• by Colin Kirkland , 4 hours ago

For the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, NBCUniversal is bringing back its creator program, featuring exclusive on-the-ground coverage from influencers recruited in partnership with YouTube, Meta, and TikTok.

The media company’s “Milan Cortina Creator Collective” is a “multi-platform social creator program” that will invite over 25 creators to “tell the stories of the Games through their eyes” in Milan and Cortina, according to the announcement.

Creator coverage of live sporting events has become more popular since social media platforms have integrated reliable video creation and editing capability over the past several years, with younger consumers and sports fans preferring user-generated content.

Last year, digital sports viewers in the U.S. outnumbered traditional pay TV sports viewers for the first time, according to EMarketer, while younger audiences are increasingly consuming sports with highlights and clips compared to full game coverage.

As users continue to engage with more in-app video content, major media conglomerates and sports leagues are tapping into user trends and making strategically relevant partnerships with leading social media networks.

This year, the NFL aired its first coverage ever of a full free game on YouTube, and ESPN signed popular sports influencer Katie Feeney to create content across the network's social and digital channels.

During the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, NBCU's initial creator program garnered over 300 million video views across social platforms, the company reports, adding that related content gained 6.55 billion impressions across NBC Sports social channels.

Top-performing participants from the original 2024 cohort have been invited back, including ATFrenchies, Molly Carlson and Matthew Meager (MMG), along with a cast of new additions such as Kylie Kelce, Anna Sitar and Gianluca Conte (QCP).

Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang of popular pop-culture podcast “Las Culturistas” have also been invited to rejoin the Creator Collective with plans to film another season of their 2024 Paris Olympics “Two Guys, Five Rings” podcast in partnership with iHeart Media.

Similar to the 2024 program, NBCU writes that creators will receive exclusive filming access to the Games and the competing athletes. In order to tap into creator coverage, NBCU is welcoming advertising partners to work with creators in the collective and develop sponsored posts.