Good morning. What was your favorite ad from last night's Super Bowl? Keep reading to see how creators played a role in the biggest marketing event of the year. 👀

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

Kai Cenat Becomes First Streamer to Partner With Nike

Gaming streamer Kai Cenat is partnering with Nike to become the first streamer officially endorsed by the sportswear brand.

“We are officially a part of the Nike family…this has been a long time waiting,” Cenat announced in his Twitch stream last Thursday.

Why it matters: Cenat, who has 9 million followers on Twitch, regularly plays a role in driving youth culture. Celebrities such as Drake and Ice Spice have made viral appearances in his videos, and Rolling Stone described Cenat as “largely responsible” for popularizing the word “rizz.”

Nike, on the other hand, has faced a shoe sales slump in recent years, which industry insiders attribute to a lack of innovation and increased competition.

Enter: Cenat. Just two days after announcing the new partnership, he hosted a meetup with Nike in Las Vegas—and streamed the entire thing live on his Twitch channel to nearly 2 million viewers.

Cenat will also participate in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game later this month, and he’s expected to wear Nikes throughout the weekend event.

Zoom out: While Cenat isn’t without controversy, he brings a young, engaged audience and a new marketing channel (his Twitch streams) for Nike at a time when the company needs some hype.

“I’m just here to represent, like, the streamers and the streamer side of things…this is very huge for the community that I’m in,” Cenat told Complex.

Creator Strategy: How Justin Flom Keeps You Watching

In the last month, magician Justin Flom has received over 200 million views between TikTok and YouTube Shorts, posting old school magic tricks and crafts including trapped doors and surreal DIY projects. So how does he do it?

“I don’t consider myself an entertainer or a video creator, but more of a data analyst,” Flom told us. “I only post videos that the data tells me will work, and sometimes I won’t post a video unless I’ve focus grouped it.”

A look at Flom’s playbook:

• He creates a high barrier to exit. “People are itching to swipe,” Flom said. So he introduces a mystery or question and an eye-catching visual at the start of a video to make the viewer curious to see what happens. Flom said his highest watch time is around 150%, which means people are watching videos twice.

• He makes faceless content, removing the need for long-winded personal stories. “I take my ego out of it,” Flom said.

• He studies swipe habits. “Pay attention to the moment you decide to leave a video. And the inverse, ‘What made you stay?’” Flom said.

Under the hood: Flom recently shared that he made around $122,000 from 5.5 billion views on YouTube in the last year, most of which came from Shorts. The biggest payouts, he told us, come from Facebook, where Flom posts three-minute videos. 

“I’ve been fortunate enough to live at the top of any swipe feed algorithm. Facebook, TikTok, or YouTube Shorts,” Flom said. “Anywhere the feed shares a video with a high watch time, that’s where I succeed.”

How Creators Impacted the 2024 Super Bowl

Continuing the trend from last year, creators played an increased role in Super Bowl marketing campaigns last night.

Khaby Lame became Pepsi’s “on the ground correspondent.” Pepsi, which last year gave up the reported $50 million halftime show after a decade of sponsorship, has a new strategy: Fly out top creators (including Lame and Zach King) to film social content and host Pepsi events in and around the Super Bowl all weekend.

“Creators are here to stay and will only continue to grow in importance within the marketing mix of the future,” Pepsi’s CMO wrote on LinkedIn.

Creators were featured in multiple ad spots, including Addison Rae for Nerds, Deestroying and Sean Evans for NFL Sunday Ticket, and gaming streamer Stump for Mountain Dew. 

And creators drew attention before the big game, too. Booth By Bryant hosted his signature photo booth at the NFL Honors Awards, T-Mobile tapped Wishbone Kitchen to make a TikTok ad with Jason Momoa, and a handful of creators drummed up anticipation for Michael Cera’s CeraVe ad. 

👀 Creator Moves

• Brave Wilderness is hiring a video editor to coordinate the daily activities of its editing team.

• Kara and Nate are hiring a video creator to become the face of their travel company, FareDrop.

• STORYHIVE is offering $10,000 grants to video podcast creators based in Canada.

Looking for more opportunities in the creator world? Check out our free Job Board here.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Emma Chamberlain discusses “practical productivity” with Tim Ferriss.

• Yes Theory skydives over the pyramids in Egypt.

• Join top creators and brands for a new conference dedicated to sharing major insights on the expanding creator economy.*

• Virtual Dining Concepts is launching a TikTok food brand called Creator’s Kitchen.

• All podcasters can now upload an RSS feed to YouTube.

• Longtime comedy creator Georgia explains why she is leaving YouTube for Instagram and TikTok.

• Instagram promises to not “proactively recommend” political content in users' feeds.

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