Google Pixel to provide footy fans new inside access to AFL’s Friday night footy
It’s the new age footy experience where fans are taken beyond the four walls and granted inside access like never before. Now AFL’s Friday night footy is targeting a wider Gen Z audience.
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Move over Bec Judd, Nadia Bartel and Christian Petracca’s cooking, is the AFL itself about to grab some of the social media influencer pie?
Eagle eyed Gen-Z’ers may have noticed that each Friday night the stories posted on the AFL’s TikTok and Instagram accounts have a certain aesthetic; taking followers behind the scenes of the week’s marquee game while always mentioning Google Pixel.
That’s because last month Google effectively became the owner of Friday night social media activities on those two platforms via its broader partnership with the league. While the AFL regularly highlights sponsors on social media, the idea of a commercial partner owning a weekly timeslot, and at that the prime social media real estate of Friday nights, is a new one.
In the words of outgoing AFL commercial boss Kylie Rogers, the partnership is “taking fans closer to the action than ever before.”
“The Friday night footy content has already provided enhanced social media outputs thanks to the partnership,” she told CODE Sports.
In practical terms a member of the AFL’s social media content team will travel to all Friday night games and diligently hover around change rooms, player races and other places that the punter can’t go to capture content with a phone.
A Google Pixel 8 Pro phone, of course.
Google and the AFL have been in partnership for seven years, its most notable previous presence was via the heartwarming ‘what is a blinder’ television commercial about a father new to the sport learning its peculiar language via google. Last week a new commercial featuring Tayla Harris was launched and it is also the naming rights partner of its ‘Gettable’ podcast.
Yet this social media foray sees its product connected directly to the on-field action of the AFL and AFLW leagues.
If you’re not a TikToker this might all seem rather trivial, but strengthening its partnership with Google and demonstrating the reach and impact on social media channels has some strategic advantages for the AFL apart from attracting social media likes.
Google owns YouTube, which has more than 20 million users in Australia. Currently there is an AFL channel that houses match highlights, vodcasts and other content produced out of the AFL’s own media arm.
With a free to air television market that is shrinking, the possibility of the video sharing service as a future piece in the broadcast partnership puzzle holds appeal given its ubiquity among younger demographics and that it is relatively accessible when compared to some of the other streamers.
YouTube dipped its toes in the big time sports rights ocean last season when it became the rights holder of the NFL’s Sunday Ticket product.
Sunday Ticket gives live digital access to ‘out-of market’ games on a Sunday afternoon when the bulk of NFL games clash. If you’re a San Francisco 49ers fan living in Texas you would be lumped with your local teams on free-to-air network television, YouTube TV instead gives access to every Sunday afternoon game not being played in your home market.
While it’s not a product with much relevance to the current AFL spread of games, it does signify that the tech giant will look at sports rights.
Given the current free-to-air television market, posting Google Pixel-branded stories on a Friday night might be another small step in helping cultivate the company’s interest for the future.
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Originally published as Google Pixel to provide footy fans new inside access to AFL’s Friday night footy
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