{"id":820243,"date":"2026-07-23T05:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/820243\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T05:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:52:09","slug":"tiktoks-kat-marquez-unpacks-nba-and-wnba-creator-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/820243\/","title":{"rendered":"TikTok\u2019s Kat Marquez unpacks NBA and WNBA creator deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Competition to hold and own live sports coverage has been seeping out of the traditional broadcast and streaming sectors, and into social, for a little while now. YouTube, for example, has been working to acquire streaming rights to NFL games<\/a>, while some leagues have been working directly with creators on the platform. Meanwhile X has spent the last two years attempting to lock in official NBA and WNBA content on its platform.<\/p>\n

TikTok, too, is making baby steps in this direction. The latest is a deal struck between the social platform and the NBA, in order to boost official NBA and WNBA content to sports fans on the app and promote live coverage of the league\u2019s games on ABC and ESPN to users in real time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Kat Marquez, a former Nike and Meta exec who leads TikTok\u2019s global sports partnership practice, pilot activations using the company\u2019s specialised GamePlan features (which it began offering in December), generated 497 million impressions for the NBA, while a bespoke \u201cSearch Hub\u201d redirecting users to coverage of the NBA Finals drove 426,000 referrals. It\u2019s also sending several TikTok creators to NBA and WNBA games; in Marquez\u2019s telling, the deal will bolster the platform\u2019s cachet for both creators and as a second-screen sports destination<\/a>, while funnelling future basketball fans towards TV and streaming coverage of the league.<\/p>\n

Marquez spoke with Digiday about how the partnership would work, and why TikTok had embarked on it now.<\/p>\n

This conversation has been edited for conciseness and clarity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why does TikTok need a partnership with the NBA?<\/p>\n

What makes TikTok unique is that we sit at the intersection of utility and entertainment. We know that fans are 42% more likely to tune into live games after seeing sports content on the platform. [And] through activating these multi-year partnerships, we are able to have a stronger position in amplifying official rights holder content in app.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the main components of this deal is is our ability to elevate NBA and WNBA content through TikTok GamePlan which, if you\u2019re not familiar, is TikTok\u2019s relatively new suite of sports products designed to amplify sports content and ultimately drive conversion on behalf of partners like the NBA. Game Plan takes the amazing content that these sports publishers are already sharing to the platform and adds another element of conversion that ultimately speaks to partners\u2019 business priorities.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in it for the NBA?<\/p>\n

Part of the motivation is to diversify their audiences. TikTok has the ability to reach female, Gen Z and international audiences. In fact, 64% of women say that TikTok is their go-to platform for sports content. So by having an amplified presence on the platform, sports rights holders [are] able to reach audiences that they historically haven\u2019t been able to elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Why is TikTok sending creators to NBA games?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re launching a number of sports creator programs. We\u2019ll be sending five creators to the WNBA All Star event [July 23-27th]; they\u2019ll have exclusive access, and they\u2019ll be able to cover the weekend through their own tone and voice. [The creators include Simone Scott and Marissa Kumari]. That\u2019s really where creators add to the overall sports puzzle. Creators are very much emotion-led, and they provide the emotional connection to fandom in a way that is so unique and provides an additive entry point to sports fandom.<\/p>\n

Do the creators have to provide specific assets as part of the scheme?<\/p>\n

Those details we keep close to the vest, but they will be providing their firsthand perspective of coverage on these events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the future we\u2019ll see more scaled creator collaborations. Part of you know what we\u2019re working on with the WNBA and the NBA is making IP available for creators to include in their content.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Could TikTok take on a greater role as a gatekeeper between rights holders and creators?<\/p>\n

We ultimately want to continue to amplify these sports creator voices, and so by making official rights holder IP like highlights available for co-creation with these creators, it\u2019s another area in which we can help grow their presence, strengthen their content and really add a unique layer of context to what they\u2019re already producing on the platform.<\/p>\n

Is TikTok now competing to host live sports?<\/p>\n

TikTok is looking to be complementary to the live viewing experience. Our audience is primed to to take an action, and so our focus is how we can take this very attuned audience on the platform and redirect them to live viewing destinations. It really is designed to be complementary rather than competitive to the live viewing experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What does this deal mean for advertisers?<\/p>\n

Advertisers will have the ability to activate alongside MBA and WNBA content through Pulse Premier. Pulse Premier essentially places ads after videos from our publisher partners. In practice, you\u2019d be scrolling through the for you page, you\u2019d see an NBA video, and immediately after, you\u2019d see an advertiser video.<\/p>\n

Pulse drives an average of 7% lift in awareness. We\u2019re hoping that we can encourage advertisers to really see this as an opportunity to align their brands with the NBA and WNBA. We have Pulse available for the MLB and NFL.<\/p>\n

Should we expect to see similar deals struck with other sports leagues?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re really excited about this NBA partnership; GamePlan is the first suite of sports products that we\u2019ve introduced. We\u2019re looking to iterate with the partnerships we have and and learn and grow from there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Competition to hold and own live sports coverage has been seeping out of the traditional broadcast and streaming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82,253004],"class_list":["post-820243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-the-creator-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}