Memes beat medals
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Written by Simon Kearney | Graphics by Yusak Prahadi
In the week following the end of the Paris Olympics, can you guess who Australians couldn’t get enough of among their Olympians and their record-breaking gold medal haul? Was it two-time gold winner canoeist Jess Fox? Or swimming sensation Ariarne Titmus?
Of the 460 Aussie athletes who competed in 33 sports, it was, arguably the poorest performing, the b-girl Raygun. She might have scored zero in the breaking event but 36-year-old Sydney academic Rachael Gunn won the meme championship.
In the week after the Olympics The Australian newspaper reported she appeared 12,632 times across Australian print, TV, radio and online media outlets. Three times the coverage Jess Fox got, and six times what Ariarne Titmus received.
The paper reported she got similar coverage in the international media, even The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon did a skit on her routine. Her image breaking as a kangaroo is everywhere.
Me goin to bed tryin not to wake the Mrs after a few bruskis pic.twitter.com/VWm8nPLlK0
— Leighton Sauni (@LeightonSauni) August 10, 2024
And she wasn’t even the highlight. In Know Your Meme’s round up of popular items from the Paris games Raygun failed to make the cut. Little-known athletes like the Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikeç – who had suddenly become an instant global celebrity – were featured instead by the go-to site for meme explanations.
Meme medals were awarded for killer stares, hand-in-pocket stances, tattoos or the ability to eat some of the delicious chocolate muffins in the athletes village. This is the stuff we gorge on these days. Not 100 metre sprint times. Although I’m sure there were plenty of people watching the actual sporting event.
Broadcasters know it, that’s why they were shipping in creators by the plane load. NBC flew in flight attendant Sonya Kwon, aka Jeenie Weenie for a few short videos to share with her 10 million followers. NBC’s six creators had 66 million followers between them. And NBC wasn’t alone, YouTube and Eurosport flew in creators and influencers.
The Olympics are chasing young viewers with sports like breaking and skateboarding and the official broadcasters have to chase the same viewers. Nothing said it more a couple of weeks later, and in a totally different field, than the Democratic National Convention. For the first time ever this election, creators were given credentials alongside the media, in some cases getting better access.
The Democratic National Convention is where the Democratic Party in the United States formally nominates its candidate for president in this year’s election. It’s a big deal and usually a huge show for the traditional media.
This year 200 creators were given a platform close to the action from which to film and a lounge in which to work. Some newspaper reporters complained about the cheap seats they were given in comparison.
But like the Olympic movement, US politicians understand the influence of the creator economy, which has sliced a huge audience share away from traditional media.
And it’s not just in the social video area that this is happening. Newsletter platform Substack revealed recently it has had huge growth in journalists going it alone and a significant few are earning seven figures from paid subscriptions in the process.
Memes, short videos, viral content and even email newsletters often transcend traditional coverage, and then are multiplied by traditional media covering the hype. It creates a new kind of global conversation.
Creator content provides commentary, criticism, and celebration in ways that resonate with younger, digitally savvy audiences.
Recent events are illustrating the shift from traditional media dominance to a more democratised form of storytelling.
Content creators, through their ability to tap into the zeitgeist with creativity and speed, are showing that in the world of media coverage, memes can indeed beat medals.
Read more from Click2View:
- Content pruning: When and how to remove decayed content
- Which channel are you ignoring at your peril?
- The beauty and power of small creative victories
- Sending out an S.O.S.
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