Making gymnastics mainstream through vlogs

Nile Wilson, Olympic gymnast and vlogger, believes that building his brand can make gymnastics mainstream in the next ten years.

On YouTube, he has over a million followers, and he’s also won three individual gold medals across two Commonwealth Games.

Wilson said: “What I learned quite quickly was that people don’t understand gymnastics. That’s why it’s not mainstream.

“Not everybody likes gymnastics, but everybody likes to be entertained and be made to laugh. So I realised that’s what I need to do.”

Wilson understands what some of the major clubs have been seeing recently: fans are drawn to athletes, teams, and sports with personalities, and that has affected how the teams interact with their fans. The executions of that can be seen in clubs like Manchester City, in their activation with Tinder, where they made videos that showed the footballers in a more personal setting.

Through his vlogs, Wilson can build a brand for himself while teaching people about the sport and driving more to become fans. He believes that authenticity will be the key to his success, focusing on the content and the story.

“For me it’s more about authenticity and organic growth. It’s always been about the audience and I want to stick to that. A big part of my success is that I’ve always been me – a normal 22-year-old lad from Leeds.”

Creating content that allows athletes to showcase their personalities and interact with their fans in meaningful ways seems to be an important step in becoming more mainstream in the industry, so gymnastics will be on everyone’s radar within the next few years, if Nile Wilson has anything to do with it.

About author

Parker Sikes
Parker Sikes 34 posts

Parker Sikes is an American student studying advertising in London. Follow her on Twitter at @sikespar.

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