Paramount’s CBS Sports Creator Studio will pair influencers with athletes

CBS Sports covers some of the biggest competitions in the athletic world, and its parent company wants to give creators unprecedented access to those events. Paramount is launching the CBS Sports Creator Studio, an initiative that will bring custom content to second screens during major sports broadcasts.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the CBS Sports Creator Studio will look to capture the attention of viewers who scroll social channels while watching the game. By playing matchmaker between creators and advertisers, Paramount will develop original content and share behind-the-scenes coverage of its sports coverage. The CBS Sports lineup ranges from NFL football (including Super Bowl LVIII in 2024) to March Madness to European soccer’s Champions League.

Paramount’s plan to level up those broadcasts through creator content is a page out of the YouTube playbook. The Google-owned platfrom promoted its newly-acquired NFL Sunday Ticket package by facilitating collabs between creators and football stars. Months after those partnerships went live, Sunday Ticket had a successful debut on YouTube.

The advent of name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights for college athletes is also creating new programming opportunities. The CBS Sports Creator Studio will respond to that trend by inviting a variety of influencers into its operation. Ryan Briganti, the SVP of CBS Sports for Paramount Advertising, told The Hollywood Reporter

that Creator Studio partners could be “current athletes, former athletes, [or] someone who just loves the sport.”

“In today’s sports fandom, there are many different types of fans, right like across the different genres and ages,” Briganti said. “So this may speak a little louder to certain fans than maybe more traditional fans. So it’s really trying to hit all these fans where they are, from both a partnership with a brand standpoint as well as our own brand.”

The three initial offerings from the CBS Sports Creator Studio will each hone in on specific programs and audiences. Influence X Tentpole will give creators access to major sporting events (a la Katie Feeney’s recent appointment at the Super Bowl). Influence & CBS Sports IP will bring the network’s homegrown programs, talent, and footage into the mix. Finally, White Label Influence campaigns will be premium partnerships between brands and either athletes or creators.

Paramount’s other holdings will also factor into the new Creator Studio. Specifically, the initiative will get support at VidCon, which Paramount acquired in 2018. The next edition of the online video convention begins in Baltimore on September 28.