Brands can use Athlete Influencers for second-screen sports marketing by planning social content around the live-event moments fans are already watching, discussing, sharing, and reacting to on their phones. The goal is not to treat athlete posts as a separate Influencer Marketing add-on. It is to connect NIL Deals, athlete-led content, approvals, usage rights, and measurement into the same game-day plan.

Second-screen behavior has become a normal part of sports fandom. Deloitte’s 2023 sports fan research found that while watching sports at home, 77% of fans participated in at least one sports-related concurrent activity such as looking up stats, using social media, playing fantasy sports, betting, or watching another game on a separate device. Deloitte also found that more than 90% of Gen Z sports fans use social media to consume sports content, including clips, highlights, athlete interviews, and posts from athletes.

For brands, that changes the role of Athlete Influencers. A campaign is no longer limited to a pre-game post, a one-off product mention, or a static creator brief. The better opportunity is to build content moments around the rhythm of the sports experience: pre-game anticipation, live reactions, halftime conversation, post-game takeaways, player storylines, rivalry moments, fan rituals, and campus/community context.

What is second-screen sports marketing?

Second-screen sports marketing is the practice of reaching fans on a phone, tablet, laptop, or social platform while they are also watching or following a live sports event. The first screen may be the broadcast, stream, scoreboard, or in-venue experience. The second screen is where the fan checks highlights, texts friends, opens TikTok or Instagram, follows athlete commentary, looks up stats, or reacts in real time.

That second screen matters because sports attention is no longer linear. A fan may be watching a game on TV while scrolling social clips, checking a group chat, watching an athlete’s story, and comparing reactions from other fans. GWI’s 2025 sports viewership trends describe this as a broader shift toward online sports viewing, social highlights, and younger fans using multiple screens while they watch.

For a consumer brand, this means your campaign should not only ask, “What content should the athlete post?” It should also ask, “What is the fan doing when this content appears?” A post that performs well on a random Tuesday may play a different role during a rivalry game, tournament weekend, championship moment, or major broadcast window.

That is where Athlete Influencers are different from generic creators. Athletes often have context that fits the live sports moment: they understand the sport, they know the rituals, they can speak naturally to fans, and they often have a community that is already paying attention to game-day conversation.

Why do Athlete Influencers fit second-screen sports moments?

Athlete Influencers fit second-screen sports moments because they can connect brand messaging to the emotional and social context of the game. Fans do not experience live sports as a passive media buy. They experience it as anticipation, debate, identity, community, and reaction.

A traditional Influencer Marketing brief might ask a creator to post a product feature, discount code, or lifestyle asset. That can work, but it may not take full advantage of sports context. A stronger athlete-led brief ties the brand to the moment in a way that feels natural:

• A hydration brand can connect content to pre-game routines, recovery, or watch-party prep.
• An apparel brand can connect content to team colors, campus pride, rivalry week, or post-game fits.
• A food or beverage brand can connect content to tailgates, watch parties, halftime rituals, or late-night highlights.
• A financial brand can connect content to NIL education, student-athlete professionalism, or planning around opportunity.
• A fitness or wellness brand can connect content to training habits, recovery, or athlete credibility.

The point is not to force every post into a “live reaction” format. The point is to make sure the athlete’s content is timed, framed, and approved around the fan behavior you want to reach.

Deloitte’s research also points to the importance of social connection among younger fans. Around half of Gen Z fans said they have used social media while watching live events from home, and Deloitte reported that around 80% of Gen Z fans follow a professional athlete online. For brands investing in NIL Deals, the college athlete version of that dynamic can be especially relevant: athletes are often trusted voices inside campus communities, local markets, niche sports audiences, and team-adjacent fan groups.

How should brands plan real-time NIL Deals without creating chaos?

Real-time NIL Deals work best when the “real-time” part is creative timing, not operational improvisation. If a brand waits until game day to decide the brief, approval path, rights language, post timing, and measurement plan, the campaign will usually move slowly or create unnecessary risk.

A better approach is to plan the campaign in layers.

1. Define the sports moment before defining the post

Start with the fan moment you want to join. Is the campaign built around a rivalry game, tournament weekend, product launch, campus event, bowl season, women’s sports milestone, athlete return, local market activation, or watch-party behavior?

Once you know the moment, you can decide what role athlete content should play. Some posts should build anticipation. Some should capture reaction. Some should explain a product use case. Some should drive traffic. Some should simply make the brand part of the fan conversation in an authentic way.

2. Pre-approve creative lanes, not every possible caption

Brands often slow down because every caption, comment, and asset requires a fresh review. For live sports moments, that can make the campaign miss the moment entirely.

Instead, define approved creative lanes in advance. For example:

• Approved phrases athletes can use.
• Product claims that are allowed and not allowed.
• Required disclosure language.
• Visual dos and don’ts.
• Timing windows for pre-game, in-game, and post-game posts.
• Whether the athlete may mention teams, opponents, venues, scores, or broadcast moments.
• What requires brand review before posting.

This keeps the campaign flexible without becoming loose. It also helps Athlete Influencers create content that sounds like them while staying inside the brand’s risk boundaries.

3. Separate organic posting rights from paid usage rights

A common mistake is treating an athlete’s organic post and a brand’s right to reuse that post as the same thing. They are not the same operationally, and they may not be the same legally or commercially.

Before the campaign launches, define what the brand can do with the content after it is posted. Can the brand repost it? Use it in paid social? Include it in email? Put it on a landing page? Use it after the event window? Cut it into highlights? The answers should be clear before the content is live.

This is especially important for NIL Deals because the athlete relationship, disclosure requirements, school context, and usage rights all need to be handled carefully. Human review should confirm any compliance, legal, or rights-management language before publication.

4. Build measurement around the moment

Second-screen campaigns should not be judged only by whether a post “got engagement.” You should connect the metric to the role of the post.

If the athlete is building awareness, look at reach, impressions, saves, shares, comments, and audience quality. If the post is meant to drive action, track link clicks, code usage, landing-page behavior, or offer redemptions where available. If the content supports a broader media plan, measure whether athlete content gave the campaign more authentic creative, more usable assets, or better timing around the event.

The measurement plan should be realistic. Avoid promising guaranteed ROI, conversion lift, or sales impact unless the campaign is built and sourced to support those claims.

What should brands compare before choosing a second-screen athlete influencer workflow?

Brands should compare workflows based on speed, approvals, athlete fit, content rights, campaign visibility, and reporting. Second-screen campaigns create more moving parts than a standard evergreen influencer campaign, so the workflow matters as much as the content idea.

The key question is not whether a workflow can publish a post. The question is whether it can support the full campaign reality: finding the right athletes, briefing them clearly, reviewing content quickly, documenting rights, staying organized during the event window, and learning from the results afterward.

What does a strong second-screen campaign actually look like?

A strong second-screen campaign feels prepared, timely, and athlete-native. It does not feel like a brand suddenly discovered a game was happening and rushed athletes into generic posts.

Imagine a beverage brand preparing for a college basketball rivalry weekend. A weak version of the campaign might ask several athletes to post a product photo with a caption on game day. That may technically be an athlete influencer campaign, but it does not fully use the sports moment.

A stronger version would map content across the fan journey:

• Three days before the game: athletes post about watch-party prep, campus energy, or rivalry-week routines.
• Game day morning: athletes share short-form content around what fans need for the day.
• During the game window: pre-approved story formats let athletes react to the atmosphere, fan rituals, or halftime conversation without making risky claims.
• After the game: athletes share a recap, favorite moment, or community-focused post that keeps the conversation going.
• After the campaign: the brand reviews which athletes, formats, and timing windows produced the strongest signals.

This kind of structure gives athletes room to be authentic while giving the brand enough control to manage approvals, claims, rights, and reporting.

How can MOGL help brands make second-screen campaigns easier to manage?

MOGL’s point of view is that athlete influencer campaigns work best when the relationship, content, and workflow are connected. For second-screen sports marketing, that means you need more than a list of athletes. You need a way to coordinate the campaign from deal setup through content review and measurement.

That matters because live sports moments compress time. If your team is chasing screenshots, approval messages, contract terms, usage-rights notes, and performance data across different tools, the campaign becomes harder to manage with every additional athlete.

MOGL helps brands think about Athlete Influencers as part of a structured NIL workflow: athlete discovery, campaign fit, deliverables, approvals, content tracking, and reporting. The goal is not to remove the athlete’s voice. The goal is to create enough structure that the athlete’s voice can show up at the right time, in the right format, with the right guardrails.

For brands, that structure is what makes second-screen campaigns repeatable. You can test a moment, learn what worked, and build the next activation with better athlete selection, clearer content lanes, stronger rights planning, and more useful reporting.

What proof should influence the decision?

The best proof for second-screen athlete influencer campaigns is evidence that athletes can create authentic content, reach relevant audiences, and drive meaningful engagement without the campaign becoming operationally messy.

One useful MOGL example is the EDGE athlete content engine case study. In that campaign, EDGE activated 22 new brand ambassadors and generated 80,118 organic impressions, 3,226 total engagements, and a 4.0% average engagement rate. The public case study also notes that the campaign performed 142% better than the industry average.

That proof point does not mean every second-screen campaign will produce the same results. It does show why athlete-led content can be powerful when the brand, athletes, content, and workflow are aligned. For a live sports activation, the same lesson applies: performance depends on fit, timing, creative direction, approvals, and execution quality.

In Summary

• Second-screen sports marketing reaches fans while they are watching, discussing, and reacting to live sports across mobile and social platforms.
• Athlete Influencers are valuable because they can connect brand messages to real sports context, fan rituals, campus communities, and game-day conversation.
• Real-time NIL Deals require advance planning: creative lanes, disclosures, usage rights, approval owners, timing windows, and measurement should be clear before game day.
• Brands should compare workflows based on speed, athlete fit, approvals, rights management, visibility, and reporting — not just whether a tool can publish a post.
• MOGL’s athlete-first workflow helps make second-screen athlete influencer campaigns more organized, repeatable, and easier to evaluate.