Sports rights owners are embracing YouTube creators as their next media partners

And at this year’s U.S. Open, the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) granted official credentials to more than 50 creators — from fashion influencers to food vloggers — allowing them to roam the grounds, create content courtside, and document the tournament in real time. The result? Over 2.3 billion digital impressions and a media footprint that extended far beyond match highlights.

Why are rights-holders embracing creators now?

Though broadcasters fund sports leagues, shifting media consumption habits mean they’re not the only way of recruiting the lifelong fans that keep them going for decades to come. Some rights-owners – like France’s soccer Ligue 1, which launched a streaming service of its own last year (and which has now gained 1 million subscribers) have gone their own way. Others have realized that creators, particularly those using YouTube as their central distribution pillar, can be an effective way to market their leagues, recruit new fans — and in turn maintain and grow the value of their properties when it comes to negotiating new rights deals with broadcasters and streamers.

“The next generation of fans don’t watch sports in the same way as the generations before them,” said Jas Dhami, vp of sport at We Are Social. “That shift makes creators a natural and essential distribution channel for leagues to reach younger audiences and keep fandom growing outside of traditional broadcasts.”

Thomas Markland, founder of creator company HYDP, told Digiday: “As attention drifts towards creators, the leagues themselves know they have to associate themselves with creators or face a complex negotiation next time they’re in a boardroom negotiating a rights deal.”

Of these, the Bundesliga’s move to share streaming rights with YouTubers is the most eye-catching. The German league awarded rights to stream 20 live games to That’s Football and The Overlap, the YouTube channel of former England defender Gary Neville.

Larger-than-life Goldbridge specializes in watchalong streams of Premier League matches, usually those featuring Manchester United (the creator is a fan of the club, but it’s his outsized reactions to its frequent banana slips that draw in viewers). Despite his association with the Reds, he’s popular among club neutral viewers, a likely factor behind the Bundesliga deal. 

“It will either allow them to be in a better negotiating position on their rights deals with major broadcasters, or it will enable them to embrace a broader network… it’s a very smart move,” said Tom Cornish, global vp of group solutions at WPP creator agency Goat.

Earlier this month, the USTA invited some 50 creators through the doors. Such associations help reinforce its cultural cachet and bring in new fans through its connection to fashion, lifestyle and celebrity.

“The U.S. Open has done a really good job of curating that event and turning it into something that is more about the celebrity, the aura, the fashion, the who’s who’s there, who’s dating, than it has about the tennis,” said Dan Weinstein, co-founder of creator talent management firm Underscore. The agency had 25 of its creators working at the Open with brands such as Lancôme and Ralph Lauren.

What’s in it for creators?

Access isn’t everything. Sports-focused creators often draw on what their audiences see as an authenticity unblemished by proximity to the sporting establishment; Goldbridge’s reactions to on-pitch events are very different to the civilized atmosphere of the BBC’s Match of the Day. But for established creators, it can help solve practical problems of content creation, and take their profile to the next level.

“It legitimizes you as a creator. It’s creating new voices in sports broadcasting,” said Britt St. George, co-founder of creator talent agency Smith & Saint. 

Two years ago, the U.S. Golf Association began inviting creators like Dude Perfect and the Good Good YouTube collective to play on its courses in the days running up to events such as the U.S. Open. Lexus has acted as the presenting sponsor.

“Their travel is covered, their accommodations, and once they get on the ground, they do get a Lexus vehicle to take them to the golf course,” explained Julia Pine, director, championship communications and content at the USGA. “When they arrive on site, their caddies have US Open bibs; the flags and the key markers are branded US Open. We’re infusing our brand into all the content they create as they play the golf course.”

Jeffrey Lefkovits, marketing director at Good Good Golf, told Digiday there was a “mutual benefit” in creators and rightsholders working together, so long as they can thread the needle between access and exclusivity. To avoid interfering with broadcast rights deals, creators’ primary directive is often to avoid including any video of active play in their content, focusing instead on the culture and fandom occurring around the gameplay.

“It’s a tricky territory for the traditional sports leagues; they have to protect all the media rights deals that they have with traditional broadcasters,” he noted. “There is a lot of tiptoeing and finding the right lines, and how much access and what kind of access.”

YouTube’s red thread

“A lot of sports are struggling to [get] Gen Z to watch sport for a longer period of time,” noted Piet Southey, head of clients at Billion Dollar Boy. He said that “I\increasingly mainstream” creators, especially those on YouTube, provide a means of recruiting them.

Closer connections between creators and leagues naturally benefit YouTube itself. The platform has long held a central position in online sports culture, and many of the creators being courted by rights-holders use it as their primary channel. 

Creators beginning to stream live sports on their channels, rather than just watchalongs, video podcasts or highlights reels set to Eurotrance music, sharpens its proposition for brands looking to connect to premium audiences.

At the same time, the company has been making ever-larger steps on to broadcasters’ turf. The latest encroachment, a stream of last week’s Chargers-Chiefs game in Brazil, drew criticism from TV execs over viewership figures but provided another example of creator-assisted sports casting, with Mr Beast, Marlon and Deestroying each participating.

“It’s no secret that leagues, properties and networks are trying to do what they can to acquire as many Gen Z viewers as possible,” said Evan Gottlieb, senior manager of celebrity and influencer with Platinum Rye Entertainment, a talent-procurement shop operated by creative agency TMA.

Though creator streaming deals aren’t directly competing with broadcast coverage, each new deal adds weight to YouTube’s position as the best way for rights-holders looking to capture younger viewers.