{"id":168455,"date":"2025-09-25T16:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/168455\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T16:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:13:10","slug":"move-over-bec-judd-the-afl-has-entered-its-influencer-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/168455\/","title":{"rendered":"Move over Bec Judd, the AFL has entered its influencer age"},"content":{"rendered":"

Their platforms have continued to grow as fans become disaffected with the way the league has handled issues like mental health or the recent homophobic slur saga<\/a> featuring Adelaide star Izak Rankine.<\/p>\n

Dan Does Footy, Gorringe\u2019s podcast is the nation\u2019s 85th biggest, but it\u2019s his online presence which has catapulted him to fame, with nearly 1 million followers across his two Instagram pages.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

Daniel Gorringe is a new-age star of the AFL.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Gorringe was the main attraction over former stars of the sport in the recent Legends Game<\/a> hosted at Marvel Stadium, and now the AFL, notorious for controlling its media narrative and any commercial opportunities, has clearly seen the writing on the wall.<\/p>\n

Last Saturday, the league, in collaboration with Dan Does Footy, hosted its first ever \u201cwatchalong\u201d, a live broadcast of Gorringe and other figures and influencers watching Collingwood and Brisbane on the AFL YouTube account, in a bid to capitalise on the second-screen generation.<\/p>\n

It was just a first bite of the apple, but it garnered 95,000 views \u2013 as many as were inside the MCG and offers a look into where the AFL might be headed.<\/p>\n

Rivers of Gold<\/p>\n

The watchalong trend is already well embedded overseas, with the English Premier League\u2019s top domestic broadcaster, Sky Sports\u2019 Saturday Social \u2013 a YouTube-first show mixing sport and culture, featuring top players and influencers and online personalities \u2013 a big hit.<\/p>\n

That channel, with its express aim of creating viral, clippable sports content, has 5.7 million subscribers. Social media shows democratise opportunity, thrusting popular online figures to the front instead of handpicked media personalities. But they do have a downside, promoting a race to the bottom with amateur, partisan pundits chasing clicks through controversial hot takes without adding anything to the conversation.<\/p>\n

Sky has even signed a one-year broadcast deal with Baller League, a six-a-side competition featuring social media influencers and ex-Premier League players.<\/p>\n

Prominent British watchalong star, influencer and Manchester United fan Mark Goldbridge is turning his platform into a brand. His watchalong of Arsenal versus Manchester City on Sunday had 317,000 viewers. One of his YouTube channels, That\u2019s Football, has 1.4 million subscribers, and last month he was handed the rights to show 20 Bundesliga games, Germany\u2019s top division, with the League hoping he can tap into a new audience.<\/p>\n

While deals of this sort create legitimacy for online personalities, they are still finding their feet in Australia, with our local crop of social media stars left to partner with brands to make a living. In the case of Gorringe, he has received criticism in AFL communities for his ongoing partnership with Sportsbet, appearing in ads and on Monday\u2019s Brownlow red carpet with a Sportsbet branded mic. He spent 48-hours in a glass box outside the MCG, in partnership with Hard Rated (Solo) and released a new ad with DoorDash on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Figuring out the full financial potential of social media stardom is clearly the end goal for both the sporting codes and the content creators, but things are clearly starting to move in the right direction in Australia.<\/p>\n

Aunty\u2019s TikTokers<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the ABC is on its own hunt for influencers. Aunty has posted a job ad for applicants to its Creator Program this week, paying up to $105,000 a year to deliver stories for young audiences.<\/p>\n

The only catch, you have to already have at least 10,000 followers online.<\/p>\n

Bolt\u2019s retort<\/p>\n

Andrew Bolt\u2019s nightly Sky After Dark show faces an uncertain future after the right-wing commentator underwent heart surgery three weeks ago. Still yet to return, Bolt told this masthead he will be back \u201cas soon as I can\u201d, with Late Debate host James Macpherson filling in the interim. Macpherson\u2019s record includes time as a journalist for the alt-right, anti-vaccine, climate-change denying Canadian publication Rebel News (of Avi Yemini fame) as well as a columnist for Spectator Australia.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Bolts, Andrew and James.Credit: Jamie Brown<\/p>\n

But fear not, the Bolt name lives on at Sky towers, with Andrew\u2019s son, James, having toiled away at the IPA for a decade, later producing Paul Murray Live and Sharri, being handed his own YouTube podcast, aptly named The Bolt Retort. <\/p>\n

Recruitment Drive<\/p>\n

Speaking of Sky, there was plenty of interest this week as to why no one lost their job, or was even suspended over a controversial guest segment<\/a> on new After Dark program Freya Fires Up.<\/p>\n

Well, it turns out it may be due to the troubles the network has getting young, affordable staff through its doors. There\u2019s only so many liberal arts graduates from Parramatta\u2019s Campion College<\/a> to lean on.<\/p>\n

On Background hears there\u2019s been cash rewards for staff helping fill jobs that have sat vacant on LinkedIn and Seek for months on end.<\/p>\n

Seven goes full Frankenstein<\/p>\n

Seven appears hell-bent on killing its News brand, launching Winning Arvo with Alex Cullen this week. Yes, that Cullen who left Nine earlier this year over the \u201cLambo Guy\u201d<\/a> cash reward stunt.<\/p>\n

But now its Cullen who is doing cash giveaways live on air, mixed with news bulletins, quiz shows and a god-awful jingle.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not forget this was the network that laughed former news boss Anthony De Ceglie out the door for experimenting with comedy and horoscopes. His successor, Ray Kuka, appears to be taking an ever more bizarre swing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Their platforms have continued to grow as fans become disaffected with the way the league has handled issues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-168455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}