How T-Mobile Drove +195% CTR by Investing in the Heart of High School Sports
T‑Mobile partnered with Hudl to scale their Friday Night 5G Lights campaign, reaching rural communities and achieving a +195% higher CTR.
High school football's Friday nights are a uniquely cultural moment where communities, families, and local heroes connect. For T-Mobile, this important tradition represented a significant opportunity to activate its technology through the Friday Night 5G Lights (#FN5GL) campaign. The campaign celebrates local high school football, supporting schools with initiatives like the $5K Fridays sweepstakes and a $1 million field upgrade grand prize.
T-Mobile needed a way to scale their grassroots support. By the campaign's third year, growth had plateaued through conventional advertising channels, particularly in rural areas. Traditional media simply couldn't recreate the raw, emotional energy of live high school sports. The brand chose Hudl to transform every highlight into a meaningful experience, ensuring their message resonated authentically with families and fans.
Turning Live Sports into a National Movement
T-Mobile leveraged Hudl’s fan experience platform—our unified system of live video and highlight generation—to amplify their reach and engagement. The brand became a seamless part of the fan’s journey. T-Mobile integrated directly into live game broadcasts with custom overlays and on-screen branding, connecting with fans at their mobile and web devices during peak emotional intensity.
They sponsored the 'Friday Night 5G Lights Top Plays' highlight series, giving national recognition to local athletes and families. High-impact media takeovers guaranteed T-Mobile’s message dominated the view during critical game moments, ensuring 100% Share-of-Voice.
Adam Gouttierre, VP of Media at Hudl, discussed the impact on high school sports:
“Brands like T-Mobile are strengthening their FN5GLights campaign at a national level, connecting their brands to high-traffic moments and heightened fan engagement for Friday Night football games.”
The results were transformative: The Homepage Marquee ad unit saw an exceptional +195% CTR compared to the standard Hudl benchmark, and livestream video placements achieved a phenomenal 12x CTR performance against the benchmark.
Real Impact in Communities
T-Mobile's deliberate focus on celebrating high school sports generated clear, positive results and deepened local connections. Kaley Gagnon, Vice President of Marketing at T-Mobile, emphasized the campaign’s focus on celebrating small-town America:
“What it was born out of was this notion that ‘Hey, how do we continue to celebrate what makes small-town America great by really recognizing this local tradition of high school football?’”
This support translated directly into measurable success. In 2025, Friday Night 5G Lights doubled its reach across small-town markets, and school participation increased by 32%. The ultimate success story came from Dierks High School. Their community rallied for the win, leading Head Football Coach and Athletic Director Paul Ernest to reflect on the impact:
The T-Mobile Friday Night 5G Lights competition brought the community of Dierks and the state of Arkansas together in a way our town will never forget. The upgrades to our field and to our weightroom thanks to Gronk Fitness will impact our athletic programs for years to come.
T-Mobile successfully tapped into an audience that is profoundly committed: 95% of high school sports fans feel a personal connection to their local teams, and 80% of U.S. households regularly engage in high school sports. By using targeted media to reinforce this local relevance, T-Mobile saw excellent conversion metrics, including a 16.6% brand consideration rate for ages 35-44 and 15.8% for household incomes < $25K.
The Power of Live Sports for Brands
T-Mobile’s narrative confirms that live sports offer the most powerful method for brands to connect with audiences who are deeply invested. Our audience isn’t passively watching; they are leaning in, spending an average session time of 11.1 minutes on Hudl—over 3x the Instagram average.
Hudl for Brands ensures brands are embedded in the moment of consumption. T-Mobile reinforced its authority and credibility by positioning its brand within this culture, demonstrating Hudl’s unique ability to connect local passion with national scale.
Scaling Success: Leveraging FNL Insights to Maximize Engagement
The success of the Friday Night 5G Lights campaign offers a blueprint for year-round engagement beyond football with a 99% brand safety rate.
T-Mobile proves that investing in high school sports creates a consistent, deep connection that endures longer than the excitement of national events. Brands that strategically engage through Hudl can follow this lead, finding key opportunities like the 80% market penetration in the high school basketball season, the excitement of National Signing Day, or the 85% growth in fans seen in winter sports.
By connecting their brand to these influential, locally relevant moments, they can achieve significant engagement, hit core performance metrics, and build a lasting presence across every season.
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