (which is broadcasting the Super Bowl), on a Super Bowl red carpet livestream event hosted by Kyle Smith, the NFL’s first-ever fashion editor, and Olivia Culpo, a model and wife of NFL running back Christian McCaffrey, Trombetta said. Also: Watch Tubi’s Super Bowl ad teaser “That's another way for us, again, to just tell more stories, extend the audience, reach maybe a more casual audience, more women, those who are into fashion, etc.,” he said. “Anything we can do to broaden the reach with creators, we’re certainly doing it.” Along with the NFL itself, the Chiefs and Eagles are also each hosting their own influencer guests in New Orleans as is Fox, Trombetta said. Many of the NFL’s brand partners, too, are “using the Super Bowl as a catalyst for their creator network[s]” and bringing record numbers of creators with them this year, including Verizon, EA and Nike, Trombetta said. These brands aren’t just bringing creators to the Super Bowl itself—they’re “getting increasingly savvy about the ways in which they can use not just the game, but also all the different content opportunities available to them throughout the entire week in New Orleans … to tell more stories through the lens of creators,” he said. “Whether you’re creating a 30-second or 60-second TV spot or you’re on the ground and working with creators or different experiential aspects of the Super Bowl, you’ve definitely got to continue to raise the game [each year],” Trombetta said. “If you’re sticking to the status quo, you’re probably falling behind. And I think that’s the environment and the mindset that we try to stay in with what we’re doing with on a creator front.” Loading…

How the NFL is using creators to attract a more global Super Bowl audience

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