Paramount Wants a Piece of the Sports Creator Economy

It’s no secret that when a TV viewer is watching a sporting event, whether it’s an NFL game, a football game or a March Madness basketball tournament, they’ll have one eye on the action, and another probably on their phone.

And the content they consume on their phones – if it’s not group text messages – will most likely include content from social creators on Instagram, TikTok, Snap or YouTube.

Paramount Advertising, the division of Paramount Global that focuses on ad sales and brand partnerships, thinks it has just the thing to bridge those two screens: a new offering it’s calling the CBS Sports Creator Studio.

The studio will pair advertisers with creators, who will create custom content or provide behind-the-scenes access to CBS Sports events or programs.

“As these younger audiences follow our events on social platforms, we think there’s an opportunity to bring these two things together,” said John Bogusz, executive VP of sports for Paramount Advertising. “The number of impressions is growing, people are following the events on their phones, and we can offer this to advertisers to better connect their campaigns with our events.”

In other words, whether the fan is watching the action on the TV glass or following the chatter on their phone, there is an opportunity to reach them. And Paramount thinks it will be especially attractive to brands looking to engage younger viewers.

“In today’s sports fandom, there are many different types of fans, as well as across genres and ages,” added Ryan Wolf, senior VP of Paramount Brand Studio. “So this maybe speaks a little louder to certain fans than maybe more traditional fans. So we’re really trying to hit all these fans where they are, both from a partnership with a brand standpoint and from our own brand.”

The CBS Sports Creator Studio is launching with three initial offerings: “Influence “Influence & CBS Sports IP” gives creators behind-the-scenes access to CBS Sports programming, footage and talent to create new content; and “White Label Influence” pairs a brand with an athlete or content creator to create custom campaigns.

Paramount plans to leverage its existing creator-focused businesses in the new venture, including influencer marketing company WhoSay and VidCon, both of which it acquired in 2018. It can also ensure brand safety and relevance, a sticking point for social influencer marketers. room.

“You have to kind of dig into all these brands and figure out what they’re trying to accomplish,” Wolf says. “We work with that brand as we go through the ‘Match Report’ and then try to best combine the brand objectives with who these influencers are.”

“They could be current athletes, former athletes, someone who just loves the sport and has developed a following in the social space and somewhere in between,” he adds.

As for Paramount, the company will take a tailor-made approach to the studio, although it expects to offer this as part of larger advertising packages.

“They could buy a significant golf package, we could then expand that online, and then we could tie an influencer-style campaign to it,” Bogusz says.