YouTube using creators to enhance broadcast of the NFL game between the Chiefs and the Chargers

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Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs face Justin Herbert and Jim Harbaugh’s Los Angeles Chargers in the most accessible game to viewers on Friday night in Brazil.

It’s the first NFL game streamed on YouTube and there will be plenty of unique elements surrounding the broadcast.

The league and YouTube have assembled a lineup of content creators to enhance the viewing experience.

Cam Newton, Brandon Marshall, Derek Carr and Tyrann Mathieu will be part of a pre-game and post-game shows hosted by Kay Adams.

Donald De La Haye, known as “Deestroying” to millions of social media followers, will serve as a sideline creator — as opposed to the usual sideline reporter.

Four creators will host their own “Watch With” streams on YouTube and YouTube TV — IShowSpeed and Tom Grossi in English and Robegrill and SKabeche in Spanish.

“It’s been an awesome journey. I used to do this at high school games, JV games and stuff, and now the fact that I’m doing it at the highest level is amazing,” Deestroying said. “And it kind of carved out this brand new role as a sideline creator. It’s awesome, man. It’s new to everybody. It’s knew to me. It’s new to YouTube, new to the NFL, but I think it’ll be awesome and we’ll see a lot more of it to come.”

Deestroying is no stranger to football. He played college ball at Central Florida and was a kicker for the San Antonio Brahmas of the United Football League.

Growing the sport globally has become a top priority for the NFL, which dominates ratings in the United States. The league has promoted flag football to increase participation in the sport around the world, helping it become part of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Using content creators and influencers is a natural step forward.

“I think that it starts to show just the convergence of the creator world, the creator economy, together with the NFL,” league executive Ian Trombetta said. “There’s so much interest in what our players are doing and you’re seeing that clearly across the league, whether it be with our existing players or our legends like Cam Newton and others who’ve really leaned into YouTube as a platform. The Kelce brothers are another great example of that. So it’s just this wonderful convergence of creativity and sport. And I think that led us to this place where they’re integrating and give YouTube a lot of credit. They’ve found ways to put forward creators that make sense in these different environments and different situations.”

Grossi, a Green Bay Packers fan, has been watching games with fans on YouTube for almost a decade. He’s aiming to break his streaming record of 51,000 people watching a game with him.

“I love football and I love the Packers,” Grossi said. “To be able to stream these games and have actual fan interaction throughout the game and kind of create that communal sense of we’re all fans watching the game together, I think it just gives folks a different way to engage with football that maybe they haven’t before.”

Newton, the 2015 NFL MVP, has embraced his creating content. He has the largest following on YouTube among players at 1.7 million subscribers.

“We’re not just broadcasting a game; we’re creating an experience,” he said. “We’re merging a traditional sports broadcast with the creator-led content that has made YouTube what it is. It’s a new era of sports media, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

The NFL has exclusively streamed games before on NBCUniversal’s Peacock, Amazon’s Prime Video and Netflix, but those required subscriptions. The Chiefs-Chargers game is available to anyone with access to the internet. That makes it a first.

“Our thesis around bringing an NFL game to YouTube wasn’t just sort of lift and shift from any other network, it was about how do we make it feel uniquely YouTube?” YouTube executive Angela Courtin said. “And the thing that is unique to YouTube, more so than any other platform, is our creator community. And that means bringing creators who are football fans, who talk about their content around football.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl