Nets TikTok Account is the Most-Liked in U.S. Pro Sports, Driver of 'Meaningful' Revenue

Nets TikTok Account is the Most-Liked in U.S. Pro Sports, Driver of ‘Meaningful’ Revenue

The Brooklyn Nets have the most-liked TikTok account in American pro sports after recently having surpassed the Kansas City Chiefs (156.8mm lifetime likes).

That reality likely comes as a surprise to most industry insiders. The team isn’t among the most popular in New York City, never mind the NBA or big four sports; and there isn’t a single household name on the roster.

But that’s exactly why social media plays such an integral role in the Nets’ efforts to cultivate fandom and drive business growth.

“We don't have any all-stars on our team. We're not on national TV all the time. We have to control what we can control,” Charlie Widdoes (VP, content, BSE) said. 

And TikTok, in particular, provides the organization with an ‘unparalleled gateway’ to reach next-gen fans, for Brooklyn-ites to discover the franchise, and to monetize engaged viewers.

“The power of a strong following on TikTok goes far beyond just engagement—it opens doors for business opportunities,” Andrew Karson, (EVP, marketing, BSE) said. “Social media has become the largest aggregation of a fanbase, which enables [rights owners] to influence brand partnerships, talent collaborations, and merchandise sales. TikTok now serves as meaningful destination to directly drive revenue including ticket sales, while giving us valuable insights into the preferences and behaviors of our fans.”

Sports properties use social media to achieve three primary objectives: reach new fans, strengthen bonds with existing fans, and drive incremental revenues.

It serves as “the top of the funnel” for the Nets, Sandro Gasparro (senior director, content, BSE) said. 

TikTok offers the club a platform to generate awareness about the team and its players, and to communicate internal narratives; both are valuable to a franchise flying under the mainstream media’s radar. 

But the Nets decision to invest heavily in ByteDance’s short-form video platform was largely based on its local recommendation algorithm. The team recognized back in April ’22 it needed to grow fandom in the borough and understood that TikTok would surface team content to potential fans in the area. 

Remember, the franchise has only been playing games in BK since 2012.

~12% of the Nets’ followers on the platform are Brooklyn-based. By contrast, just 2.5% of the team’s IG following resides in all of New York City.

The Nets also wanted to begin cultivating fandom amongst next-gen fans, and TikTok had the youngest demographics of any social platform the club was considering at the time.

The teenage audience consuming content on TikTok may not “have any spending power today, but we’re trying to create a connection [with them] because in long run they will,” Widdoes said.

Of course, many of their parents are potential fans or customers too, and they have discretionary income to spend. 

“We see the building is relatively full despite the fact that [we’re] not a playoff team,” Widdoes said. “We can draw the connection.”

Logic would suggest as the team improves even more people will come out.

The other reason the Nets were so bullish on TikTok was that the club recognized the production style resonating on the platform would translate to other channels. Similar content now works across Instagram and YouTube Shorts.

“We knew it engages [fans] and is much more efficient to produce,” Widdoes said. “It doesn’t require big cameras, media managers, editors [etc.].”

The club began to dedicate increasing attention to TikTok during the ’22-’23 season. By April ’23 it had hired a full-time employee to focus on the platform.

“That really set us on this path [to number one],” Gasparro said.

In 2024, the Nets averaged more views and engagements than any other NBA team on TikTok. Video views were 68% higher and engagements were 38% higher than the second ranked team in the category.

Other rights owners have since followed suit.

The Nets believe their outsized success is attributable to the approach–and the volume of content it posts on the platform.

The team’s strategy on TikTok varies widely from what it does on other social channels. It has no other choice.

“We can’t post a traditional game highlights [there] because [the viewer] might not have the context of what is going on,” Widdoes said.

TikTok’s recommendation engine will often surface content to unexpecting users (i.e. not necessarily a fan or follower of the team).

So, the Nets focus on creating short-form programming around the player’s personalities (think: participating in a challenge of sorts) and on doing unexpected collaborations (see: Severance-themed content with Zach Cherry or a ‘Space Draft’ with Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Cam Johnson).

“It’s a way to get to know [the players] better or see [these athletes] in a different light,” Widdoes said. “We’ve seen that resonate a bunch, particularly from an engagement perspective.”

That shouldn’t come as a surprise. We know young fans often gravitate towards players over teams.

But what makes the Nets approach work better than other clubs is how efficient its creative staff is with the access it has to the team.

“We’ll get 50 or 60 videos out from just our media days,” Widdoes said.

Well, that and the relationships those creatives have built with the basketball operations staff and players. That trust allows for more access points and increasingly better content to be produced each season.

The Nets are also cognizant of being ‘good citizens’ of the platform.

“That specifically means leaning into the language, culture, and overall vibe of TikTok,” Widdoes said (think: filters). The goal is for “the [franchise] to appear to be an everyday user of the platform that [simply] happens to have access to NBA players.”

That does not mean it is chasing trends (see: Saratoga water). The club will only engage with a social movement if it is consistent with brand messaging and geared towards the target demo.

While the Nets are creating TikTok content for local and next-gen fans, the bulk of the likes it generates on the platform come from fans overseas. 

It’s hard to monetize those individuals today beyond the sponsored posts Karson referenced.

“But down the line, there are global fan club monetization opportunities,” Widdoes said. “The other [revenue opportunity] is [tied to] sports tourism. There are so many [international fans] who come to New York.”

That is true. It’s just hard to imagine enough of them will make the trek to Brooklyn to move the needle for the club–at least, without the franchise capturing some of the revenue leakage (think: hotel rooms and airfare). 

“Some of that is on the longer-term road map for the organization,” Widdoes said.

TikTok is still in app stores as of print. But there is a chance the platform will be outlawed in the U.S. within days.

While the Nets are monitoring the situation, it’s not something the team spends much time worrying about. Platforms come and go, algorithms evolve, and trends change all the time. 

“Something will come along and replace it, or we’ll spend more [resources on] Instagram [or YouTube Shorts should it come to that],” Gasparro said. “We've decided this approach to production and distribution has legs and can continue no matter what.”

Adaptation is the name of the game when you don’t control the platform/experience. The Nets are doing it better than anyone else in big four sports on TikTok.

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