The 2026 FIFA World Cup is over, and the impact of content creators (and how brands and platforms leverage them) is clear. For perhaps the first time in the tournament’s history, creators were granted unprecedented access to games, players and other FIFA-related programs through YouTube and TikTok’s unique platform partnership with FIFA, while official sponsors leveraged their massive audiences to market products to younger audiences.
Some people also called this tournament Creator World Cup. According to data from platforms and analysts, creator-led content drove celebrity endorsements (with successful activations from Kalshi, Polymarket, and Airbnb), YouTube and TikTok’s unique partnership with FIFA proved successful, and mega creators brought their young fans to watch this historic tournament in large numbers with coverage on alternative broadcasts and social media.
Let’s see how the creators fared in this year’s World Cup.
Creator content outperformed celebrity endorsements
(Source: Amrit)
Nectaran agentive community management and social listening platform, produced a World Cup data report on TikTok, Reddit, and Instagram partnerships that paints a clear picture: creator-led content dominated the tournament.
The report said 10 of the top 15 EMV posts were creator-led content, which outperformed celebrity endorsements. Average views for top-performing sponsored posts by creators were 929,000 compared to 573,000 for celebrities. And the average value of creator content was $62,000, which was higher than the average value of celebrity-endorsed content, which was $56,000.
Misbah Urazi, CEO of Nectar, said, “Creators often serve as a strong distribution layer; celebrities can remain a powerful moment inside that distribution, but their reach is not always as reliable.”
The company identified some brands whose creator content helped them stand out, such as Kalshi’s work with a viral sports-betting creator who earned 126 million views at its peak, Polymarket’s partnership with a small but trusted voice in the betting space (who garnered 2 million views), and a feel-good creator’s proven content format to garner 1.3 million likes. Airbnb’s decision to use.
Young creators drive the World Cup conversation
(Source: Lumen by Talkwalker)
According to metrics from Lumen by TalkwalkerFIFA conversation drivers were overwhelmingly young adults, with 25 to 34 year olds driving the majority of conversations at the start of the tournament, at 52.4%. The next highest conversation drivers were 18 to 24-year-olds at 31%, with online participation declining after 34%.
According to, this is in line with the growing trend in which Gen Z fans of sports are becoming interested in them through fan-made content. Acceleration Community of CompaniesAn independent group of culture-driven marketing, media and communications agencies.
ACC President Monica Chun said, “For previous generations, sports was the gateway to fandom. For Gen Z, it is often the last stop.” “Young fans aren’t necessarily loving the sport first. They’re loving the athlete, the story, the creator, the controversy or the community around it. A celebrity connection or a TikTok video can be just as powerful as the sport itself. Sports used to create culture. Increasingly, culture is creating sports fans.”
It’s no wonder everyone loves IShowSpeed
(Source: Lumen by Talkwalker
Those young viewers were watching their favorite creators in droves – like Darren “iShowspeed” Watkins Jr. who was the undisputed number one creator at this year’s World Cup. Watkins Jr. had his own dedicated stream on Fox’s platform, appearances at almost all major games, and a musical performance during the final game. According to Lumen by Talkwalker, in the month leading up to the tournament finale, the streamer generated an impressive 410,000 mentions about its partnership with FIFA, generating over 46 million engagements.
iSpot and Tubular Labs executives told Digiday that, during the World Cup semi-finals, iShowSpeed’s recap of the Argentina/Cape Verde match on Instagram was the most-viewed World Cup video at the time, with 202 million views in just three days. iShowSpeed and Belgian creator Celine Department were two of Instagram’s top three creators creating World Cup content, with their videos receiving over 700 million views.
YouTube’s partnership bore fruit
(Sources: YouTube, The Athletic)
This March, YouTube announced it was officially partnering with FIFA as the preferred platform for streaming the World Cup, offering new angles and 360 coverage of the tournament. It’s now clear that the game-changing partnership bore fruit: The AMAs for the World Cup final on YouTube had 21 million viewers, while Fox reported 38.9 million average viewers (and 51.7 million peaks).
“In total, more than 1.7 billion unique viewers globally watched World Cup-related videos on YouTube during the FIFA World Cup 2026,” it reads. YouTube’s blog post of July 21In which it is also told that more than 550 million people are connected to this platform on their TV.
Much of this content was driven by its “global roster of creators” such as IShowSpeed, who brought their passionate fans to the event. Overall, YouTube’s creator roster has 350 million YouTube subscribers and has generated over 2.5 billion views on their World Cup-related videos.
Streamers at the World Cup may have given sports and brands a new blueprint for broadcasting that we may see used in regular leagues and future tournaments.
(Source: Clorora)
Following a successful partnership at the Women’s World Cup a few years ago, TikTok made a big splash at this year’s World Cup, partnering with FIFA to send 30 creative reporters to the game to produce content from the sidelines.
“The FIFA World Cup 2026 has been the biggest content moment ever seen on TikTok and shows how fans experience global sporting events differently on our platform,” said Rolo Goldstaub, TikTok’s global head of sports. “People aren’t just watching highlights, they’re also watching reactions, tactical breakdowns, behind-the-scenes access, and fan perspectives from around the world. Those different entry points make the game more accessible, especially for new or more casual fans, and add to the creativity and energy fans bring to TikTok every day.”
Tony Wang in Crollora Showed how much promotion TikTok was able to generate throughout the tournament, and how it grew rapidly from kickoff to the final on July 21. Views of the dedicated World Cup hashtag more than doubled (from 25.4 billion to 54.7 billion, a 116% increase) and #fifaworldcup also nearly doubled (72% increase). “The World Cup happened and TikTok’s tournament-specific conversations increased accordingly,” Wang wrote.
A TikTok spokesperson told Digiday that sports commentary creators on the platform saw a 3x increase in their follower growth rate during the tournament.
According to iSpot and Tubular Labs, creators generated more than 70% of World Cup-related video views on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. They were creating most of the content, and with their huge audiences, they were driving most of the views.
“This year’s World Cup was not only the most watched event on TV, it was also a huge event on social video,” said Jill Nicholson, CMO of Chartbeat. “Although FIFA successfully created its own content throughout the event, the big win was how it activated popular football creators, who helped bring the game to a global audience in a way that fans could relate to, no matter how familiar they were with the game.”