If you have a keen sports eye you would have caught the best marks, goals and everything in between on TikTok overnight. And that’s no accident, with the AFL telling B&T it has overhauled its approach to social media.
Bec Haagsma, AFL’s chief commercial and technology officer, explained last year that AFL had significant engagement across social media platforms, and this year it will be doubling down to try and own the space.
She told B&T the key to driving further fandom on the likes of TikTok, Instagram and Facebook is by splitting the social media and marketing teams across different platforms.
@afl He didn’t even look 🤯 #afl #footy #samlalor #goal ♬ original sound – afl
“We have now hired dedicated TikTok producers,” she said.
“We had a social media strategy where we would use the same team across all the platforms. We’re now making sure we really differentiate and really pinpoint the thing that attracts a fan on TikTok, which is different to Instagram, which is different to our broadcast, which is different to the experience at the game. We are really focused on differentiating and dedicating resources to each of those platforms to drive the best result for the audience that’s there.”
The 2026 AFL season has just kicked off and this refreshed social media strategy is already paying dividends. The AFL has already seen its follower count grow, as well as its impressions. For example, in just the first round—numerous videos on TikTok eclipsed 100,000 views. One in particular caught the eyes of one million TikTok viewers.
With a growing reach, this is opening up valuable commercial opportunities for AFL’s 77 partners.
For example, the AFL recently worked with ex-AFL player Daniel Gorringe and his DDF (Dan Does Footy) team on an State of Origin vlog with AAMI joining as the major sponsor.
As part of this, the AFL was very deliberate in how the integration showed up across platforms. For TikTok cutdowns, the AAMI integration was designed to feel native and in-app, aligning with audience expectations on the platform.
For the full YouTube episode, there was more flexibility to lean into a stronger, more overt integration within the long-form content. By using Gorringe as the influencer talent, the AFL was able to offer AAMI a unique opportunity to tap into his fanbase to gain extra reach.
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The AFL is continuing to scale its vertical content on digital platforms, targeting younger, mobile-first fans with pre-match, live game and post game storytelling, including contextual partner integrations and high impact advertising.
The AFL has also updated how partners appear in social in-match highlights clipped via WSC Sports.
Historically these have been video-only posts, however AFL are now adapting to audience behaviour and introducing carousel formats on Instagram, incorporating a static tile alongside the video.
This allows the league to better capitalise on how audiences engage with content on the platform, while also creating an additional layer of partner integration.
Beyond format changes, Haagsma doubled down on the broader social media strategy of talking to Gen Z and millennials where they are most engaged.
But she was quick to state that the traditonal “rusted on fans” are not being ignored, they are blessed with 12 weekly panel shows to sit alongside live coverage of every AFL and AFLW games.
Haagsma used her daughter to explain the media habits of the different generations.
“If you think about the different demographics of all of our fans, my 21 year old consumes a hell of a lot of AFL content. Her consumptions are either live at a game or on Tiktok. She’s not going to necessarily watch a panel show. So, it’s just about acknowledging that our fan funnel, whilst we really appreciate and cater to the rusted on fan, there’s a whole new audience out there,” she said.
Who knows, there might even be an audience outside of Victoria.
