In mid-June, when NBCUniversal introduced it was partnering with Meta, Overtime, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube to send 27 influencers to the 2024 Paris Olympics, it appeared like an enormous deal. These had been large content material creators like Kai Cenat, Daniel Macdonald, and Zhongni “Zhong” Zhu, folks with thousands and thousands upon thousands and thousands of followers. The hope was that their presence would interact members of Gen Z and Gen Alpha and get them within the Video games.
Principally, that didn’t pan out. Although the transfer generated fawning “age of the influencer” items from shops like The New York Times and Bloomberg, neither customers nor advertisers (who NBCUniversal mentioned may create sponsored posts with the influencers, ought to they need) appear to have responded all that nicely to the community’s “Paris Creators Collective,” which spent the previous two weeks bopping round between Olympic occasions.
As a substitute, what caught the general public’s consideration was content material from athlete creators like USA rugby staff star Ilona Maher, who gained virtually 2 million new followers previously couple of weeks because of her witty fit checks and Love Island–like references to the “Olympic Villa.” Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen turned well-known for his love of a gooey chocolate muffin served within the Olympic Village, whereas different followers consumed seemingly dozens of national kit unboxing videos made by athletes from throughout the globe.
Individuals have additionally fallen for hip figures, like Olympic shooters Kim Yeji and Yusuf Dikeç or Stephen Nedoroscik, the bespectacled American gymnast who actually ought to work on getting a Warby Parker endorsement deal if he hasn’t landed one already. Individuals have additionally gone nuts (again) for the reportedly highly valuable Olympics commentary of Snoop Dogg, who NBCUniversal officially brought on board for the primary time for these Video games.
The movies that NBC’s influencers are posting, alternatively, don’t appear to be hitting—or going viral, no less than. A part of that could possibly be because of the limitations handed to the creators, who weren’t allowed to publish movies of the particular occasions.
Most tried to work across the precise athletics, sharing clips from the venues, of their reactions, their meals, and their cartwheels, or of their outfits. Others tried to play coy round the entire conceit, utilizing their TikToks to poke fun at European architecture or, within the case of “Apprentice of Jesus” creator Lecrae, addressing the “sincerity of his faith” for profiting off the identical Video games that individuals (incorrectly) consider did a parody of the Last Supper.
The ensuing movies really feel just a little skinny, with commentary that’s much less biting or instant than what’s been making the rounds elsewhere. (In any case, if NBCUniversal flies you to Paris and places you up, you’re most likely not going to touch upon how goofy the Australian breakdancer’s moves were or the way you couldn’t see squat out of your costly seat on the Opening Ceremony.)
