From TV Screens to TikTok feeds: lessons from Paris 2024 and winning in the new age of sports marketing

By Sam Gayton, Sponsorships and Partnerships Director, Mindshare Worldwide and Chris Knott, Global Invention Director, Mindshare Worldwide

Paris 2024 was a return to form for the Olympic Games after a Covid-impacted Tokyo 2020. From the Opening Ceremony onwards, viewership numbers from around the world exceeded expectations as sports-hungry fans tuned in to linear TV and new streaming offerings to cheer for their home countries and favourite athletes.

Live sport is one of the few things that can unify countries around the world as an appointment-to-view event. However, with new technologies, new platforms, and new types of brands investing, activating around sport is conversely becoming easier yet more complicated than ever before. 

Paris 2024: Redefining Olympic Viewership

Paris 2024 marked a turning point in this evolution. While social media and streaming have been around in some shape or form for some time, these Games were the first to see the convergence of relaxed athlete engagement rules and widespread access to content, creating a landscape unlike any before.

TikTok, for example, reported a near 2000% rise in Olympics-related posts when compared to Tokyo, while 233,000 people crafted content using the Olympics hashtag. This surge wasn’t just coming from fans. The IOC’s relaxed social media guidelines for Paris 2024 meant Olympians themselves could join the digital conversation, sharing their own experiences and connecting with fans directly.

The Rise of Social Media and Athlete-Driven Content

According to The New York Times, “prolific posting [by athletes] fuelled Olympic memes and TikTok trends, contributing to a sense that the Games were everywhere.” And NBCU, which flew in a team of 27 creators to craft social content in France, found that when it came to new Olympics viewers, “36 percent said they tuned in after watching events in social media clips” – a prime example of how broadcasters used clever social strategies to increase their own broadcast and streaming viewers.

The result was two weeks of a sporting content landscape that was bigger and more complex than has ever been seen before. The sheer volume and diversity of content from Paris 2024 showcased the challenges brands face in a fragmented media environment. Whilst the Olympics have stringent rules that dictate what non-sponsor (and even sponsor) brands can do or say in connection with the event, the broader live sports landscape presents similar complexities where navigating diverse content and engagement opportunities is crucial.

For brands looking to engage and activate in live sports, the question they face is - How do I even begin to activate my brand in this rolling sea of content?

Understanding Sports Fan Engagement

The key lies in segmenting the engagement experience into different periods – ‘During the game’, and ‘Outside of the game’ and considering how fans engage in these contexts:

During the Game: Inside the Stadium vs. Away from the Stadium

This refers to engagement just before, during, and immediately after the live event or broadcast, when the audience is actively watching and interacting with the live nature of the sport. This period can be further divided by location: Inside the Stadium or Away from the Stadium. The experiences and engagement opportunities differ greatly depending on these locations. While audiences may be watching the same content, the way they engage with the event will be vastly different.

• Away from the Stadium - Fans watching from home or in social settings outside of the stadium are still invested in the game but more likely to engage in "second-screening" (using multiple devices while watching). There is more flexibility to engage fans across devices during the broadcast, offering opportunities for interactive elements like filters, overlays, or complementary streaming content.

Outside of the Game: Connecting with Fans Beyond Live Events

This is engagement with the sport outside of live events or broadcasts. Fans may consume highlights of games, fan-made content, news, or engage with broader sports culture (e.g., teams and players).

This period offers rich opportunities to engage with fans on their terms through content that they are passionate about, such as engaging with fan communities or creating shareable content. Sports fans highly value authenticity in content so it’s essential that brand integration feels natural and does not detract from the content they’re passionate about.

Brands like Samsung and Allianz offer prime examples of how to leverage these periods effectively. Samsung, tapped into the "Outside of the Game" period by creating a docuseries profiling athletes from newer Olympic sports like skateboarding, breaking, and surfing. This approach allowed them to directly engage a younger, digitally-savvy demographic ahead of the Paris Games.

Allianz’s sponsorship of Channel 4's upcoming Paralympic coverage in the UK - brokered and being managed by Mindshare UK - will help the brand be present both around the moments "During the Game” and “Away from the stadium” through traditional TV spots and also “Outside the Game" via highlights, athlete features on social media and streaming.

Key Takeaway

Sports coverage is more fragmented than ever, offering brands countless ways to insert themselves into these appointment-to-view events. By seeking to understand how, when, and why fans engage during different phases of the sporting experience – both during and beyond the game itself – brands can identify their unique role within the sporting culture. This targeted approach is crucial for breaking through the noise and reaching an audience who are increasingly being bombarded with content from all sides.