It seemed like a big deal in mid-June when NBCUniversal announced it was partnering with Meta, Overtime, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube to bring 27 influencers to the 2024 Paris Olympics: big-name content creators with millions of followers, including Kai Senat, Danielle Macdonald and Chonni “Chong” Chu, in the hopes that their presence would capture the attention of Gen Z and Gen Alpha fans and get them interested in the Olympics.
For the most part, it didn’t work out that way. The move drew tributes from outlets like The New York Times and Bloomberg calling it the “Age of the Influencer,” but consumers and advertisers (NBCUniversal said they could create sponsored posts featuring influencers if they wanted) didn’t seem to respond all that well to the network’s “Paris Creators Collective,” which has been bouncing around between Olympic events for the past two weeks.
Instead, it was athlete-creators like US Rugby star Ilona Maher who captured the public’s attention with her witty fit checks and Love IslandNorwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen famously gained popularity for his love of the gooey chocolate muffins served in the Olympic Village, while other fans tuned in to watch dozens of national-level uniform unboxing videos made by athletes around the world.
People are also going crazy over stylish characters like Olympic shooters Kim Ye-ji and Jusuf Dikecs, the bespectacled American gymnast Steven Nedorosic, who should try to get an endorsement deal with Warby Parker if he doesn’t already have one, and over Snoop Dogg’s reportedly highly valued Olympic commentary, in NBCUniversal’s first official role at the Games.
Meanwhile, the videos posted by NBC influencers don’t seem to be getting any traction — or at least, they’re not making waves. That may be in part due to restrictions placed on creators that prevent them from posting videos of real events.
Most tried to sidestep the actual competition by sharing footage and reactions from the venues, the food, the cartwheels, the outfits, etc. Others tried to play down the whole idea by making fun of European architecture on TikTok, or, as in the case of “Disciples of Jesus” creator Lecrae, claiming “faithfulness” for profiting from what people (wrongly) believed to be a parody of the Olympics. The Last Supper.
The resulting video feels a bit thin, with commentary that’s less scathing and off-the-cuff than some of the others circulating (after all, if NBCUniversal flies you to Paris and puts you up there, you probably won’t be commenting on how dumb the Australian breakdancers’ moves were, or how you couldn’t see anything from your expensive seats at the Opening Ceremony).
