Last Sunday, over 55,000 runners hit the streets of New York City. But the biggest names weren't just wearing bibs; they were holding cameras.
Casey Neistat, Brooke Monk and influencers like Christine Doan, Karen Sarahi Gonzalez, and Olivia Maher all ran the course.
So did Bachelor stars like Joey Graziadei and Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie.
The event drew 2M spectators, generated an estimated $700M for the city, and dominated social feeds.
Running Is Having A Renaissance
After years of declining race participation, the sport is booming again.
“Running is very hot right now,” said NYRR CEO Rob Simmelkjaer on CNBC. “There are a lot of runners and the brands are really excited.”
The NYC Marathon saw a record 200,000 lottery applications, up 22% from last year.
And a big reason for that is due to creators.
Last year, Casey Neistat's marathon video got 4.2M views. This year, Brooke Monk'smarathon TikTok earned 33.7M views.
But Not Everyone’s Cheering
Last year, fitness influencer Matt Choi was banned for life from the marathon after having two cameramen follow him on e-bikes during the race.
The incident sparked outrage among traditional runners, who said creators were turning the race into a personal content shoot.
Choi apologized, but the ban stood.
Our Take
Last year, we called the NYC Marathon "the Coachella for creator athletes.” This year, it earned that title once again.
Sure, there’s friction between creators and purists.
But every vlog, sponsor bib, and selfie at mile 20 is helping bring new fans to a sport that was running out of gas.
Now the question is, will the sport build with creators? Or try to outrun them
- There's the NBA who partners with YouTubers courtside and lets them use game footage in videos
- And then there's F1 which requires creators to remove the brand name from their social media handles.
The future of running depends on which lane the marathon chooses.