Anthony Palomba is an expert on media innovation and audience analysis. He’s also a Millenial and a Yankees fan, but he warns a growing number of people born since 1997 are accustomed to social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok that cater to their interests.
“The more you use TikTok, the happier you should be with it, because it does look for content that it thinks you will enjoy. Why would you turn to watch a football game that you may or may not like when TikTok is a guaranteed homerun?”
And, frankly, the pace of football may be too slow for younger viewers accustomed to watching short video clips on their phones.
“A football game takes almost four hours. Do you have any idea how much TikTok content you could watch instead in those four hours? The tradeoff, I think, for a lot of kids would be, ‘Oh my god! When is this going to end?’”
Today, the average viewer watching prime time NFL sports is 62 years old. TV networks know that and are trying to attract the attention of younger adults with half-time artists like Bad Bunny and special shows for kids.
“If you look at Nickelodeon they have an NFL show where if you watch they have NFL games and highlights, but they use gak -- so green slime will come down the screen when there’s a touchdown, or the football, if it’s Christmas, might turn into a present.”
But Palomba contends traditional media and advertisers will have to do more to draw young viewers in.
“Put different icons and emojis and things in the clips. Enable them to video themselves wearing a Patriots or Seahawks helmets, thinking through the advertisements. Are there things that children could do on their phones to kind of game-ifying the advertising experience.”
One thing that could help, he says, is the growing world of gambling where you can bet on everything from when the new head of the fed will be chosen to whether Jesus will return next year. He figures betting a hundred bucks on a running back scoring a touchdown would give viewers skin in the game, even if they didn’t know the player’s name.
