Kai Cenat x PLN’s CarJitsu Championship
The 7th Annual Awards
- Most Creative Partnership with an Athlete or Influencer
ABOUT THIS ENTRY
Pro League Network, the digital sports media studio producing made-for-digital consumption and wagering sports, developed a campaign that showcased its ability to custom build creator-driven sports that serve fan-first content to the creator's audience.
PLN partnered with Kai Cenat to create four unique custom combat sport competitions at Cenat’s house, broadcast live during his Mafiathon 2 subathon.
The partnership culminated with CarJitsu Championship – PLN’s breakout sport. In between professional fights, Cenat hopped into the car to test himself at CarJitsu, creating a viral moment that generated millions of views across social media.
In addition to CarJitsu, PLN worked with Cenat and his team to create custom sports Slap Poker, Coffin Wars and Plank Wars, that were made specifically for Cenat’s Mafiathon 2. The result was more than 500 million impressions and a combined 140 million minutes viewed spanning more than 30,000 pieces of user-generated content.
How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?
Part of the campaign strategy for PLN was positioning the brand in front of Cenat’s highly-engaged online audience, benefiting from a network effort of exposure and positioning. On top of Cenat’s audience, creators who cover the stream amplified PLN’s campaign with UGC and commentary layered on top of the broadcasts.
Some examples include:
https://x.com/scubaryan_/status/1858727805887914244
Pro League Network has worked with creators to layer their own content spin on top of PLN’s broadcasts. The customization of content is important to connecting with the creator’s audience and building a fandom for PLN sports. The Kai Cenat Mafiathon 2 campaign is part of the network-wide initiative to partner with creators and audiences, providing engaging content for the creators and showcase opportunities for PLN sports.
Objective
Since launch in 2022, Pro League Network has specialized in unique, viral, made-for-digital consumption and wagering sports like CarJitsu Championship, SlapFIGHT Championship and more. The sports’ viral popularity opened opportunities to work with digital content creators as part of the programming. Knowing its sports were especially popular among young, connected audiences that love creators, PLN saw an even bigger opportunity to create sports activations that engage the creator by tailoring them to their unique personality, content formats and skills, while also introducing PLN sports to new audiences.
To accomplish the company's objective, PLN worked with one of the world's biggest creators - Kai Cenat - to create custom sports competitions that were built for viral moments.
Strategy & Execution
In developing activations that would fit Cenat’s style, PLN and Cenat devised a plan for to create a customized version of CarJitsu Championship and Slap Poker, as well as bespoke sports Coffin Wars and Plank Wars, specifically for Cenat’s Mafiathon 2.
PLN invented the Coffin Wars rules, recruited athletes and built a 8-ft 200 pound coffin which was reinforced and engineered to withstand the back and forth of professional grappling. PLN worked with its athletes to refine the rules of competition and then then transported an empty large coffin 1,700 miles to Kai’s studio in Los Angeles.
The end result was a 40 minute segment featuring Kai Cenat and guests that has generated over 180,000 peak concurrents on Kai’s stream and has since generated over 440,000 views just on Ray’s YouTube Channel.
During the stream, PLN created bespoke promotional assets to announce and amplify its live presence, including live-tweeted updates and interactive Instagram Stories that captured the excitement of Kai Cenat playing and engaging with PLN sports.
PLN's dynamic promotional content with Kai Cenat & the Mafiathon2 stream elevated audience engagement and solidified Pro League Network’s presence as a creative and innovative force in sports entertainment.
Organizations
- Pro League Network
- Night Media
- Kai Cenat
Links
Featured
- Kai Cenat
Credits
Mike Salvaris
Co-Founder
Pro League Network
Bill Yucatonis
Co-Founder
Pro League Network
JT Tilley
Creative Director
Pro League Network
Elan Saratovsky
Social Media Director
Pro League Network
Mike Cardiel
Production / Driver
Pro League Network
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.
