Christy O'Connor on promoting GAA to the social media generation

During Naomi Osaka’s first-round match at the US Open in Flushing Meadows in New York last week, the chair umpire stopped play after a group of influencers in a hospitality suite used a bright ring light to record a TikTok video, which caused Osaka to pause her serve.

At Osaka’s next match, the umpire had to call for quiet three times due to distractions. 

However, the constant chatter throughout points had become an increasingly noticeable distraction for the top players in the early rounds of the tennis tournament.

In her post-match press conference, Osaka asked for supporters to respect the sport, especially the etiquette. 

The reality is that some of those supporters, or in other words, influencers and content creators, were more interested in posing for photos with chicken nuggets topped with caviar (priced at $100) than in watching tennis.

The USTA accredited more than 100 content creators at this year’s tournament. Despite increasing signage in the stadium and having messaged ticket and suite holders to remind fans to refrain from any activity that could disrupt the game, the noise levels, flash photography and distractions were more intense than ever.

The grand-slam event has always been famously noisy anyway, especially in comparison to the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon. The brashness of the US Open in New York has historically been its major selling point, but this year’s tournament has strayed even beyond those extreme boundaries by how much it has been cloaked in commercial influence.

The content creators are only doing – albeit in a far smaller manner – what tournament organisers have been doing for years by promoting brands and commercial partnerships. The only real difference is that the influencers are less preoccupied by the disruption that stems from the construction of their content creation.

The USTA’s response to the criticism, especially from the players, is that they are always striving to grow tennis and bring new audiences into the sport - and the US Open is their greatest opportunity to do so.

The players can only say so much in opposition when their pay-check comes from the USTA. 

This year’s tournament is the largest player compensation package in professional history, reaching $108 million. Representing an overall 20 per cent increase from the previous record set in 2025, the payout for the main draw singles champions is a staggering $5.5 million, with reward for a first-round singles appearance coming in at $140,000.

Tennis is a global multi-billion dollar industry. 

The GAA is an amateur game but, like any organisation trying to promote its games and its brand in an increasingly tech-modern culture and society, the association also fully appreciate the impact influencers can have.

There was some kickback when a host of influencers were invited to last year’s All-Stars banquet, particularly when the GAA have strict rules around posting content to promote the game.

Donegal journalist Chris McNulty subsequently posted on X: ‘Influencers and TikTokkers getting invited to the All-Stars on the same day Ulster GAA issued a memo to say that any photographic or video content at Ulster club games needs ‘prior permission from the GAA’. 

GAA going to be the next to go down the road of shunning actual media.’ Similar to the USTA, the GAA are trying to reach a new audience, especially a young audience that can be expanded by influencers and content creators with large followings on social media platforms.

With influencers holding such potential to promote customer-based relationships across many different product categories, Leona McGlinchey did her Masters thesis two years ago on how the role of influencer marketing drives participation amongst Generation Z in GAA in Ireland.

Target audience

A study by EMarketer in 2024 showed how over half of Generation Z users (people born between 1996-2010) globally use social media to look up information on brands.  And McGlinchey’s research showed how much of a role influencer marketing has in the participation of Generation Z in the GAA.

That link is even stronger again when inter-county players have such real and meaningful connections with an audience that so many of those players are effectively influencers; studies have shown that inter-county players have an average engagement rate three times higher than the industry standard.

Some of the top players drive sponsored cars but a significant cohort now earn decent money from sponsored social media posts. 

That potential is even greater again when GAA players are respected and valued so highly both inside and outside their own county.

Players are becoming more aware of their earning potential but there would be far more engagement and social media interaction if there wasn’t such paranoia around elite players promoting their brand at the fear of it effecting their performance on the field.

However, players are developing a greater awareness of their earning potential, especially when companies are now targeting them more often than ever before. 

It’s even more attractive for GAA elite players when those companies are able to discreetly built their brand and audience reach through a smartly devised strategy that gets enough exposure for the employer, but doesn’t risk over-exposure for the player.

With the global influencer marketing industry valued at approximately between $32 and $40 billion in 2026, up from around $24 billion in 2024, and up from just $1.7 billion in 2016, projections indicate the broader creator economy could approach hundreds of billions, with long-term forecasts soaring past $116 billion for platform ecosystems by the early 2030s.

And considering how much young people engage now with social media platforms, the GAA have definitely boarded that train.