The NFL is More Popular Than Ever. It Still Needs to Lean on Creators For Growth
Social media boss Ian Trombetta on the league's embrace of the new media mogul, and what is missing from the space.
You might think that if any media entity doesn’t have to adapt its product or worry much about future consumers, it’s the National Football League.
Even as viewers shift their time to streaming and algorithm-driven feeds, and artificial intelligence threatens to upend everything, the league is setting viewing records while delivering a product that simply can’t be replicated.
Then again, there is that real and legitimate fear among sports executives that younger audiences are not inclined to sit on their couches all day Sunday to stare at a single screen, when they can just wait for the highlights or make a few bets and check in later.
Thus, the NFL has been all over the creator landscape in recent years. Not only did the league feature alternative creator-led broadcasts during its first-ever exclusive YouTube game earlier this season, but there are plans to have 150-plus creators on the scene in San Francisco in a few weeks for Super Bowl LX. The NFL has latched itself to mega YouTube stars like Mr. Beast and IShowSpeed, as well as the live streaming phenomenon that is Twitch star Kai Cenat.
That said, the NFL has many of the same challenges as other top brands navigating the creator space, ranging from vetting talent to scaling brand deals to making sense of metrics. Of course, it helps when you have deep, powerful resources, and you start early.
That’s according to Ian Trombetta, SVP, Global Social, Creator, and Content Marketing for the NFL, who was a guest on the Next in Media podcast this week.
On why the league is leaning so hard on creators right now:
“The way in which we’re working with creators today, it really permeates throughout the league now. Whereas before, it was more isolated to just social content and filling in different initiatives.”
“For fans who aren’t watching games on Sunday on CBS or NBC, etc., creators can be a great entry point for them to kind of showcase different aspects of the NFL that might be of interest, around fashion or gaming or different areas that might pull them in to drive interest around a team, around a certain player, things like that. So creators are great in that sense.”
“And as we continue to scale globally, now we’re looking at all the international growth, which has been a big focus for us over the last couple of years in particular. Creators by definition are borderless.”
On how to figure out what creators to make bets on:
“Our strategy has always been to get in as early as possible because I think that’s where we can also showcase a ton of value for them. We can expose them to a much wider audience. [That’s what we did with Kai Cenat]. So for us, it’s that media exchange that we’re talking about. We can offer a ton through linear, through streaming, through our owned-and-operated channels. And we know that they offer a lot too.”
“There’s something to be said for just that salience or that momentum that creators have, just like a brand, right? There’s a wave that you can catch with different creators. And in some cases, like with Mr. Beast, it just continues on and on and on. And in others, they go through different cycles and ups and downs. And from our standpoint, we want to be there at the front.”
On how the NFL lets creators do their thing, while protecting the league’s brand:
“We’ve got a lot of different listening tools around social media that I don’t think many brands have, which gives us a really good indication of video volume and consumption across the internet. It gives us a really good sense of sentiment. And then we also have a GSOC [Global Security Operations Center] department, which is basically another way of saying we have a digital security department, which is all over anything that could be problematic.”
“That’s a pretty robust set of tools and security teams that we have that’s looking at just all the different kinds of conversations that are not only happening kind of at the front door of the internet, but also on the dark web, just to see kind of what’s going on there. I think the biggest area that I’ve, I’ve personally witnessed with creators where they might step into some things at times is during live streams where they don’t have time to edit.”
On what is missing for brands in the creator/media space:
“I hope that there’s a more general way for the industry to evaluate performance. I think that would be really helpful. It’s still sporadic, I think, to say the least. I think it would be great if we could get more access. I think everyone wants more access to the influencer or creator’s data without infringing on their privacy.”
“Many brands, especially the bigger, more scaled up brands that have really sophisticated ways of looking at ROI, understand that the ROI, first and foremost, comes off of the organic reach that they can drive on their channels. And in order to do that, the content’s got to be great. So we’re always looking for opportunities to create great content that also fits some initiatives that we’re trying to fill in as well.
On what to expect at this year’s Super Bowl:
“We’re working with EA, with creators like RDC. We’re working with YouTube and creators with our flag football game. And we’ve got a ton of creators that are going to be a part of that. We’re working with our NFL honors programming, which is the Thursday night showcase for our Walter Payton Man of the Year award, MVP, etc.”
“We’ll have creators like Druski as part of that. Literally everything that we’re doing is kind of cutting across and partners now today, especially being in Silicon Valley and San Francisco for Super Bowl, so many different partners are to be activating either directly with us or indirectly with creators and influencers as a really fundamental part of how they showcase their brands and everything happening around Super Bowl.”
Check out the full episode here: