Your views on their content are taking Influencers places

Mint

15 hours ago

Followers' views on influencers' social media posts are becoming their tickets to global events such as Wimbledon, Coachella and the F1 premiere. Companies such as JioStar, Warner Bros and Heineken are roping in creators to attend and promote these events.
Take Sakshi Keswani, a comedy content creator with over 2 million followers on her Instagram handle @_beingsuku_. JioStar has flown Keswani to London for the second time to create content around the ongoing Wimbledon matches at the central court. Previously, the streaming platform sponsored her to attend the English Football League in May 2024.
Keswani highlighted that the content she created at both these events performed well on social media and recorded a surge in her followers. 'I gained 30-60% new followers with the content I created at these events. That is because my content usually revolves around light-hearted humour, but at these sporting events, especially at the time they were happening and being talked about, my videos got pushed to new users, especially those interested in the sports or curious about them. I also created a video with footballer Bukayo Saka last time that went viral," she highlighted.
Manav Chabra, a lifestyle creator who is also at Wimbledon through his collaboration with JioStar, said that the best part about shooting content at such events is the rawness and unpredictability. 'The biggest difference in the content created at these events is that it is around the experience rather than just filming a planned piece. As it is immersive, and we are figuring things out in real time, we must be on our toes and think quickly about how to capture it in our own style," Chabra said. The other events he has travelled to in the past through brand sponsorships include Coachella, the Champions League, the F1 Race, and Tomorrowland.
A single Wimbledon Debenture ticket can cost up to ₹1.2 lakh. But it is not just about the cost; the access they get is a bigger advantage.
In most cases, the event and access are considered the main compensation for the collaboration, as it is a fully sponsored trip, said Priyanshu Goel, associate manager for growth and talent partnerships at influencer marketing agency Clout. 'However, there are times when mega influencers with millions of followers charge the brand a fee over and above the sponsorship. These collaborations are mostly offered to bigger creators with a pan Indian followership, and the views and followers are thus an important metric considered for the partnership," he said.
Goel added that since the brand's goal is to create awareness about the event, it also looks for creators who create content or have a large audience interested in that event.
This trend has become prevalent after covid and picked up pace in the past 2-3 years, he said.
Exclusive access
Shubham Gaur, who created content around comedy and cricket, attended the International Cricket Council T20 World Cup in partnership with Meta. 'At such events, we don't just get the best spot at the stadium but also the pitch and the players. Being among the only five influencers who attended the match, I got the chance to spend a lot of time with both Indian and international cricketers at breakfast and practice matches. There were dedicated time slots for us to shoot content with the players, besides that," Gaur said.
Similarly, Anshu Bisht, popularly known as Gamerfleet, attended the premiere of F1 in partnership with Warner Bros in New York. 'I started creating videos as a side hustle in 2017 while working small jobs such as a tuition teacher and working at a biscuit depot in Haldwani. My last job, which I quit to pursue full-time content creation in 2020, was at a stock brokerage firm. From there to attending an event with celebrities like Lewis Hamilton and Brad Pitt was a dream come true. For young gamers that watch my content, this becomes an aspirational story that brings them closer to both my content and the movie I promoted," Bisht said.
'This trend of inviting the creators to events is most common among broadcasters, OTT platforms, beauty and lifestyle brands and tourism boards," said Ayush Guha, business head of talent management agency Creator18. 'They perceive the return on investment in terms of earned media value, which is the monetary worth of media coverage a brand receives, because their ultimate aim is to increase awareness about an event, more than selling anything per se."
Clout's Goel added that international creator trips tend to perform 30-70% better than standard influencer campaigns, thanks to multi-format storytelling, higher engagement on travel-led content and the aspirational value they build around the brand.
Hype for event
For the companies sponsoring creators to such events, their content creates hype about the event within their audiences. 'By collaborating with content creators, we're able to connect with fans in more real and personal ways. These creators, all addressing their unique audiences, bring the storied competition to life in real time, capturing the atmosphere, the emotion, and the moments that often go unseen," a spokesperson from JioStar said, replying to queries shared by Mint.
'This helps us deepen fan engagement while also reaching new viewers with lesser-known facets of the event, amplifying our reach in a way that feels organic and relatable. Fans get fresh, behind-the-scenes access, while we build a stronger, more vibrant community around the sport at the same time," the JioStar spokesperson added.
Platforms such as Meta and YouTube sometimes act as a bridge between the organizers of such events and the creators on their platforms. Their aim is to ensure mutual benefit where creators get more engagement in the form of likes, views and comments by creating exclusive content at such events and the organizers get marketing benefits with better return on investment than regular content.
'As a platform used by hundreds of creators, our goal is to empower them with the creative freedom to achieve their full potential. To support this objective, we strive to provide creators with access to unique opportunities that align with their ambitions. In some cases, we collaborate with ecosystem partners to facilitate access to events in a mutually beneficial way for all parties involved," a Meta spokesperson said in reply to queries shared by Mint. Apart from the ICC Champions Trophy in UAE in 2025 that Gaur attended, Meta has also facilitated creator presence at other events like the Olympics in France in 2024, ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023 in South Africa and the Cannes film festival.