NBC uses TikTok influencers to attract younger viewers to NFL games

A group of TikTok influencers will accompany NBC Sports on a three-day trip from Kansas City to Sao Paulo to Detroit – all with the goal of bringing professional football to people who would not normally see it on traditional NBC-supported media.

As part of the extraordinary program scheduled for later this week featuring three NFL games in four days – part of the kickoff to the 2024-2025 NFL season – NBC will take seven social media influencers more than 10,000 miles to create content about three specific games.

NBC and Peacock are scheduled to broadcast the Baltimore Ravens game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night; Peacock will stream the Green Bay Packers game against the Philadelphia Eagles from Sao Paulo on Friday night; and NBC and Peacock will broadcast the Los Angeles Rams game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, in the season debut of “.”

“We want to reach Gen Z and millennials, and we want to reach women as well,” Lyndsay Signor, senior vice president of consumer engagement at NBC Sports, said in an interview. “With all the creators, we have a really diverse group,” and even if the audience aren’t diehard NFL fans, she says, “this gives them an opportunity to really get a little taste of what we have to offer at NBC.”

NBC Sports calls the campaign “Transcontinental Tailgate.”

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The NFL is arguably the biggest sport in the United States, and is coming off a season in which most of its games were the most-watched programs in the country. At the same time, the league faces a special challenge in an election year. Some news programs could distract viewers from traditional pastimes like watching football.

Social media influencers participating in the event include: Allison Kuch, Jack “Chef Cuso” Mancuso, Erika Priscilla, JoJo Sim, Austin Sprinz, Pierson Wodzynski and Nate Wyatt. In Kansas City, Saturday Night Live star Heidi Gardner – a huge Chiefs fan – will meet the influencers and present them with challenges that they will turn into content.

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NBC Sports put together the creators group after testing a similar experiment during the Paris Olympics. The Comcast-backed unit sent out 27 influencers known for their followings on Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat or Overtime and asked them to provide a take on the sporting spectacle that might be of interest to their fans. The idea, Signor says, was to “talk to people who might not follow the Olympics” or “don’t necessarily watch it in prime time.”

The hope is that appealing to younger fans will not only lead to higher ratings on traditional television, but – perhaps more importantly in the age of streaming – will also lead to potential new subscribers to Peacock.

The executive can imagine putting together similar groups of digital natives to generate interest in other NBC Sports shows – as long as the connections between the influencers and the sports seem genuine. “If we try to force creatives in just because they have a certain size,” the results are not as significant, says Signor. “We need to find the right kind of creatives who not only have reach but also interest.”