Brooklyn Nets TikTok
The 7th Annual Awards
- Best TikTok Presence
ABOUT THIS ENTRY
The Brooklyn Nets have become the fastest growing, most-watched, and most-engaged NBA team on TikTok thanks to a strategy that leans into the culture of the platform and creates connections with players. Through this approach, the team has become one of standard bearers among sports entities on the platform, with following and engagement that continues to grow well beyond the typical basketball fan.
How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?
In early 2023, we made an intentional decision to strategically prioritize leaning into internet culture and player personalities on TikTok – to much success. And in 2024, we doubled down on it. Our content mix — blending platform trends, player personality, and unexpected collaborations — has made us a trendsetter in the sports content space, with teams across the globe often following our lead. And the results are there: We more than doubled viewership year-over-year, became most-liked account in all of American pro sports (150.5M), and are the fastest growing, most-watched, and most-engaged team in the NBA since the start of the 2023-24 season.
Objective
Our primary goals on social media are simple: Grow audience, convert followers to fans, and strengthen affinity for the Nets. We have also identified core target audiences for the brand, which include youth and global fans. Due to the unique nature of who consumes content on the platform and how content is distributed & engaged with on the platform, we’ve identified TikTok as the biggest opportunity to grow our fanbase via content. Leveraging TikTok’s unique features and algorithm, we developed a strategy, specific to the platform, designed to reach existing and potential fans through content that blends player personalities with social media trends. Our hypothesis was to serve as strong platform citizens and consistently show up in authentic ways to TikTok, which is now paying strong dividends via the results and engagement we have driven.
Strategy & Execution
Videos on TikTok are primarily distributed through the “For You” page, meaning it often reaches people who don't follow the team or have familiarity with our players. Because of this, we devised a two-pronged approach:
1. Humanize players through content that shows their personalities off the court. Through this, we aim to create connection points beyond basketball to deepen affinity for the team.
Examples:
• First sports collaboration with Letterboxd, having players share their Four Favorite Films
• First NBA team to have players participate in the timer challenge trend
• Former Nets guard and captain of the German national team Dennis Schröder translates common basketball terms into his native language
2. Play to the platform by leaning into trending formats and creators. We aim to appear as any other user of the app and blend in as a “good citizen” of TikTok.
Examples:
• First team to participate the “Bro Test” trend, leading to 27M video views across four videos, including 20.5M on the top video
• Recap wins in a TikTok narration style, referencing trending audios, slang, and creators. These recaps are our top performing content series across all channels this season, averaging 100K+ engagements per post.
Organizations
- Brooklyn Nets
Links
Credits
Charlie Widdoes
Vice President, Content
BSE Global
Alessandro Gasparro
Senior Director, Social Media
BSE Global
Emmanuel Gomez
Senior Manager, Vertical Content
BSE Global
Perry Mattern
Director, Basketball Social Media
BSE Global
Kara Grace Mirando
Coordinator, Social Media
BSE Global
Zack Peggins
Manager, Social Media
BSE Global
Siqi Wang
Manager, Chinese Digital Media and Marketing
BSE Global
Celebrate in NYC
Join us for the 7th Annual Hashtag Sports Awards™ on the evening of June 24, 2025 as we celebrate finalists and reveal the winners of this year's awards live during the show.
