Verified: Creators on the pitch

Creators have a larger presence than ever at this year’s FIFA World Cup, reshaping how fans are experiencing the games. The tournament’s new partnerships with platforms like TikTok and YouTube have granted top creators unprecedented access to the pitch and pre-and-post-game moments, building a booming second-screen experience of live streams, behind-the-scenes clips and reaction videos. 

On the pitch, players have gone from national stars to massive global celebrities, and fan moments — like the Viking row — have gone viral. Across host cities, brands are innovating with new strategies and increased investment in hopes of capitalizing on the wave of World Cup attention. And it’s not just sports — creators across beats like travel, fashion, food and culture are building new entryways to the games and leveraging the scale of the tournament to build their reach. 

Around one of the last remaining appointment TV viewing experiences, creators are showing their ability to shape culture, even amidst complex restrictions on streaming the games themselves. And brands are spending millions working with creators, making the most of the moment to deploy their message campaigns in new ways.

“Anybody now is a channel, everybody is a station … if you want to really tap into a certain audience or to a younger generation, you really have to work through creators because they have a better understanding of their audience,” said Wisdom Kaye, a fashion creator who played in the inaugural YouTube FIFA Creator Cup on Sunday, an exhibition game featuring some of the top creators associated with the games, like streaming phenomenon IShowSpeed. Creators, Kaye said, have “only helped to grow visibility” for the games. …

Read more about FIFA sponsor Unilever’s nano and VIP creator strategy

DW: There are some challenges around sports content and licensing, how do you think about those kinds of restrictions?

Simone Scott: I definitely get it, because we kind of work together with your traditional broadcast [reporters]. There's no way creators can replace regular journalists or regular broadcasts. I like to think of us as a supplement. So, you're gonna have your regular game that you can watch, whether it's on a computer or your TV, and then your phone, you can scroll and get some behind-the-scenes access with us of things that maybe they don't have time to show, or maybe they're not even thinking about showing, that's more relaxed and fun, and curiosity driven. 

I understand the restrictions with FIFA, like, once the game starts, we're done filming the field, and I understand that, because that's FOX, that’s Telemundo, and they have those rights. But then once the game's over, then we're back at it. I mean, is it always the funnest? No, but you do what you got to do, because that's the rules, and rules are there for a reason. It wouldn't make sense for me to film the field as well, if you're going to get a clear shot from their 37 cameras.

Read more about Simone’s access to players and the pitch as a creator

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