Helmets off: How the NFL is using social media to grow its hardcore and casual fan base in the UK and Europe
In sports broadcasting, social media is a key aspect of building a fan base and breaking into new demographics, and the NFL is well versed in creating and utilising this type of content. This month the NFL is holding three games in London – two at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium and one to go at Wembley – bringing the explosive fun and excitement of American football to Brits in a now annual event that seems to get larger every year. We caught up with the NFL’s senior vice president, influence marketing, Ian Trombetta, to discuss its social media strategy, how it is growing, and how the league makes it work.Let’s start with your social media strategy for overseas showcase games, such as the three being played in London now. What’s the plan? How does that fit into your overall broadcast strategy?
From just a global perspective, just to give you a sense of how we approach social media, we take what we call the ‘helmets off’ approach. What that means essentially is just getting to know the more personal details and the ins and outs of what the player interests are. We’ve really made a concerted effort to do that. I think for NFL football, it’s really, really important because as you know, we only have 17 regular season games, unlike some other sports, like Major League Baseball, and they’ve got 162 regular season games.
Then you factor in the fact that our guys are wearing helmets, and it really helps us drive interest, especially with more casual fans, that the more that we’re able to really showcase who the players are, obviously on the field, which of course is expected, but also off the field. So that ‘helmets off’ strategy now is extending into many different areas, especially as we think about our content creators and the way that we’re working with influencers, as well as some of the wives and girlfriends associated with the NFL; obviously Taylor Swift being at the very top of that list, but [there are] so many others that we’re working with, including Simone Biles, Kristen Juszcyk, I can go through a whole laundry list of Alix Earle, etc that we’re working with, again, to broaden the game and to broaden the appeal of the game.
So when we think about what we’re doing here in London, and for all the games internationally, we’re really trying to drive a global appeal with both the avid fans around the world, as well as more casual fans.
I think Brazil is a really good example of us integrating Anitta [Brazilian pop superstar] for the halftime show and really elevating the halftime show there, and then having local creators from Brazil, including Olympians and others who are part of the programming, and [doing] something similar here in London. It’s really showcasing all the dimensions of the game here locally, and then extending that out to a more global audience. In doing so, we see great interest, not only while we’re here, but even from fans State-side or around the world, just very interested in terms of how we’re operating and some of the storylines of the players, especially being in London, sometimes for the first time. It’s really great. We’re super excited about all the games here.
What from the actual games themselves or behind the scenes in the stadiums over here in the UK do you put on social media? Because I guess for the US fans, they’re like, “what’s a British stadium look like?”.
Yes, everything from the pubs and the watch parties that we have at the pubs with each of the teams, to players interacting with some of the local fans here. We had a creator by the name of Jimmy [Darts], who’s got well over 10 million followers, but he’s based in the US. We brought him to London and he did a series of things with different fans and kids here, so that was great.
And the nice thing too, just going back to your original question of how do we integrate [social media] into the broader ecosystem, including our TV and broadcast partners, increasingly there is a sharing of content that’s happening through what we consider social-first content, but we’re supplying that over to the networks and they can pick that content off and integrate that into the broadcast and also to their social channels. So whether it’s CBS or it’s NBC Peacock or Amazon or Netflix in the future, they’re all utilising that content that we’re supplying. We have a variety of ways in which we’re not only shooting it, but also looking at ways in which we can get more and more access to showcase the fashion, to showcase a lot of the behind the scenes to really showcase the players and the teams in the best way possible.
Do you have a media hub where that goes to so that your rights holders can take it off?
We do. One of the biggest things we’ve worked on over the last several years is the connectivity actually in the stadium, [so we can ensure all social media content is delivered] real time. We’ve got a database that our partners can pull from, and then we’ll also send directly clips that we know are going to perform well or be interesting to the broadcast and the broader audience, so we’ll do that in the ‘inside the game’ environment. And then through the week we’re constantly supplying content through the broadcast partners and really through a variety of different partners, including Verizon, Procter & Gamble, Nike, etc. We really want to continue that, especially around the human interest stories with the players. That’s really what we’re after, especially during the week.
On the team that’s producing this content for you, are you using specific cameras and crews? How does that work on the day in the stadium?
So we have obviously our NFL network team, they’re on the ground and they’ve got their entire operation, which is great. That’s the broadcast component on the social side and some of the digital aspects of it.
We then have what we call our LCCs, and that stands for live content correspondent, so essentially, if you watch the games, you’ll pick up on probably some shooters that are creating content and they’re using their cell phones, and they’re usually wearing black NFL vests. Those people work on my team and they’re called the LCCs. We have at least four at every game. In some cases we plus up to even more than that.
Really what they’re after is not only the game itself, but we’ll have these LCCs at the pubs, at the watch parties, we’ll have them chatting to the players after practise. If a player like Caleb Williams [Chicago Bears] is going to go shoe shopping in London, we’ll send one of them with them to capture that content, not only for us, but for Caleb or the club and the partners as well. So they’re really a key piece of that whole ecosystem to enable us to get that nimble content that we obviously use quite a bit on social media and otherwise.
The other way in which we use it is with the content creators. And again, I was just meeting with one this morning, IShowSpeed [American YouTuber and online streamer]. He’s got over a hundred million followers on social media, and he’s got more TikTok followers than Taylor Swift. So we’re talking to him about ways in which we can create content. And he moves so fast and he’s so nimble with how he thinks about what he’s going to be creating, there’s no way to put a big camera crew with him. It has to be done by a very nimble team that can move at the same speed as him.
Are there any particular innovations that you’re using?
We don’t really market it per se, but we are typically using Apple [smartphones for the LCCs]. We’re just using either iPhones or we’re using Sony DSLRs in some cases. We’ve actually got great a partnership with Sony now where they’re supplying our camera equipment. And then we’re also working with Verizon on expanding our LCC programme and that’s primarily based on bringing more women into the programme, which is really great.
Those LCCs, they capture the content live and then they edit it, or do you have a team in an OB or somewhere in the stadium doing a rough edit and then putting it online?
When they’re actually shooting, they’re focused on that for the duration of the game or whatever it is that they’re doing. And then we have a team that will be based in the stadium as well as offsite in LA, New York, London, also editing in real time. We’re a real time events business, so that content’s being pushed out through our teams that are based more centrally, then when we start getting into more of the custom edits for players, as an example, where we’re delivering their content for them, where the LCCs also edit some of that content, which is more for overall storytelling that we’re doing throughout the week.
Over in the UK how have things have grown on social media since you’ve been coming over here and showcasing the NFL?
We’re continuing to look at ways in which we can grow the game with the more casual fans. I think there are certain platforms that really lean into that, that enable us to showcase more diversity of content, which is great. TikTok, and Instagram really allow us to do probably more off the field than some of the other ones that our fans are on; with Reddit as an example, or on X, they want more of the hardcore football, which is great.
Then as we start to think about some of the other platforms like Snapchat, it allows us to show a little bit more diversity in terms of the types of content. Certainly we’re excited about investigating new platforms or new opportunities, like WhatsApp, Discord and others, which is going to be great for us to continue to engage those audiences that are continuing to find new ways to communicate and build community.
I don’t think one’s better than the other. Certainly for us, we know that we have so much opportunity to educate fans on actually what the game is and all the rules and the differences between NFL football and some of the other sports that are prevalent here. We also know it’s just a key gateway to bring new fans in. So from our standpoint, especially on social, we’re talking about upwards of 80% of our audience being under 35, so we know who we’re talking to. And oftentimes that skews even more, so on TikTok, it could be 80% under 24. When we’re in those environments, we just want to speak on the right terms, so that is going to drive engagement.
We also don’t want to create an artificial barrier for us, where it’s just so intimidating that someone living in another country that’s not watching every game, or hasn’t grown up playing the game, would feel like this just isn’t for me. I think for us, we try to a little bit more casual, especially in the international markets, as a way just to onboard them and bring them along the journey.
Is there any difference between the matches you’re doing here in the UK, the two at Tottenham and then the one at Wembley? Or are they all just being treated the same, but in different locations?
They’re generally the same from a league standpoint. The difference is with the clubs, the teams that are involved, they all come with their own marketing plans and their own way of entering the market. Some do more, some do a little less. I think increasingly what we’re seeing is the clubs doing more and more, and you’re seeing that come through. With the Vikings, they had a fantastic turnout of Vikings fans who are London-based. I think we’re seeing that level of maturity now come through the markets where it’s not just the sea of different jerseys and the full rainbow of different jerseys; we’re seeing increasingly fandom develop around specific teams and players, and I think we’re going to see that at each of these matches.
Are there any teams that are more popular over here?
There are. I mean, in terms of the clubs that are popular, certainly we know the Jaguars are a staple here. They’re here every year. So they’ve established a really nice foothold. The Vikings, obviously, they were just here last weekend and did a terrific job. The Chiefs, of course, in part because of all the success they’ve had on the field, but also off the field with guys like Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes [both of the Kansas City Chiefs]; they’re really turning into global stars and there are many, many others, but those are a handful that are doing quite well.