• by Colin Kirkland , January 15, 2024

The National Football League (NFL) has announced that Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani will play the marquee performance at Super Bowl LVIII’s “TikTok Tailgate,” a pregame party featuring special guests and creators from the ByteDance-owned company.

This year will mark the fourth year of the TikTok Tailgate party, which fans will be able to watch live across the world directly on TikTok via the NFL’s designated profile.

The goal of the event, according to TikTok, is to bring virtual fans into Super Bowl celebrations, which have historically taken place on television.

Past headliners have included Miley Cyrus, The Chainsmokers, The Black Keys and Jason Derulo.

The tailgate party will take place before the Super Bowl game at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, with portions of the musical performance being televised on CBS’s official pregame show.

On TikTok, fans will see popular creators across the platform’s fashion, food, comedy and lifestyle communities giving “game-day predictions, team facts, commentary, and more.”

TikTok officially partnered with the NFL in 2019, spurring the league to launch its official TikTok account and deliver content -- including highlights, sideline moments, and behind-the-scenes footage -- to fans across the platform’s global markets.

Stefani is a strategic pick for the NFL and TikTok's partnered event. With a sizable TikTok following (3.2 million) and a consistent presence on the app, Stefani posts daily updates on her life and career, including family moments with husband, Grammy-nominated country singer Blake Shelton.

In addition, Stefani’s 2004 hit single “Rich Girl” has become a popular track on TikTok, amassing over 133,000 fan creations surrounding videos about pre-game primping and luxury purchases.

Now a global leader in social media, TikTok is poised to expand its presence into a variety of industries, including music and sports. The app has already become a primary source for music discovery, with emerging artists utilizing the platform to break through with a viral hit.

Over the past year, TikTok has launched its own app-specific Billboard Top 50 Chart and launched a feature that allows users to save songs they hear on their main video feed directly to their preferred music streaming app, including Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music.

Sports-related content has also been gaining traction in the app. In February 2023, the company reported that all major sports were seeing significant increases in engagement year-over-year.