Pro League Network, which produces made-for-digital consumption and wagering sports, aimed to develop a campaign that showcased its ability to custom build creator-driven sports that serve fan-first content through participation in PLN-designed sports.
To showcase its unique ability to build these sports, PLN partnered with record-setting creator Kai Cenat to create four unique custom combat sport competitions featuring some of the world’s best fighters at Cenat’s house and broadcast live to his millions of fans during his immensely popular Mafiathon 2 subathon.
The partnership culminated with CarJitsu Championship – PLN’s breakout, massively popular sport – a card with the world’s best female fighters. In between fights, Cenat hopped into the car to test himself at CarJitsu, earning a draw against wrestler Cayden Kickz, creating a viral moment that generated millions of views across YouTube, Instagram, Twitch and more.
Pro League Network’s campaign with Kai Cenat demonstrated benchmark-setting creativity for how PLN leveraged a unique digital platform to create a highly-watched demonstration of the company’s brand of next-generation, digital-first sports. PLN worked with Cenat and his team to create a customized version of CarJitsu Championship and Slap Poker, as well as bespoke sports Coffin Wars and Plank Wars, that were made specifically for Cenat’s Mafiathon 2. The result was an audience that rivaled an NBA Finals game with more than 500 million impressions across social media and a combined 140 million minutes viewed spanning more than 30,000 pieces of user-generated content discussing PLN’s sports.
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.
In developing activations that would fit Cenat’s style, PLN and Cenat devised a plan for the network to bring four sports to the Mafiathon 2 subathon stream. PLN created a customized version of CarJitsu Championship and Slap Poker, as well as bespoke sports Coffin Wars and Plank Wars, that were made specifically for Cenat’s Mafiathon 2.
For the campaign, PLN invented the Coffin Wars rules, recruited athletes and designed a customized 8-ft 200 pound coffin which was reinforced and engineered to withstand the back and forth of professional grappling. Preceding the event, PLN worked with its athletes in its studio in Branson, Mo. to refine the rules of competition, as well as opportunities for creator participation. PLN then transported an empty large coffin some 1,700 miles between Branson and Kai’s studio in Los Angeles.
The end result was a 40 minute piece of content 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:
Ray & Kai Cenat Play Coffin Wars!
A challenge PLN faced was transporting its sports to Cenat’s home in Los Angeles where they would debut three sports live to an audience of millions without the opportunity for a production run-through.
Along with the coffin, PLN transported its customized 2004 Toyota Scion for CarJItsu and the entirety of its studio production capabilities across the country. Given the Mafiathon’s 24/7 live nature, PLN had limited ability to rehearse production before going live on the subathon stream, creating a significant challenge, all unfolding live in front of a global audience of millions.
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 properties like Plank Wars, CarJitsu, Coffin Wars and Slap Poker.
PLN leveraged behind-the-scenes content to deepen audience connection, showcasing the journey of Coffin Wars—from transporting a custom coffin from Branson, Missouri, to Los Angeles—to the intense preparations for our segments. This blend of immersive, real-time storytelling and dynamic promotional content elevated audience engagement and solidified Pro League Network’s presence as a creative and innovative force in sports entertainment.
The campaign with Kai Cenat was part of Pro League Network’s strategy to develop customized, made-for-digital sports that create opportunities for creators to participate, as a means for engaging their audience and building fandom in PLN sports.
The Mafiathon 2 introduced Pro League Network sports to a mass audience within the network’s target demographic. PLN positioned its sports as endorsed by Cenat to his audience of captive fans. Beyond a traditional brand campaign or commercial spot, Cenat took part in each sport, providing unique hands-on experiential endorsement of the network’s portfolio of sports.
The Pro League Network x Kai Cenat Mafiathon 2 campaign resulted in viewership on par with an NBA Finals game, including more than 500 million impressions across social media and a combined 140 million minutes viewed spanning more than 30,000 pieces of user-generated content discussing PLN’s sports.
The campaign results helped the network increase its impressions by 930% and engagements by 445% year-over-year across social media
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.
