Content creator Hrishi Gupta, left, at the play-by-play booth in CBC's 2026 Olympic broadcasting production setup at its headquarters in Toronto last week.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
Hrishi Gupta has never been much of a fan of winter sports, but last week he could barely contain himself as he watched a replay of Sidney Crosby’s iconic golden goal from the 2010 Vancouver Games. Wearing a headset in a play-by-play booth at the downtown Toronto headquarters of CBC, he jumped up and down in his chair, threw his hands in the air and cheered.
It was evidently a little too much for some of CBC’s own Olympic play-by-play announcers, who were on hand to offer tips. “One of the guys said, ‘Usually reporters don’t cheer,’” Gupta explained. But Gupta isn’t one to tame his enthusiasm; nor is he exactly a reporter.
As a Toronto-area food and travel blogger, though, he is someone with a large enough online following (27,000 plus on Instagram, 14,000 plus on TikTok) to score an invitation from CBC to its first ever Creator Day, an open house for digital influencers, where the broadcaster showed off its production hub for the Milan Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Games.
About 100 creators lounged in a faux athletes village, helping themselves to a selection of charcuterie and Italian sodas while chatting with CBC talent (Anastasia Bucsis, Craig McMorris, Devin Heroux, Cheryl Pounder, Perdita Felicien, Elladj Baldé and others), then roamed the 10th-floor space filming behind-the-scenes clips for their followers.
@explorewithhrishi 🎥 Behind the scenes at CBC Olympics Content Creator Day ❄️🔥 CBC’s coverage of the Olympic Winter Games officially kicks off Friday, February 6, with the Opening Ceremony at 1:30 PM ET. You can catch every moment from February 6–22, with competitions beginning February 5, live on CBC and CBC Gem. 🇨🇦 As Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic Network, CBC will deliver 2,000+ hours of live Olympic coverage, including every Canadian medal moment, across TV and digital platforms. CBC Gem is the exclusive streaming home in Canada for live events and on-demand replays. ♿ Don’t miss CBC’s coverage of the Paralympic Winter Games, running March 6–16, 2026, bringing the same level of excitement, storytelling, and national pride. 📺 From the studios to the slopes — Canada won’t miss a moment. #CBCOlympics #MilanoCortina2026 #TeamCanada #BehindTheScenes #ContentCreatorDay @CBC News @cbcolympics ♬ original sound - Hrishi Das Gupta
Like other legacy outlets, CBC is fighting to stay relevant in a world of exploding digital offerings, where younger viewers may not have developed a habit of regularly tuning into the public broadcaster. (Or even know what the term “tuning in” means.) The Olympics, a shiny biennial bauble that appeals to even casual sports fans, offers an opportunity to cultivate new audiences by leaning on those who already know how to reach them.
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Lindsay Breen, a Toronto-area creator who calls herself The People’s Influencer (24,000 followers on Instagram, 155,000 followers on TikTok, with a focus on fashion sales and motherhood) said she didn’t really know what she might post on the event. “To be honest, I was just excited for the opportunity to come in,” she said, standing in the main control room and surveying a wall of TV screens. “I know Lululemon is a sponsor for the Olympic line so maybe posting some fun stuff with that.”
She was there with her friend and fellow influencer Maddi Soubry, a stylist with more than 7,500 followers on Instagram and 7,200 on TikTok. The next day, they posted a six-second video of the two of them on the main set that CBC will use for its Olympics studio programs, play-acting as hosts with CBC mics in hand, the music sting from Wii Sports Resort laid on top. Onscreen text read: “Secret’s out!! We’ve been selected for the Team Canada shopping Olympics.”
Giuseppe Oppedisano, a Toronto Maple Leafs diehard with the handle @ThatLeafsFan, had come in for the day from his home in Montreal. Though he’s got more than 400,000 followers on TikTok, almost 23,000 on Instagram and a gang of regulars who watch him watch Leafs games on Twitch, he made the trip because, he says, “I don’t talk to a ton of people. Like, I work more on my own, so it was more of just a challenge – just to show up, and I’m happy I did.” He was hoping CBC might see something in his work that they like, that maybe it would open doors to a partnership.
The next day, Oppedisano put out a video he’d shot of himself on the set, welcoming viewers to the CBC studio and musing on what the upcoming Olympic men’s hockey tournament might hold in store for Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid. He also posted a photo of himself on the set, writing it was a “privilege to experience a childhood dream.”
@thatleafsfan @CBColympics Loved it from a very young age #hockey #cbc #nhl #olympics2026 ♬ Originalton - The Physics Nerd
Standing in the main studio waiting to take his turn on stage in the spotlight, Neal Jolly, who creates men’s lifestyle content for his 98,000 Instagram followers, was wearing a Canada Cup Wayne Gretzky jersey he bought on Amazon last year during the 4 Nations Face-Off. A 35 year-old father of two, his largest audience demographic is 24-35 year-old men, he said, followed by 35-44.
He grew up watching CBC – Hockey Night in Canada and The National with Peter Mansbridge were mainstays in his parents’ household – but he cancelled his cable TV a while ago and now only subscribes to TSN and Sportsnet.
“I’m not exposed to anything CBC, because I don’t have the channel,” he said. “Whereas before, when I had a cable package, it was always there, and you’re more inclined to just keep flipping through and you end up on the station. But consuming CBC content is now more through social. I follow them on Instagram and just consume it there.”
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Before he was invited to the Creator Day event, he said he’d been looking forward to the Olympics but had idly wondered how he was going to watch.
“One of my first things was, ‘Oh, I don’t have CBC, I don’t have the channel, so how am I gonna catch it? And is it available on YouTube?’” he said.
He’d since learned that CBC was putting all of the events on its free GEM streaming service. But he hadn’t downloaded the app yet or signed up for the service, and he didn’t know whether he’d mention GEM in whatever content he ended up creating.
“Folks are here to enjoy and whatever they organically share, they’ll share,” he explained. “When you have people who have hundreds of thousands of followers in this room right now, and each of us are now covering different topics and different demos, it’s great. Great exposure for CBC.”
Content creators tour the CBC's broadcast sets at its headquarters.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail