MLB gives TikTok creators access to content library in expanded partnership

MLB is giving TikTok creators access to its content library.

The league and TikTok announced an expanded multi-year partnership this week that includes lounges at MLB Player Houses where creators work directly with players, plus access to both current highlights and archival footage for select creators to use on the platform.

The deal extends MLB’s presence on TikTok beyond just the U.S. market. International baseball content will now get the same treatment as domestic coverage, with MLB working directly with TikTok on distribution strategies for markets where the sport is growing. That includes places like Japan, South Korea, and Latin America, where baseball already has deep roots, as well as newer markets where the sport is trying to gain traction. According to TikTok, posts using #MLB grew nearly 60% with over 10.7 million followers across MLB’s global accounts. During the 2025 World Series, MLB’s international accounts saw views surge 426% in Japan and 710% in Korea year-over-year.

The deal brings TikTok GamePlan — the platform’s product suite for sports partners — to MLB’s international accounts, including @mlbespanol, @mlbeurope, @mlbjapan, @mlb_korea, and @mlbmexico. TikTok says 85% of fans use the platform as a second-screen experience during live events, which is why the partnership includes an MLB Hub on TikTok powered by GamePlan that provides game updates, highlights, behind-the-scenes content, and creator perspectives.

The creator component is what makes this different from MLB’s previous arrangement with TikTok, because it’s MLB opening up its content vaults to people who aren’t the league itself. Select creators will get access to both current and archival MLB content, allowing them to tell baseball stories in ways that might actually resonate with TikTok’s audience, rather than just repackaging league-produced highlights.

MLB has been fairly protective of its content over the years. The league saw healthy viewership gains in 2025, with ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball —  which has since moved to NBC —  posting its best season since 2013 and MLB.tv reaching a record 19.39 billion minutes watched. But younger audiences remain a challenge for baseball, which is why partnerships like this one with TikTok matter for the league’s long-term strategy.

Mark Cuban talked about this back in 2022, saying, “TikTok-like presentation of sports is the future of sports media.” Cuban’s argument was that leagues need to meet fans where they are, and younger fans aren’t sitting through full games the way previous generations did. They want highlights, specific plays, their favorite players, all delivered algorithmically based on what they care about.

The challenge for sports leagues with platforms like TikTok has always been how much control to give up. Broadcasters pay billions for exclusive rights to games and highlights. Leagues like MLB and the NFL have been notoriously stingy with clip sharing on social media. But that thinking is starting to change as younger audiences shift away from traditional television. MLB’s 2025 viewership gains came even as the sport navigates a media landscape in which regional sports networks are dying, and streaming continues to fragment how fans watch games.

Throughout the season, MLB will share highlights after every game, long-form videos recapping each series, and weekly roundups on TikTok. The question now is, does empowering creators and flooding TikTok with baseball content translate into more fans watching full games on NBC, ESPN, or Netflix? Or does it simply create a parallel baseball experience that lives entirely inside vertical video?

We’ll find out soon enough, but at the very least, this feels like the league is acknowledging that building audiences on social platforms is part of keeping baseball relevant for generations that grew up with algorithmic feeds instead of sitting down for three-hour games.