Creator Sports Network Is On A Mission To Help Brands Reach Younger Viewers | AdExchanger
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Home CTV Roundup Creator Sports Network Is On A Mission To Help Brands Reach Younger Viewers
CTV
Creator Sports Network Is On A Mission To Help Brands Reach Younger Viewers By
Alyssa Boyle
Wednesday, September 16th, 2026 – 12:30 am
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Creator Sports Network is trying to monetize the ad industry’s two biggest buzzwords: creators and sports.
Creator Sports Network, which launched in 2023, helps influencers livestream sports events on their social media pages. The platform doesn’t livestream the actual sports games; it acquires sports airing rights and shares them with influencers, who then stream the games for their own followers.
“We look at our creators as digital affiliates,” not dissimilar to national networks with local affiliate stations, said Barrick Prince, co-founder and chief product officer. In other words, Prince said, “the scale of creator-led distribution creates new engagement opportunities for brands.” And those opportunities are growing as Creator Sports Network snags the rights for more popular sports leagues.
“When we started this business three years ago, our rights partners were primarily up-and-coming leagues that [many people] had not heard of,” Prince said. Now, he said, the company boasts deals with more popular leagues, such as Division One football and basketball teams and the Savannah Bananas, an exhibition baseball team also known for their high-energy performances and choreographed dances on the field.
For brands, collabing with Creator Sports Network gives them on-screen ad placements and live mentions during the broadcast. “Advertisers are looking at us as incremental spend to [reach] a younger demographic that they’re not [reaching] from traditional TV distribution,” Prince said.
Play (Banana) Ball!
Running campaigns in traditional sports broadcasts can be not only cost-prohibitive but fail to effectively reach younger audiences, said Laurel Boyd, EVP of creative media at MissionOne Media, which sits within the BarkleyOKRP indie agency. That audience is increasingly choosing to engage with social media influencers rather than traditional sports broadcasts, she added.
In contrast, the creator economy has such “sheer scale” that influencers are “almost media networks in their own right,” Boyd said.
Creator Sports Network has more than 2,000 influencers in its network, and each brand gets 100% exclusivity in a broadcast. The scale expands when Creator Sports Network deputizes, say, a handful of influencers to livestream a game with Applebee’s ads while another handful livestreams a game featuring Samsung ads. Creators also livestream sports games across multiple platforms where they have channels, including Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Kick, to name a few.
Paired with scale, Boyd said, Creator Sports Network brings “more opportunities to weave the brand into the conversation” compared to traditional media buys. Viewers and fans can participate in live chats during the livestream, both with the creator and with each other.
For brands, they get static product ads that remain on-screen throughout the duration of the stream. And the creator cheers or chants the brand’s advertised product during impactful moments of a game for memorability. In one recent example, when Twitch streamer Brendan Hofmann (who has one million followers on Instagram and TikTok) livestreamed a Savannah Bananas Banana Ball game featuring Applebee’s ads promoting the limited-time Dollarita drink, Hofmann cheered “Dollarita” throughout and after a high-impact catch during gameplay.
These shoutouts are hard to quantify, but brands that appeared in creator livestreams of Banana Ball games over the summer saw an overage of 65% impression delivery during and after the livestreams, according to Creator Sports Network. Impressions post-livestream typically take place throughout the platform’s audience extension network, which includes app environments hosting sports-related content, such as ESPN, Yahoo and Barstool Sports, said Josh Kaufman, head of sales.
From the agency perspective, “we’re always looking for unique formats where we can go beyond a 15- or 30-second spot in a traditional sports broadcast” to drive more engagement, Boyd said.
As for the measurement piece, Creator Sports Network uses a variety of first- and third-party brand lift metrics to help brands optimize their media plans moving forward, Kaufman said. The company specializes in upper- and mid-funnel growth, such as brand awareness and lift, he said, which is no surprise since streaming video is still largely considered a reach vehicle.
What matters more, Boyd said, is driving improved engagement and results with a “more modern way to incorporate sports” in a campaign media plan.
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Laurel Boyd
//
MissionOne Media
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Creator Sports Network operates with the mission of monetizing the advertising industry’s focus on creators and sports by enabling brands to reach younger audiences through influencer-led sports distribution. The platform functions by acquiring broadcasting rights for sports events and sharing them with influencers, who then livestream these games on their social media channels rather than broadcasting the actual games themselves. This approach positions creators as digital affiliates, mirroring the relationship between national networks and local affiliate stations, as noted by co-founder and chief product officer Barrick Prince, who posits that the scale of creator-led distribution opens up novel engagement opportunities for brands.
The network’s growth has involved securing rights for increasingly popular sports leagues, expanding beyond smaller, emerging leagues to include major entities such as Division One football and basketball teams, as well as exhibition teams like the Savannah Bananas. For advertisers, partnering with Creator Sports Network provides access to on-screen ad placements and live mentions during these broadcasts, offering a route to reach demographics that are less accessible through traditional television distribution.
This model is underpinned by the vast scale of the creator economy, which Laurel Boyd describes as possessing a sheer scale where influencers function almost as media networks. Creator Sports Network leverages this scale by managing a network of over two thousand influencers, granting brands one hundred percent exclusivity for a specific broadcast. The platform further enhances reach by allowing for complex campaigns where multiple influencers can simultaneously livestream games featuring different brand advertisements, such as having one streamer promote Applebee’s while another features Samsung ads. This multi-faceted deployment expands brand integration significantly.
The engagement element within the streaming format is a key differentiator. Creators are positioned to weave brands into the ongoing conversation, allowing viewers and fans to participate in live chats with both the creator and with each other. This fosters immersive experiences, exemplified by instances where creators actively cheer or chant advertised products during high-impact moments of the game. For example, a Twitch streamer featuring advertisers on a Savannah Bananas game may cheer for a specific beverage throughout gameplay, increasing product memorability.
Regarding measurement, the company utilizes various first- and third-party brand lift metrics to assist brands in optimizing their media plans. Josh Kaufman, head of sales, indicates that the network specializes in upper- and mid-funnel growth metrics, focusing on brand awareness and lift, recognizing that while video streaming serves as a primary reach vehicle, the ultimate objective is driving improved engagement and results through a more modern method of incorporating sports into campaign media plans. The focus shifts from traditional, short-form advertising spots to finding unique formats that maximize audience interaction. |