Sports Media – Digital and Social Media Sports

How OffBall Is Reframing the Way We Follow Sports and Developing the Bigger Picture from the Daily Snapshots

It’s generally accepted that we’re a bit overstimulated these days. Sure, there’s an insatiable demand for content, but there are endless feeds (literally), trends that come and go in a flash, and headlines that move a mile a minute.

In life, one of my favorite reminders is to step back and take in the view, to stop and smell the roses. Because that’s where the greatest insights lie, when the revelations come — that all those granules of content and headlines we consume every day add up to form bigger pictures.

We’re entering the age of guides (or maybe re-entering). Think about it — we went from following specific individuals and news/cultural commentators to surrendering our attention to all-knowing algorithms to, now, perhaps something in-between. Users will spend hours scrolling through TikTok without putting much weight into the handle behind the content. But those same users will subscribe on Substack or Patreon and form community and zealous parasocial relationships with podcast hosts, YouTubers, and Twitch streamers.

It is into this environment that OffBall emerged, seeing an opportunity to become a trusted brand, a guide, if you will, to connect the tributaries of the rapid flow of stories in which we swim every day. Not a day goes by that there’s not a sports and/or sports-adjacent story trending on Twitter, there’s always chatter chum for the watercooler. Sports has succeeded in pervading seemingly every nook and cranny of culture. Chris Stone and OffBall, the sports media brand he co-founded, want to help fans make sense of it all, to see the forests forming in all the trees.

“It’s a matter of identifying things that 5 million people haven’t already seen and then trying to assign some cultural meaning to what it is,” said Stone in describing OffBall’s mission. “It’s not that this happened. It’s this happened, and this is why this might be interesting to you or why you should know about this. It’s trying to peek around those cultural corners and assign some framing to all of our stories, and that’s something that we spend a lot of time working on and workshopping every day.

“It’s not just saying, Okay, we identified some interesting stories, but what is the broader story here? What is the throughline here? What is the framing here?”

This perspective is well-understood by Stone. For years, he was Editor-in-Chief of Sports Illustrated, whose weekly publication eventually required a more thoughtful approach to sports coverage as the length of the news cycle shrank amidst the rise of social. By the time the magazine hit newsstands, oftentimes several days would have passed after the big title game or the bombshell blockbuster trade or transaction. But dangit if we didn’t still look forward to reading, knowing there’d be that kind of bigger picture thinking, a different angle or deeper meaning explored. Stone explained that similarity between SI and OffBall, further illuminating the role OffBall seeks to serve.

“[It’s] similar to what I did at Sports Illustrated, because even Sports Illustrated was a weekly magazine. While the majority of magazines are monthly, weekly, once upon a time, was a high velocity cadence,” said Stone, “and sometime in the 1990s, especially as ESPN started to hit its peak, a weekly magazine was not such a high velocity product…

“So what SI had to solve for and putting out a weekly magazine was being able to package a series of stories that everybody in some form knew about, but giving it some sort of cultural weight, or assigning it some sort of framing that somebody else hadn’t thought of, taking you to a place that you hadn’t already gone.”

Producing savvy content is just the start. It takes more to stand out these days and earn and retain audience. As Stone described, content and stories come in many forms — long-form stories, short-form videos, podcast clips, Twitter threads, memes, carousels, Q&As and chats, and the list goes on. In some ways, packaging is less relevant than ever. A good story can succeed in countless forms, allowing users to consume however they’d like. But when it comes to attracting an audience that wants to consume your content, presentation is just as important as substance.

“It is an act of curation,” said Stone, who launched OffBall in 2024 alongside his two co-founders. “You’re packaging something. Think of it almost as like a museum exhibit. You’re presenting something that, together individually, is a lot different than what it is when it’s part of a larger whole. You know, it’s a collection of things, and how things mix and match with each other is really important. And I think when we think about the daily news cycle in sports and culture, we spend a lot of time using the word mix; like, what is the best mix of stories, of tone, of voice, of subject, of platform?”

OffBall puts so much thought into the packaging and approach to content and analysis because they’re not just out to entice the algorithms, they want audience. Not a viral clip or post, though they won’t shy away from massive metrics, but users who consume consistently. Fans who know and appreciate OffBall’s content, packaging, and POV. Fostering those intentional relationships is essential to building a lasting brand in 2025.

“Of course, we all want 100 million [subscribers], right? And we don’t want just 100. But the point is pretty clear — you want the right people coming for the right reasons,” said Stone, “and the right people are people who want to engage with who you are and what you’re delivering them, who are very aware of the fact that I am developing a relationship with OffBall, and that is really important.”

Stone continued: “I think in kind of the AI algorithmic kind of infused model, there is like this sprint to the algorithm that doesn’t really matter. It’s about just your place in line, and I’m saying something that’s very basic, and it’s been kind of picked over and parsed plenty of times before, but that’s not especially rewarding. I mean, we all want great scale. We want all great audiences, but we want audiences that actually care about us.”

OffBall is serving a unique audience. They’re not fans of any one specific sport, but they’re interested in how sports mirror culture and vice versa. This author once wrote about how baseball history reflected American history (the roaring ’20s, racial equality, labor relations, etc.). There’s a lot to learn from following the pathways and permutations of the billion-dollar behemoths, but there are often emerging insights peeking out of smaller (by comparison), more emerging and upstart sports and leagues.

There’s a strategy where OffBall could’ve gone after the less-covered sports, seeking to meet underserved fans. Or they could have gone all-in on sports with already-enormous fan bases, where winning over even a fraction could mean massive numbers. For Stone and OffBall, the strategy is yes; yes to all of it, wherever the dots connect and wherever the stories take them, sports big and small.

“OffBall is already distancing itself a little bit from the everyday who won, who lost, who’s great, who’s not, but at the same time it’s not an untapped space, but we would argue it’s an under-tapped space that gives us like a little bit of a white space to like traffic in sports…,” said Stone, noting smaller sports don’t have as many cultural commentators digging deep as the biggest leagues. “The thing about the underserved sports is you often find things in it that are really interesting things that say a lot about broader sports culture. So that’s why there’s a lot more opportunity to go deep there, because so few people have gone deep on it.”

Stone and his co-founders launched OffBall because they envisioned a gap in the market, coupled with a behavior of curation that many fans were already attempting (and largely struggling) to do themselves. It doesn’t mean their approach is the right one, it’s just different, and the bet is that what they’re doing is appealing enough to enough fans. (They’re off to a good start there) What OffBall is doing is different, and that’s the point.

It sometimes feels like every paradigm has been exhausted, and the next disruption isn’t around the corner, perhaps as it once was. But the increased omnipresence of sports in seemingly every part of society, and the interest that sports-driven stories merit, means the opportunity invites innovation. The audience, the angles, and the attention are there; may the best approach, personality, and packaging rise above the fray. As the sports media lifer Stone reflected on the state of sports storytelling, his excitement for new ideas and approaches was palpable, as he described one that caught his eye recently, sports journalism veteran Joon Lee’s YouTube channel and content.

“There’s probably a more eloquent way I could describe all that, but that’s interesting storytelling to me, and that’s the type of storytelling to aspire to,” said Stone. “And it feels very original…

“There are still people out there who have this belief that you can tell stories in new, interesting ways, that kind of value quality and thought, and they can still be interesting, and you can still have a real sense of discovery coming out of them, as opposed to this culture that is, again, what I referred to earlier, where you end up at a site you don’t even know you’re there and you’re there for 14 seconds, and you may never come to that site again. You just wanted the headline, you wanted the click.”

Stone and OffBall want more than a click. They want a relationship, to earn the trust and affection of an audience that opts in to them, knowing they’ll get content, quality, and insight they won’t get elsewhere. In a vast sea of stories and posts, OffBall, they believe, represents an under-tapped offering. Such that, even while we believe that by staring at screens and scrolling feeds for hours a day means we’re better-informed than ever, it’s that unending, rapid-swipe, attention-deficit consumption leaves a big gap in enlightenment. ‘

It may sound highfalutin and overly aspirational to use such a term, but if OffBall nails it just right, they’ll accomplish such lofty goals, giving fans a unique combination of information, entertainment, insight, and illumination. It’s like Ferris Bueller famously said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” OffBall is looking around for us, ensuring we don’t miss it. And in doing so, they may be providing us the right outlet at just the right time.

WATCH/LISTEN TO MY FULL INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS STONE

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Athlete Social Media, Content Strategy, Digital, General Sports Business, Sports Media, Streaming and Video

Beyond the Playbook: Bold, Trend-Driven Considerations for Sports Business in 2025

There are a myriad of reasons that make social media in sports unique.

The schedule and routine nature of sports can create predictability — but well-laid plans can also go up in smoke in an instant due to sports’ inherent unpredictability. Customers are fanatical about your brand (‘fans’) but that emotion can also turn negative by factors outside your control. Sports are perhaps one of the last (potentially) monocultures left — sports teams and leagues, and the fans, can relate to nearly every rabbit hole and trend.

All this to say that while leaders in sport may be able to count on a certain routine part of their jobs, there’s a whole lot more nobody can see coming. The exciting uncertainty gets compounded for social and digital media, where just when you think the pace of change is slowing, new opportunities, features, and platforms arise; all the while the half-life of trends and fads is shorter than ever. And while teams and leagues remain influential brands and retain massive platforms, they’ll find their fans gravitating more and more to creators and individual athletes.

So as the calendar turns from 2024 to 2025, it’s time for our annual column on what to have in mind for the year to come. It’s a part behavioral analysis and part reading the tea leaves of where the platforms are going. We can rest assured that certain principles of fandom and human psychology remain the same, while also embracing the untapped potential of what may lie ahead.

Re-Imagining In-Game Social Strategies

There’s no doubt Twitter isn’t what it once was. The platform still has a sizable, engaged sports audience, to be sure, but its ebbing numbers and diminishing value cannot be denied.

Sports teams and leagues will not abandon Twitter in 2025, but should it remain a top priority during games, with one or more team staff dedicated to filling the feed?

Combined with the dilution of Twitter is the increased homogeneity in in-game coverage. It’s game highlights (sometimes with unique angles), a stream of templated graphics and GIFs, and attempts at clever copy—often culminating in a ‘savage’ post after a win.

Could we see teams start to lean into the formulaic nature of in-game tweeting, let a combination of AI and semi-automated processes feed the feed with clips and graphics, leaving manpower to focus on more original and higher-value content? What is the role of a social media manager if they’re not hovering over the keys for the whole game?

Supported by a consistent feed of clips, could the social media team focus on curating the best fan and journalist content? Will there be a focus to push fans into owned and operated channels for a superior in-game experience (and could fans be more willing to go as more abandon Twitter and find alternatives like Bluesky and Threads to be lacking)? Or should social media managers treat their role more like hosts, checking in from the game like your creator friend on site at the event?

I can’t imagine going anywhere but Twitter when a big game is on, but substantive change will eventually come and 2025 may be the start.

The Evolving Social Media Role: Community Management vs. Content Creation and Strategy

For years, and largely still today, ‘social media manager’ was a catch-all term. It’s actually a bit of a joke that the job title can encompass a plethora of responsibilities like content creation, graphic design, video production, paid social, project management, analytics, and this list could go on. Community management was just kind of a given and still is, at least in the sports world.

But in the year ahead could we see an appreciation for the role of community management, even a separate dedicated role that accounts for the importance and full-time nature of such a responsibility? Community is becoming increasingly important as social platforms fragment, and engagement shifts toward interactions between fans and friends rather than big brands or scaled broadcast feeds of traditional social. Community management is a specialized role — discovering, developing, participating, listening, moderating, and monitoring.

Communities exist everywhere, which require a deep understanding of the language, culture, interests, memes, influencers, and angles. How many different communities thrive on TikTok? How many different places could a team or league be a central or tangential part of conversation and engagement? In 2025, let’s give community the attention and importance it deserves. Which relates to the next topic…

Micro Communities

The emergence of micro communities is not new, it has been happening across industries for years, but really picked up in 2024 and expect to continue growing in the year to come. Reddit has seen substantial engagement growth—highlighted by recent PR efforts focused on sports—and community-based strategies are becoming more prevalent across platforms and industries. With some exceptions, social media is becoming less, well, ‘social,’ with algorithms that favor engagement, regardless of who it’s from, and the interest graph leading the way.

Look at the way the platforms are evolving to serve this need, too. TikTok touts its micro communities, whether BookTok or RushTok or the like, Facebook Groups are keeping big blue relevant for younger users, and Instagram is encouraging its biggest brands to carve their audiences with broadcast channels.

What could micro community strategy look like for sports organizations? Thinking about fan cohorts became common several years ago, largely driven by socioeconomic, demographic, and avidity measures. And every year sees plenty of theme nights and promotions targeted to specific, sometimes very small communities. But what can this look like on digital and social media? How can teams and leagues seek out and serve (or learn from) existing micro communities, or perhaps even cultivate their own? As users (and fans) seek more authentic connections and genuine conversations, micro communities will continue to grow.

Even More Niche Content

This could’ve been addressed in the previous section, but there’s value in considering niche content, as well. Social media pros once lamented (and some still do) that organically reaching one’s followers was a thing of the past. But consider the possibilities that have opened up in the last few years, as more social media users stick on the For You feed over the Following alternative. There is so much good (and bad) content, it’s easier to let an algorithm surface the best content as it gets to know us better than we know ourselves.

So while your followers may not all see your content, the users that are likely to enjoy the content you put out will see it (if it’s good). Brands and teams can unleash their content and let the algorithm show it to the right audience (while avoiding the the wrong one). Instagram may even find that a certain tile in a carousel post is more attractive to a certain audience.

Embrace it and don’t be afraid to try content that’s specifically not meant to appeal to the masses, but will be welcomed (and engaged with) by an intended audience. The goal of every post and piece of content isn’t to reach millions—that’s the wrong way to think about it. Embrace the increasingly savvy algorithms and lean into niches that may make no sense to certain segments of your fans (and even yourself) but will be epic for others.

Platforms to Enhance Small Group Chats and Communities

Where does most of the sports dialogue take place? Actual back-and-forth conversations, with darn near 100% open and read rate? Dark social channels like DMs, group chats, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It’s old news now that Instagram acknowledged there’s a heck of a lot of engagement and sharing happening in the direct messages. WhatsApp continues to grow, particularly in the US, and even Snap remains strong among Gen Z for chatting.

Can teams and leagues create a platform so good that it can take those intimate direct communications away from texts and DMs to an owned platform? It’s tough to compete with your device’s built-in messenger or the ubiquity of WhatsApp, the convenience of IG, the fun and habit of Snap — but what could sports organizations try in order to capture all this valuable engagement and these users?

Leagues may provide a feed of clips from games to insert into a chat with one frictionless click. Perhaps fans can access photos and screenshots along with a simple meme-making tool. Or fans could earn points to redeem for merch simply by sending messages to each other during a game. Teams could even provide trained LLMs via chatbots who could discuss the game (with personalities and dispositions to choose from) and answer questions. Maybe there’s no solution—these platforms are too sticky—but as conversations keep becoming less public and sports dialogue continues on dark channels, the opportunity persists.

The Full Embrace of Creators

Sports leagues and teams have been working in some capacity with creators for years now. An increasing number even have job titles that include, and some are centered around, influencer/creator marketing or relations. But if the state of influencer x sports integration were measured on a scale of 1-10, what would ’10’ look like?

While not tens, the industry saw some 7’s or 8’s in the last few years. NBC Olympics and the IOC gave a select group of creators access to events (though with limitations on the content they could capture). The NFL gives some creators access to gameday clips and archival footage, while the NBA has a similar initiative that expanded this season.

In 2025, more teams, leagues, and media partners could not only welcome creators but also collaborate with them even further. Give them access to content AND have them co-create content (for organic and paid). Let them remix highlights or host their own highlights recap show during the week. Invite them to make shows or skits for their own channels at team practices and games. Invite more creators to put on their own ‘ManningCasts’ — as more games shift away from the cable bundle, providing an abundance of alternate streams becomes more feasible and viable. help them activate their communities or fans at games. (JohnWallStreet wrote about this earlier this year)

There’s a greater (and lucrative) opportunity to figure out what a partnership with sports and creators should look like in its most optimized state. Hopefully, we’ll see some swings in the year to come.

(Here’s a solid SBJ article discussing several leagues’ creator initiatives)

Athlete-led Multi-Channel Networks and Content Franchises

By the time you’re done reading this, another athlete will have started a podcast. Athletes (and their management teams) are increasingly realizing the relative ease and significant benefits going on the mic for an hour a week, give or take, can provide them. It’s a platform to build their brand, of course, and control their narrative. It’s an asset on which to activate partners or promote their own causes and businesses. And it’s a lightweight way to seed an engaging presence on YouTube, in particular, as well as TikTok (and Instagram).

Athletes entering the pro ranks now are even more invested, with some colleges even providing studios and training for their student-athletes. In the year ahead, the teams and leagues will begin to realize the opportunity in front of them — and the urgency.

We’ll see more teams provide studios and equipment for their players to produce podcasts. True collaboration could take place, with teams building something akin to a multi-channel network, activating diverse athletes with their unique interests. One athlete might focus on mental health, another on spirituality and religion, a third on interviewing comedians and actors, and yet another on re-watching famous games. The possibilities are endless and can align with players’ interests. Packaged together (or not), these could form a significant platform to attract new partners or extend existing ones. Some athletes are so big they’d rather do their own thing or work with a platform like Wave or Blue Wire. But plenty would jump at the chance to get this kind of access and audience (and revenue sharing) a team could provide.

With more teams closely tied, if not owning, their RSNs or DTC solution for games, such content can fill those coffers with new programming, in addition to the feeds of YouTube and TikTok. Which leads to…

The Team (or RSN) App as the AVOD or SVOD for Fans

While regional sports networks have survived longer than many expected, some teams are taking things over or working closely with a partner, and many teams are prioritizing first-party relationships with fans, often through apps. The productions that teams create rival anything fans will see on Netflix, Max, or Peacock. The training camp all-access content and game recap mini-movies are incredible. More colleges are building robust content-based DTC apps, with livestreams of coaches shows and extensive catalogs of content.

Many teams have impressive serialized series (and podcasts) on YouTube (and even TikTok) playlists, some are sitting on decades worth of content newly digitized (or some still sitting on old VHS tapes and DVDs). All of them boast impressive production teams. In the year to come, teams and leagues will envision their fans flipping to their app the same way they would Netflix to watch on-demand content. Not just for an hour a week, but consistently—even during the offseason.

The bigger opportunity may even be in licensing proven content and creators. Look at how ESPN licensed distribution rights to the Pat McAfee show as an example. Now, sports teams and leagues won’t lay out tens of millions of dollars like ESPN did for McAfee, but what’s to stop them from acquiring emerging talents and properties. Or perhaps they could go the route of Colin Cowherd’s The Volume or Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network and create mini media empires that can benefit from their distribution and advertiser relations.

Perhaps there will even be membership tiers, similar to those offered by major players, with options for ads or ad-free viewing/listening. It’s exciting to imagine, which coincides with…

+ Experiences for Fans

Over a decade ago, I learned that sports teams in Australia didn’t have season ticket holders—they had ‘members.’ Being a member was about more than having tickets to games, it was an identity and a connection to the team. Many American teams started calling their season ticket holders ‘members,’ but it was mostly an exercise in nomenclature. When tickets to games became moot during the worst days of the pandemic, there was more experimentation with what paid ‘memberships’ could mean, but nothing really took off beyond a few teams launching more inspired loyalty programs.

The + is now ubiquitous across consumer products and services, as are subscriptions in general. However, beyond ticket subscriptions (like season tickets or mini plans), there hasn’t been much of a membership model in sports. There is NFL+, which offers access to audio streams and archives and college athletics (including NIL collectives and booster clubs) are innovating in the space, but what could + programs look like for sports, in much the same way Amazon Prime feels for its millions of members?

In the coming year, teams and leagues around the world can continue to imagine memberships — premium memberships — for fans local and remote. There is more data being collected than ever, which can enable personalized benefits and partner co-promotions. Experiences are more valued, and more diverse and amenable to unbundling, whether in-person (separate entries) or remote (like early access to limited merch drops). As the previous section noted, too, with teams able to build ever-increasing catalogs of content, a + experience could also mean something akin to Prime Video — content…

Get Bold with Generative AI

It’s been over two years since ChatGPT launched to the public, and generative AI continues to improve (insert a cynical take about the rate of acceleration slowing). The arms race keeps going and tools like NotebookLM reset the goalposts on what can be created from source materials. And you know who’s sitting on decades’ worth of brand content? Yep, sports teams and leagues, who also have fans with insatiable appetites for content about their team, with nostalgia often irresistible.

Even as questions persist about how consumers will tolerate AI-generated content, these factors point to opportunity. Could the archives of thousands of interviews turn into binge-worthy podcasts and documentary-dramatizations or page-turning oral histories? Or how could terabytes of game notes and stats be put into action through diverse generative AI packages, from compelling content to endless games and trivia?

We’re just beginning to scratch the surface of generative AI, in all its multimodal forms. There’s a treasure trove of latent content (and sponsorable assets) just waiting to be mined for fans.

Leaning into Novelty and Micro Culture for Games and Live Events

For decades, ‘gimmicks’ were seen as beneath pro sports, novelty was the domain of minor league sports. Major pro sports are beginning to embrace fun, recognizing the value in ephemeral and sometimes esoteric online trends and cultures as lucrative opportunities.

There have been monoculture themes present in pro sports for years — Star Wars Nights are omnipresent across major and minor (and college) sports. But culture is now more fragmented and trends come and go quickly; few viral moments or movements resonate with the majority of fans in a packed stadium or arena.

In the year ahead, teams will embrace the countless microtrends and communities that form and proliferate across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. They’ll capitalize on trends within niches as much as, if not more than, the well-worn monocultural motifs. How can teams make every game an event and inspire FOMO for some cohort[s] of fans who want to be there for it? Gone are the years of forced formality and pompous self-importance — there will be more fun ahead in the future.

Strategy Around Condensed Games

Younger generations don’t watch full games. Some may say that narrative has become so widespread that it’s become overhyped — but it’s largely true. This trend coincides with the continued rise of condensed games. Go on the NBA YouTube page, for example, and you’ll find a playlist of ‘full game highlights’—10-minute videos that summarize the game and showcase key plays, often garnering hundreds of thousands or even millions of views. So while the dream of getting Gen Z and Gen Alpha to sit in front of a TV and give their mostly undivided attention for 2-3 hours seems naive, getting them to watch condensed games feels more plausible.

In the year to come, leagues and teams can operationalize condensed games, experimenting with formats and activations, and building them into valuable assets rather than YouTube afterthoughts. They could license condensed games to creators, allowing them to relive and recap games (while sharing in the revenue). Sponsors could help deliver condensed games to the masses, allowing fans and wannabe creators to remix and put their own spin on highlights and game stories. Broadcasters and leagues can experiment with unique angles and POVs for condensed games. For instance, iso-cams have already been part of the NBA on TNT’s strategy, as well as the ‘Caitlin Clark’ cam during her last season at Iowa.

There’s an interesting future to consider for condensed games, but even while the future remains uncertain for full games, nothing can truly replace live content…

More Live

2025 will mark ten years since Live entered the social media picture, when Meerkat and Periscope launched and allowed anyone anywhere with a mobile device and a decent connection to go live to the world. In my recent interview with World Wide Wob (Rob Perez), he remarked about the continued value of live, content where anything could happen and anything could go unexpectedly go wrong. Even mundane content becomes more compelling when it’s live. Many prognosticators assert that 2025 will be the year live shopping takes off in the US, with platforms like TikTok reimagining QVC for younger generations.

In the year ahead, sports teams and leagues will continue to innovate and try new things with live (and that includes games!). As more fans get on DTC and streaming apps to find their team’s content, that’ll compound the already ever-present platforms like YouTube to find fans who will tune in to see it live. For games, streaming parts of games live will be a key tactic to drive sign-ups and perhaps even open the opportunity for PPV or micro-transactions to watch an exciting finish (the NBA talked about this years ago, Buzzer had a strong go at it, too). But there’s even more.

There are plenty of narratives about the oncoming onslaught of AI slop filling feeds today and moving forward. But you can ‘t AI-ize ‘live.’ Stretching and warming up before practice is boring and monotonous — but what if it’s live? (I’d watch a livestream of an NHL team playing sewer ball before a game!) The dance team preparing a routine can be great live content. Who wouldn’t watch a live stream of a hockey equipment manager sharpening skates or an NFL clubhouse attendant setting up players’ lockers. Or how about a livestream of a producer editing a hype video?

We’re starting to see more games-based content, so perhaps there’s a future of livestreams featuring players competing in beer pong (with water — or some sponsors’ sports drink). Live trivia games with fans or players would fit in that mold, too. An always-on livestream of a stadium’s VIP entrance or an arena’s transformation from hockey to basketball could be content gold (time lapses are cool, but they’re not live!). And, yes, the drops culture has already come to sports, so live reveals of exclusive merch and collectibles would seem to work, too. (Including ‘breaks’ performed by a player/alum/mascot/broadcasters).

Short-form, long-form; Stories and Feed — live is one format that’ll always offer unique value and the creativity, originality, innovation, and value creation is just getting started.

Retail Media and Commerce-Driven Sponsorships

Over the last couple of years, it seems every major corporation with a sizable database of users, detailed information about them, and a steady flow of traffic has created retail media networks where advertisers can bid for inventory. Sports has forever been an industry built on brand partnerships, with some performance-driven marketing baked in (e.g., ‘the team won, so get a discounted pizza’). And while there is a step back to brand marketing, after an overcorrection, partnerships and advertising with trackable, countable results are still gaining priority.

Even the biggest leagues or college conferences may not be able to, nor does it make sense to, support actual retail networks. But this industry trend could creep its way into the sports world as organizations continue to collect more first-party data, have increasingly robust user profiles, and establish more connected touchpoints with fans. For the most part, teams and leagues have operationalized fan data to sell them more of the stuff they produce or license themselves — tickets, merchandise, collectibles, etc. — but how could they start to more effectively segment their fans so that the offers and products, and even the advertisers, are the right ones for each fan and in each context. And as the data infrastructure continues to mature, there could be valuable, increasingly smarter and high-converting ads (for b2c and even b2b businesses).

I’m not smart or informed enough to know how quickly or whether such a vision could materialize, but sports apps—especially those supported by content and live games—will likely remain among the few apps where users spend significant time, creating a world of opportunities.

Novelty Merch Drops and Collectibles: Beyond Game Giveaways

2024 was the year of the novelty popcorn bucket. Movie theaters capitalized on the surprisingly intense fan interest to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. The Carolina Hurricanes introduced a Zamboni popcorn bucket, while the Detroit Red Wings have gone viral the last couple of years around Thanksgiving for their Zamboni gravy boats (and even had a design contest for this year’s version).

Novelty items are not new to sports. Heck, some teams even produce giveaways teaser videos with the same excitement as schedule release videos (see this example from the San Diego Padres). But sponsored giveaways largely exist to a) Activate sponsorships (duh) and b) Boost attendance — you have to go to the game to get that exclusive bobblehead! But so many teams boast so many fans who cannot (or will not) go to games, they either too far away, can’t afford to go to many games or mainly express their fandom digitally. The importance of the remote fan grew during the pandemic, when in-person attendance was impossible.

So why are these sponsored giveaway items still positioned mostly as attendance boosters? Combine the novelty, the ‘drops’ culture, the surge of collectibles in recent years, the rise of live and creator-driven shopping — and creative, original novelty merch drops could be a big boon for teams, leagues, and their partners. Fwiw, we have seen more teams in recent years do apparel collabs, which seem to be successful. But take that to the nth degree with tchotchkes and collectibles that fans around the world can’t resist.

There could be millions in revenue on the table, whether through direct sales or through sponsor-driven models where fans ‘pay’ by purchasing a sponsor’s product, providing contact information, or completing a branded game—earning them these items shipped directly to their door. The gate still matters, ticket sales are still a very meaningful revenue stream — but instead of subsidizing gravy boats for 20,000 fans (or up to 60-70-80,000 fans), open up these valuable engagement (and earned media/display) opportunities to the millions of fans around the globe.

Mini Serialized Episodes

It was about a year ago that noted social media consultant and Link in Bio newsletter author Rachel Karten wrote that we should ‘treat your social video channels like you would a TV show’ (read the full piece here). And if you work in social media, you’ve no doubt come across the viral Mohawk Chevrolet content on TikTok. Meanwhile, in Japan (and China), short dramas, with ‘episodes’ typically lasting 1-3 minutes are becoming increasingly popular (read about it).

So, with all that, how can sports teams and leagues create entertainment for their fans that transcends the typical content related to their games, players, and training, and even the ‘lifestyle’ content becoming more prevalent? Could a team (with or without a team sponsor) bankroll an emerging creator to produce a short-form sitcom or sketch show featuring some storylines or ‘product placement’ involving the team? Could there be a meta (lowercase m) series that imagines days in the life of team staff? Perhaps a few characters find themselves in a rom-com that plays at or around games? Teams don’t have to collaborate with creators; they could instead build capabilities in-house or work with agencies and freelancers.

I’m no creator or creative producer, but the point is that even the biggest fans are still consuming a lot of media that is not content produced by their favorite teams (or media talking about the teams), a lot of pure entertainment, much of which is created by TikTokers and YouTubers. In the coming year, teams and leagues could leverage their expertise, channels, brand affinity, and credibility to engage fans in creative, original ways that transcend their sport.

All these topics are not meant to be predictions; the world changes far too rapidly to prognosticate—though plenty of prediction columns try each year. But the only certainty is change, innovation, and advancement. All we can do is watch user behavior change, see how the world around us evolves, and take calculated risks and audacious shots. The only failure is standing pat and leaning into only what works today. Eschew the comfort and complacency of the status quo and don’t be afraid to do what hasn’t yet been done. The only way to realize an exciting future is to create it ourselves.

Sports Media

Building a Modern News Brand: Lessons from Front Office Sports’ Dan Roberts

What does a successful news publication look like in 2024?

A few of the old institutions are managing to survive (and some even thrive) in the increasingly fragmented news publishing and consumption world. But amidst a confluence of changing business models, diluted and fragmented social media platforms, and the continued rise of creators with varying degrees of credibility and objectivity — it’s more challenging than ever to stand up a media publication and newsroom today.

Daniel Roberts has lived through that evolution, beginning his career in journalism around the same time Facebook and Twitter started to disrupt paradigms and several decades-old news businesses. Earlier in 2024, Roberts stepped into the role of Editor-in-Chief at Front Office Sports (FOS), a publication that Roberts will tell you lives “at the intersection of sports, business, entertainment and culture.” FOS has grown remarkably over the years, starting in the dorms of the University of Miami by a couple of enterprising undergrads, to a widely known, respected and continually growing publication boasting some of the top news breakers in the sports business world. Roberts recognizes the strengths at his disposal and the necessary balance of his reporting team having strong personal brands while also brandishing the FOS name.

“You need to have a unified voice, which is not always easy,” said Roberts, who also called FOS’s social media team and strategy overall its ‘secret weapon.’ “That might sound obvious, but I think lots of news outlets don’t really have a clear voice on social. They just tweet their news stories — and it can’t be that way…

“I also think that reporters must be growing their own personal brand on social. There are some old-school people who still to this day don’t believe that, or they buck against it or they’re unwilling — and you just have to.”

The reporters master their beats — though Roberts noted many often stretch their chops and interests beyond their main concentration — and they know that the FOS brand tying them together as a whole makes them greater than the sum of parts (to use a cliché). One guiding principle for FOS is ‘big,’ to appreciate how even seemingly esoteric stories in the world of sports business increasingly have far-reaching ramifications across “sports, business, entertainment, and culture,” as Roberts stated earlier. Such an approach broadens its appeal to wider audiences as FOS helps its consumers connect the dots between facts, stories, and trends.

“With every story we cover, we want to have it interest as many people as possible,” said Roberts, who spent years reporting for Fortune Magazine, Yahoo Finance, and crypto media company Decrypt, before coming to lead FOS’s editorial. “So even when it might seem niche because we’re writing about one specific quarterback at one school and a weird thing that happened involving that quarterback involving NIL — well, how do you frame it in a big way where you’re reflecting, even in the headline and the social framing, that the reason this is interesting is because it has broader implications, or it’s an example of a broader trend?”

Uncovering bigger picture stories and offering original analysis are valuable elements for a publication like FOS to offer, but a veteran reporter like Roberts knows — and the data bears out — that having exclusive information and stories, and having it before anybody else, continues to be a critical part of the news game. Breaking news drives traffic, enhances reputation, and creates exposure for the FOS brand and its writers. There’s a reason everybody knows what a Woj bomb is (and he was paid handsomely for years by ESPN), even if the half-life of Woj bombs got shorter and shorter over the years, and other publications created their own content in his wake. Scoops are hard, Roberts noted with conviction, and they’re still impactful.

“There is still value (to getting scoops). So much value. It’s pivotal. It’s crucial. Full stop,” he said. “Everything you said is true that in the rapid-fire, quick hit aggregation heavy internet of 2024, being first to something has a shorter tail than ever. You break something, you bask for a couple hours, places that rush to write it up have to credit you and they say ‘first reported by FOS,’ and it’s great, you love that and you pat yourself on the back.

“Also, scoops, being first to things, having an exclusive — that’s what hits for us traffic-wise the most. You get the most juice out of something that only you have, but the amount of time you benefit from that is shorter than it’s ever been.”

Another side effect of the combination of web 2.0 and social media’s effects on scoops is the rise of the aggregators. The individuals and publications who mooch off the reporting of an outlet like FOS and generate engagement, traffic, and stand up businesses through borrowing the information reported by others. Aggregators aren’t on trial here, it’s just a part of life for news publications in 2024.

And aggregation can certainly be a good thing. Attribution generates exposure for FOS and garnishes the brand for the audiences consuming the aggregators’ channels. There’s a spectrum within the world of attribution, though, from full attribution and cursory cuts to excerpting without attribution to straight-up stealing a majority of the story without attribution. Roberts focuses on the positive while remaining cognizant that things can go too far.

“I love when we’re linked and mentioned, especially when we’re cited by name,” he said. “We have a whole Slack channel at FOS called ‘Coverage ‘and people [post] ‘my story was picked up at FOX Sports, my story was picked up by Awful Announcing’…

“The other day we broke something and ESPN grabbed it and sent a push notification and their mobile push alert said ‘via FOS’. Love that, that’s great for us. It’s fine and it’s good. Sometimes you can haggle over, well, do we deserve a link?

“When you’re quoting that liberally, when it’s more than just one quote, I think you could and should name those other details [such as] ‘in an interview with Dan Roberts of Front Office Sports.'”

Just a few years ago, Roberts was part of a story that got majorly aggregated. An ‘in an interview with Dan Roberts’ that went extremely viral. In particular, one question and response in an interview with Drew Brees that led the former NFL quarterback to issue a public apology — and subsequently apologize for his lackluster initial apology. Between algorithms that favor quick hit headlines over nuance and the new-age game of telephone that can amplify and distort sans context across social media, it’s important for reporters to be aware of what a single line in a story can unleash.

“You have to be very cognizant of the soundbites, and I am so aware of how well something [big like that] can hit,” said Roberts. “Sometimes you have to be a little careful and wary because you better make sure that you have the quote verbatim correct, and you also better be prepared for what’s coming.”

The power of a single soundbite, a snippet from a long story, or a combustible excerpt is a feature and bug of modern journalism. A story’s reach can go from thousands to millions on the strength of a remarkable quote. But just like the longstanding principle that content is king, but distribution is queen (and she wears the pants), even the best stories and publications can fall flat if not packaged properly. TikTok is a microcosm of that truth, with all forms of media — books, movies, articles — getting newfound life because a savvy creator nailed the packaging of a piece where others had faltered.

It’s easier said than done, and requires communication and teamwork. The reporters are trained to, well, report and write — and while Roberts has encouraged reporters to create vertical video to add their commentary, they’re not spending hours producing and editing the perfect Instagram Reel for FOS’s brand channels. FOS’s social media is their ‘secret weapon’, as Roberts stated earlier, because they appreciate the importance and value of nailing distribution, packaging, and production. So collaboration is key — for reporting to mind the story, and the soundbites, and work with the content producers to create something compelling and true to form.

“I think it’s nice in theory to say you just focus on the reporting and you do the story and we’ll do the rest, but that’s just not how it is anymore,” said Roberts. Reporters do need to think about the way that the story is going to be packaged…”

He continued: “It’s all about video. It’s looping in audio, it’s putting the right kind of posts on Instagram and amplifying with the most interesting image you have. Picking and choosing what’s the best headline framing for each separate social media app. It all matters, it’s all important. You have to think in a multi-platform approach.”

There’s an important calculus in how a story gets presented — news stories can frame public perceptions and set off narratives. In the ‘fake news’ dystopia of 2024, users on all sides of the spectrum are eager to identify bias and scream subjectivity, whether merited or not. FOS does have opinion columns, but for their everyday stories, facts and objectivity must lead. FOS and its reporters present the facts and help make sense of the story, but they’re not trying to create narratives or set off conflagrations of controversy. That delineation means everything.

“Reporters should not be doing their opinion,” Roberts told me, citing the example of the years-long story of the NBA and China. “They’re just reporting this happened and it’s interesting and here’s why. You can always say ‘Here’s what others are saying about it’, or ‘Here’s what experts say,’ but we’re not saying as an organization, ‘The NBA is going back to China and isn’t that stupid?’ or ‘Isn’t that risky?’ No. We can say ‘Here’s what happened.'”

The news publications that persist in this new era will continue to be defined by the information and analysis they provide, and increasingly by their lineup of respected and well-known reporters. But it’s all the rest that’ll separate the best (and most successful) from the rest.

With reporters building personal brands while carrying a unified voice, and stories thoughtfully packaged to resonate across platforms without sacrificing substance, Roberts and his team are writing a modern playbook for journalism. The fundamentals of great reporting endure, but the art of delivering it keeps evolving.

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH DAN ROBERTS

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Social Media, Social Media ROI, Sports Media

Creating True Fans and Community: Lessons from World Wide Wob

The early winners in social media flourished because they knew, observed, or did something that others didn’t. Sure, there’s an element of luck and timing, execution and sweat, but the innovators didn’t just optimize the status quo — they blazed a new one.

‘Winning’ is more ephemeral than ever, though. A moment in the spotlight, the fleeting flame of virality, is often just that. Even amassing impressive follower counts offers no guarantees in today’s algorithmic feeds when you’re only as good as your next piece of content. So only a small slice of those social media influencers, creators, or talent (whichever moniker you prefer) manage to transcend the inevitable changes in technology and platforms and the deluge of new creators entering the fray.

Rob Perez is an illustration of so many of these concepts in action. The NBA content unicorn better known as World Wide Wob (with Twitter his original and biggest social presence @WorldWideWob) didn’t set out with a plan to become one of the leaders of NBA Twitter, and it was actually his lack of background in traditional media that gave him a different lens and maybe a leg up as he earned audience, engagement, and fans.

It hasn’t even been two decades for the social media and sports paradigm that reinvented the fan experience. Pick your preferred landmark, but there’s little disagreement that the game changed when native video came to Twitter (early on in the form of Vine clips). Nothing was the same after that. Broadcast highlights became (and still are) ubiquitous in fans’ feeds, but what those old-school media companies didn’t get was that the future would not be about transmitting the broadcast experience to social (and, soon, mobile), but reinventing what highlights and coverage could be to fit the new fan experience.

Wob joked about his hackneyed method of recording his TV with his phone to produce ‘highlights’ (which he will often still do today) and how that allowed him to be an early mover on Vine and Twitter for NBA clips. He saw this new technology upending the way fans could engage with sports, especially during live games. Recognizing patterns and new tech capabilities became a hallmark of Wob’s success. In a recent interview with me, he described that differentiator, specifically referencing the emerging ‘mobile view’ that allowed for richer, clearer storytelling.

“Every other account in the world never did that. It was always the broadcast view,” said Perez, who founded and sold a sports ticketing startup [‘Groupon for sports tickets’] called Crowd Seats before starting his path to a career in NBA media. “You would have to watch it ten times before you realize what was going on. I had this competitive advantage, which I never even mentioned publicly or shared, because I’m like, ‘I can see there’s no engagement there because no one knows what are you talking about [in the clip].’

“…I was never going to compete with the already established networks and minds that had built their reputations with NBA audiences. I needed to find a different way in. And by doing a social media strategy of highlights, which, again, is so simple now in the way that I did it, is certainly what differentiated me from the crowd.”

Wob would continue to find ways to differentiate himself, notably by again embracing new technology when live video became part of the social media ecosystem, led by Periscope (acquired by Twitter) and Meerkat (acquired by Meta). While most legacy media geared up to discuss the night’s games the next day on their morning shows, Wob knew fans were eager to engage in the moment, it was all part of Perez’s dedication to being first and recognizing opportunities before others did, or dared to.

“I was just building this community of people that found the only place that you can get postgame stuff for years was on my Periscope,” he said. “SportsCenter sometimes wasn’t even live and they were just showing reruns and highlights. There was no postgame NBA show. And for years, I thrived off being the one guy that you could go to for that type of content.

“Now it’s completely saturated in 2024…identifying these different technologies — being the first to market will afford you opportunities which you didn’t even think were possible.”

His live video and audio remains a key part of his platform today, currently streaming on Sirius XM’s NBA channel. His reliable, engaging presence helped him build a huge following as more fans discovered him and his feed.

But Wob was cognizant and strategic, understanding there was a difference between a consumer, a follower, and a fan. When a tweet goes viral, still today, new potential fans discover you. Wob recognized there was a funnel to this and the key to developing actual fans, not fly-by consumers, was conveying what made him different from all the other sources of NBA highlights fans would encounter.

“I would say one out of ten of people that either retweeted, liked and/or followed the account stuck around,” said Perez, whose approach to converting fans is representative of the successful entrepreneur he is. “If I could have that 10% retention percentage and convert another 50% of those 10% into superfans, that’s an insane number that I would still kill for to this day. If you’re getting five out of 100 people to be superfans, that’s ludicrous, right?…

“So for many years, the strategy was always to give them an easy way to try and learn more and then be prepared for when that person did come in the store that you want to be ready to sell them. So I was always prepared. I was writing articles, I was cutting videos, producing monologues every single day — and anyone who came to the timeline at any given point, I would always make sure that there was something creative and/or proprietary to my own brand than just like, ‘here was the dunk of the night’ Otherwise you would just be a highlight channel…

“As long as there’s one out of ten that are able to give a much more detailed answer about all these various programs that I’ve worked with networks on and stuff like that — that’s all I ask for.”

As Wob built up his audience, he faced the challenge of serving his superfans, the ride-or-die who had been with him for a long time and got to know the inside jokes and tropes — part of a community — while also welcoming new fans and followers in the fold. It’s a unique problem to have—one of those ‘good problems’—that someone could remain relevant for so long while still attracting new followers.. It’s something Wob has taken to heart over the years and has come to recognize is important for any creator to consider — understanding their past-present-future audience, their own intentional brand, and, most importantly, never getting complacent, thinking your old schtick will remain as relevant and engaging as the years pass by. (Just think how different the fan social media experience was just a few years ago, let alone a decade ago).

“It’s always a struggle for me to continue to re-educate followers and people that are just joining social media for the first time in a younger audience that have no clue nor care about your entire history and what you’ve done in ten years,” Perez explained. “They just started following you yesterday, and to get those people through the door and retain them is a massive undertaking of effort…

“But you have to create content which appeals to your long-term base as well as someone who has no clue who you are, which is a massive [challenge] — it flies under the radar for content creators who think they’re just always going to keep doing the same things because [their] fan base has been there since day one. No, you’re going to get new people all the time.”

It’s critical nowadays to build fan bases, not followers; to create community, not consumers. Wob didn’t set out to master Twitter, his approach to content and engagement allowed him to develop fans beyond followers. Fans didn’t want to just to see the highlight clips — those are largely commoditized now — they wanted to see his clips and his takes.

Wob knows how fortunate (but strategically intentional) he is to have a true community. There are countless accounts now boasting millions of followers. But in 2024, particularly for an individual finding jobs with media companies that want his fans along with his talent, how important is the follower count?

“Inflation has hit subscriber counts harder than it has the US dollar,” said Perez, who today has over 1.1 million Twitter followers. “So what I mean by that is a million followers on Twitter in 2015 was worth 3 to 5 times as much as it is now. And the inflation isn’t just Twitter specific, it’s because TikTok became a thing, because YouTube now has eaten up so much market share that having a million followers on one platform is great, but what are you doing in the event that one of these social media networks folds? What are you doing if one of these other places takes off?

“Are these followers following you because you cook the books on an algorithm or are they following you because you have built a community?…”

It’s easier than ever to go viral now. The number of different accounts that were able to reach over a million views in a single post is likely higher in 2024 than in any preceding year. The number of accounts with over a million followers is likewise higher than ever, to Wob’s previous point about follower count inflation. That’s partly why you see creators seeking (and being served) ways to identify their true fans, to ‘own’ them beyond the whims of platforms for algorithm-driven feeds that offer no guarantees day-to-day, whether by creating newsletters with email lists or forms of membership and even paid communities.

And it’s because Wob does have a sizable community that he has been able to thrive over the years, and continues to have media companies vying for his services. Think of all the talent let go by legacy media companies over the past few years, whether ESPN or Sports Illustrated or countless others — only a select few remained nearly as relevant when the corporate identifier left their @ handles. But Wob is on the other side of the spectrum, because so many of his followers are fans and will follow him wherever he goes.

“I think that’s why I certainly get a lot of opportunity in the event there’s a bigger account out there and or a network potentially that would drive more eyeballs,” he explained. “They know, through my experience and all of the content that I’ve created over these decades, that this guy, no matter where he goes, that audience will come with him.

“There’s talent that relies on the network, otherwise they’re on the street…”

Wob is representative of the power shift happening in media. The corporations and brands need the talent more than vice-versa. It’s an uncomfortable situation for executives, many of whom came up assured in the belief that talent grew up dreaming of working for their companies and that individuals were lucky to ride the wake of the platform a brand could give them. Wob has experienced the reversal of that paradigm, and it’s not always comfortable for the power brokers of old.

“My mobility ability has certainly put me in the crosshairs of certain executives in the past that I’ve worked with,” said Perez, whose long list of stops one can see on his LinkedIn page illuminates his mobility. “But I just don’t know what to do other than just be respectful and do my job, so that’s what I’ve always done. And as a result, I’m sure those people don’t have the most sterling things to say about me, but they will say he was here the whole time and he worked and he just left. And I’m absolutely willing to live with that if I know the next opportunity is going to compensate me for that type of relationship fallout…

“I’ve lived it, I’ve breathed it. It has its benefits, but you also better be damn good too…”

Rob Perez stands as a testament to the power of adaptability, authenticity, and community. His journey exemplifies how creators who embrace change, innovate with intention, and build genuine connections can thrive beyond the fleeting flash of viral fame. As followers evolve into fans, they forge bonds that transcend algorithms and platforms. In this new era, it’s not just about reaching millions; it’s about resonating with them. And in that, World Wide Wob and others like him are redefining what it truly means to win in social media.

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH ROB PEREZ AKA WORLD WIDE WOB

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Social Media, Sports Media

Value Over Replacement: What It Takes to Survive and Thrive in Today’s Sports Media Industry

Journalists are as replaceable as ever. But good journalists are as valuable as ever.

There’s no need to recite the countless headlines of publications shutting down or writers getting laid off to convey the challenges facing the media industry in sports and beyond. But that just augments the value of individuals who bring something unique to the table and command an audience.

Dan Wetzel knows what it’s like to face an uphill battle, to earn attention. The renowned sports reporter and columnist was part of the early days of Yahoo Sports (where he continues to work today), back when a lot of fans were still reading their sports stories in print or on whichever website could win the SEO or home page game. (Yahoo.com was one of those ubiquitous home pages, of course). Today it’s a different sea of competition, but more fierce, with innumerable options, personalities, and platforms where fans can find and consume sports stories. Throughout the eras, a consistent lesson continues to stick with Wetzel — you can’t blend in. There has to be a reason for fans to find you, follow you, and come back to you.

“My favorite one of the [advanced baseball stats] is VORP: value over replacement player,” he explained in a recent interview with me. “If you’re not delivering value over a replacement player, doing what the other people aren’t, then you’re failing. Because you can get the same stuff everywhere. So what are you contributing that’s above that?”

Fans have felt connections to their favorite writers for years, but, for prior generations, much of that was constrained. Way back, what fans read and watched about sports was limited to their local newspapers and newscasts, with a special treat perhaps arriving in the mail in the form of a Sports Illustrated magazine, for example. Now, it’s a battle. As Wetzel noted that’s where ‘VORP’ comes in for individuals, but professional journalists, and their publications, aren’t just trying to win the internet. Sure, a single story or tweet going viral is great and all, but if you’re looking to have fans come back for days, weeks, and years to come, that requires something more authentic, repeatable, and rooted in a relationship.

“Throughout time there’s constantly these mini trends where everyone will get all excited about this or that, and you get a lot of people in media going, ‘This is the next big thing.’ It doesn’t last, and then that whole thing falls apart,” said Wetzel. “So you always have to be true to yourself.

“Whether it’s people reading the column or hearing you on talk radio shows or listening to your podcast or getting to know you some through social media, the more of a relationship you have with them, I think your trust level is better. I think people people have an understanding and that’s not just with each individual, but an entire site. What’s the ethos of the site?”

Wetzel was referencing the way Yahoo Sports built itself up and sustained the brand over time. The ‘ethos’ of the site plays a big part in why sports fans (myself included) choose to click, listen, and watch what Wetzel and his colleagues put out. ‘You can get the same stuff,’ everywhere, remember, as Wetzel said a few paragraphs ago. So whether you’re a publication, a creator, a reporter, or even a sports team or league — do you and your content have a ‘brand’ that’s unique? If you asked ChatGPT to describe what differentiates you from other places sports fans can go, would it have a legitimate response?

I’m restating this key theme of this story because Wetzel and Yahoo Sports do have a unique brand, VORP and all. They’re informed but often irreverent, they’re credible and respectful of the serious stories, they deliver information, insight, and opinion in a relatable and digestible manner. Read or watch Wetzel and this ethos comes out. He has covered difficult stories throughout his career (Larry Nassar, Jerry Sandusky, Aaron Hernandez, for example), and also spends much of his time in the melodramatic but big-money world of college sports. Wetzel discussed this complex web of content, one in which he understands what matters and why.

“I don’t take the small stuff seriously, I take the big stuff seriously,” he said. “At the end of the day, the games are about the entertainment. I just treat it like a business. I always felt more like a business reporter than a sports reporter. The games are the easiest thing to cover and the least important. You know, they have a huge scoreboard that tells you what the final score is. It’s all the other stories where you don’t have a final score.

“And certainly in college athletics, the controversies, the scandals, the personalities are a bigger part of it than just the games. Because if you want to watch really good football, you want to watch the best football, you don’t watch college football. The best actual football being played is in the NFL. You want to watch the best basketball, you watch the NBA. The players are better, the coaching is better, the rules are better. It just is.

“You’re watching because of a passion and all the other mayhem and the environments and all the other stuff, as well as good basketball or good football.”

The passion in college sports is palpable and drives countless narratives. How many fans are ready to fire the coach after a week 1 stinker? How many coaches have been caught lying through their teeth to steer a story or evade an angle of questioning? As coaches have become more like CEOs and politicians, knowing how important it is to appease fans (especially the wealthiest ones) and recruits (including potential transfers), Wetzel recognizes he has to help fans understand the actual information. And to use his efforts to give fans what they’re not getting elsewhere along with his informed view of where the truth really lies amidst all the noise. That’s part of his value over replacement.

“On a complicated issue, like NIL [for example], it’s just trying to be reasonable, understanding it, and carving out like, ‘Okay, this is what I think,'” he explained, about covering the endless storylines around name-image-likeness in college sports. “Not just repeating. The easiest thing to do with NIL, and probably the most profitable would be to to cry that the sky is falling. That’s what everyone wanted…But coaches are the worst sources because they know almost nothing other than what they’re coaching…I mean these coaches are telling you that all the laws of economics no longer exist in this one entity because their feelings are hurt. So you try to explain it as best you can on something like that.

“If it’s a trial, you’re trying to convey information and to describe the situation and severity. If it’s a game you’re trying to show people things they can’t see on television.”

Fans don’t know what they don’t know. But any sports fan who spends a minute on social media (or message boards) knows there is no shortage of often anonymous users who claim to have information other fans don’t. While some of the ‘scoops’ individuals with often humorous usernames and pseudonyms sometimes turn out to be true, their hit rate tends to be somewhere near the odds of a jackpot lottery win. Is it the job of a journalist in 2024 to sift through all the slop and assess and inform their audience on what’s credible and what’s not? That’s a Sisyphean task and why it’s so important for someone like Wetzel to have a relationship with fans who know they can trust what he puts out.

“It’s not my job to police the information out there,” said Wetzel, whose exasperation with all the misinformation on social media can’t help but come out a bit. “There are credible news organizations that put false stuff out there. There’s the teams or the coaches, they put out false stuff [out] themselves on purpose. So all you can do is try to sort through it. But you can’t really spend much time.

“I mean, people will say, Oh, you’re wrong because I saw this. But I think, again, it goes to the long-term relationship. If people trust that you’re reasonable, and you don’t overreact to stuff, then maybe they have more of an understanding. That’s all you can go with.”

Wetzel continued: “Clearly social media allows anybody a voice and it can go big really quick. That guy could have been the guy at the end of the bar, guy calling in to talk radio. Now it’s out there and they can make things so you can disinformation things really easily. It’s all how it’s presented and it can be quite effective and people are good at it. What am I supposed to do about it? I mean, I don’t care.

“If an organization is listening to what’s getting said on social media, they’re failing, because what seems like a lot on social media is not. It can be one guy with 200 accounts. 20 people yelling at you can seem like it’s 20,000, whereas most fans are reasonable and still support the team and all that or don’t even know. But that’s not my job.”

There are a lot of voices, there’s a lot of noise. But if fans have a reason to seek you amidst the noise, to listen for your voice — you might just have a chance to survive in this new era (the new normal). As our conversation came to a close, Wetzel reflected on what it takes to make it for a journalist today, where the VORP lies.

“There have been so many people that come and go because they don’t really provide value. They’re replaceable. But if you can uncover information, get people to talk to you, if you know how to be a reporter, there’s probably a future for you. It’s a tough business, though…

“At some point it comes down to, why are you listening? And unless you’re incredibly gifted and charismatic it’s really hard to do without being a reporter or already previously famous because it’s just such a competitive industry.”

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH DAN WETZEL

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General Sports Business, Sports Media

Monetizing the Ecosystem of Content and Relationships that Sports Podcasters Produce — and the Power of Parasocial Relationships

Creator, influencer, personality — no matter what you call these individuals amassing more audiences than the decades-old billion-dollar behemoths of yesteryear, you can’t deny that they run the world now.

The barriers to entry that kept the old gatekeepers in power are long gone and new empires are being erected every day by these creators with big dreams, tireless work ethics, and an impressive ability to build and engage audiences.

The old power players have started to realize that, and they’re scrambling to bring them into their fold. You see ESPN bringing in Omar Raja and Pat McAfee, for example. Your engagement rate and follower count are equally, if not more, important than your demo reels or writing samples. Kevin Jones, who started out on a traditional media career path quickly noticed the paradigm rapidly shifting from a brand halo serving individuals to, well, the other way around.

“It matters much more about who the personalities are representing your brand,” said Jones, Founder and CEO of Blue Wire, a podcast network built around sports personalities and athletes. “Are they engaging? Are they good at digital? You can’t just have a podcast, you’ve got to be getting likes and retweets on X. You have people building their own media empires right now.

“I think we’re in this personality-driven era right now for sports podcasters…People are picking their favorite personalities. People are picking their favorite topics…and instead of following the beat reporter, they’re following their favorite [personalities] because they’re delivering the fan perspective.”

These influential individuals realize the power and agency they have now, too. Just as more athletes are starting to eschew endorsements in favor of building their own products and brands, so, too, are sports personalities and athletes figuring out ways to build something they can own. That’s part of the thesis for why Jones started Blue Wire back in 2019.

He explained: “Now the cream rises to the top. Who’s interesting, entertaining, and really good at digital? They’re going to have the biggest audiences…And now you have Cam Newton, now you have Jake Paul and Logan Paul building their own. Logan Paul doesn’t appear on any other podcasts, he just does his own. A lot of people are like, ‘Why am I going on all these shows? Let me just have my own platform here, and make money on it.’ I think that’s the future.”

These individuals have already amassed massive audiences. But how do you interpret ‘massive audiences?’ For many, the first thought is their hordes of followers on social media, be it Twitter or TikTok or YouTube or Instagram. What do all those platforms have in common for the creators building their livelihoods on them? The power lies in the owners of that audience, the corporate overlords of the platforms. Now consider what currency the creators have, what they would still have if ‘x’ platform shuts down tomorrow. This risk is why professionals are coming to understand the value of email lists, phone number-based communities, and podcast feeds.

“The podcast is what the creator digital creator should be gravitating towards,” said Jones, whose Blue Wire boasts over 13 million downloads per month. “We let our creators own their IP. They cannot own their Twitter audience. They cannot own their YouTube audiences… The podcast is something that you do own. It’s an RSS feed. There are phones actually subscribed to your content. They get delivered the content. And again, that’s an open ecosystem, a podcast. We [still] encourage creators to definitely build up on the platforms…”

This is not an either/or thing — each side makes the other stronger. The social platforms are ‘free’ marketing and audience development tools and the podcast destination a key conversion endpoint to bring a casual onlooker into a platform that’s largely owned and operated. The best creators reach audiences across platforms, the flywheel always turning. Even if you’ve never watched or listened to a podcast, yes you have. You have no doubt been exposed to a podcast and podcasters through the ubiquitous social feeds where countless clips are consumed.

“You can have favorite podcasters that you don’t even listen to the full thing regularly, but you’re following what they’re doing, you know some of their hot takes when they go viral,” noted Jones. “So I think it’s this whole ecosystem that people are paying attention to. Yes, everyone has their favorite couple of shows that they tune into regularly, but I think more and more people have ten, 20, 100 shows that they’re paying attention to because the podcaster is interesting…

“[The podcaster’s] job is not just the podcast, but also to build an audience day to day.”

This is the aha. Sure, in the ‘early days’ of podcasting, a podcast was generally an audio show on demand, accessible through Apple iTunes. Today, a podcast is the activation of a podcaster — consistent content consumed in many forms across many platforms — an ‘ecosystem,’ as Jones called it. The longform hero piece is still often the keystone of it all, it’s where relationships deepen the most and followers become fans. Because while social media algorithms can be fickle — even a creator’s most ardent subscribers and followers are not guaranteed to see their content in the feed, loyal subscribers of the main podcast are a special breed. They’re not just spending seconds watching a Shorts clip, they’re spending a significant portion of their daily media consumption time with the podcaster. And that matters. Because that’s an audience that didn’t serendipitously stumble onto a clip, they’re an intentional audience.

“Ultimately you have to be interested in that topic though to [convert from clips to podcast]. And that’s why the podcast CPMs are higher than a website CPM or a YouTube CPM,” said Jones. “What advertisers buy podcasting for are $25 or even bigger for the celebrities per 1000.

“That’s the hardest thing to get is someone’s attention for 20, 30, 40, 50 minutes here. So that’s where we really believe in the platform. You know, people are spending as much time with our podcasters as they are maybe their favorite Netflix or their favorite streaming platforms per week…”

The focused, intentional podcast-listening/watching audience is a compelling pitch for advertisers. But the true offering is more versatile. Just as a ‘podcast’ isn’t only the full show, the inventory for monetization encompasses the full ecosystem the podcaster’s content and personality fuels. Jones elaborated on the diverse ways to position a podcast to potential advertisers, an extensive menu with diverse content formats, platforms, and unduplicated audiences.

“I think there’s high value when you do convert someone and the advertisers are paying for the higher value there,” he said, “but we’re more and more including clips on our advertising packages too, that the advertisers are understanding, hey, this is a full enchilada. This is a full ecosystem. I can be reaching even more people on clips who aren’t listening to the podcast yet.

“I think we’ve done a good job utilizing that in sales. I think the industry is catching up to how the podcast is — like I said, the podcasts are on all the content they’re putting out. So we’re focusing more on a sales perspective than actually helping build a centralized audience. We’re helping our creators and monetizing these clips is our focus.”

As the greater podcast industry matures, the business models surrounding podcasts and podcasters are also becoming more diverse. The Acquired podcast, for example, pioneered selling single sponsors for an entire season. We’ve all heard the performance marketing-based models with their discount codes and vanity URLs. There is a panoply of options and this is where I just handed the mic to Jones who lives in this world every day with Blue Wire and let him school me on the revenue models of podcasts in 2024:

“Sponsorships are the number one thing that we’re after, and luckily we’re in sports because there’s huge sponsorship budgets for a lot of really big brands. You see the three-point contest, you see the Home Run Derby sponsorships, like we’re trying to turn podcasts into those kind of properties where you’re going to sponsor Cam Newton’s podcast for three, six, nine months, maybe even the full year…

“Second is just pure play impressions, people. A delivery service brand is still trying to be cool. They’re still trying to create brand awareness. They’ve still got to compete with the big dogs. And, you know, they’re willing to spend and sponsor a show and just have reach and make it more simple. There doesn’t have to be all these custom elements. Like, we love that too…

“Then the third is just straight-up audio, too, and also the clips and the social media. Live events, we’ve done some parties with Miller Lite and some other brands, too; like, let’s do a live podcast, let’s get some listeners together. That’s another element. We go for brand awareness, that’s the brands we love working with. We also work with performance agencies too, who are, Hey, if you perform well, we’re going to keep buying a shit-ton of this stuff, if you don’t perform well, it’s over. But that’s part of the mix…

“There’s programmatic too…so programmatic is kind of at the end of the waterfall if you think about our revenue as a stream. But that’s still a seven-figure business for us per year, just remnant inventory that’s left over. Spotify is best at on the ad sales just kind of filling in the gaps for everyone, kind of how YouTube does, just this automated player. We can just play those prerecorded commercials on the Blue Wire [network]. It’s a lower CPM for us, that’s why we’re not focused on it, so we make less money on that. But it helps us fill out more of our inventory, so we’re not taking a zero on a commercial spot.”

Between all the clips, all the minutes of consumption and time spent, the recurring engagement of loyal fans — the podcast ecosystem offers a lot. But even within those models, the CPM can’t tell the full story. If you’ve spent a half hour or an hour listening to or watching a personality, it can feel like you know them. That it wouldn’t be unusual at all to go up and engage in small talk with them should you run into them on the street. We still cannot truly measure that feeling of familiarity, let alone how it should reflect in the value of a sponsorship or advertising relationship with a creator.

That’s the most powerful part of an audience connection and why folks like Jones are so bullish on the future of the space. In an era of endless choices, fans choose to spend time with and consume their favorite creator’s content again and again. Step back and consider what a significant feat that is, coupled with the sheer volume of time spent and it’s quickly evident why these individual podcasters are as valuable as any old-school brand.

“That [parasoscial] relationship is what I really believe in is the biggest thing about this industry,” said Jones. “It goes beyond just consuming content. There is some kind of connection that’s developed when you’re consuming someone for hours. When you’re putting someone into your brain like this with the headphones; you know the trends are that people 35 and under are watching more YouTube at night than cable television and streaming is up there, too. We used to not be able to choose what we’re going to watch at night, 15 years ago, it was what it was. There was no streaming, it was just cable basically. Now people choose their own content.”

Jones continued, the belief and earnestness coming across.

“This is a true revolution. We don’t even understand it, but I think ten, 15 years from now, content is going to continue to look different. The President of the United States one day may have a podcast like FDR got on the radio.

“It’s just a way to connect with people at such a better level.”

LISTEN TO MY FULL INTERVIEW WITH KEVIN JONES OF BLUE WIRE

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General Sports Business, Social Media, Sports Media

Insights: How Ben Koo and Awful Announcing Navigate the Changing World of Sports Media (and Media in General)

It’s a tough time for the media business. You may have heard. Headlines of layoffs and closures or consolidations in the greater media industry appear way too often. Amidst the ebbs and flows of news and media brands over the years, Awful Announcing has continued on, serving a sports media and business niche, even as competition for attention and the whims of social platforms change the game.

I recently interviewed Ben Koo, CEO, Editor-in-Chief, and primary owner of Awful Announcing and its sister site The Comeback. I often hone in on a theme or two in podcast interviews in these posts, but Koo covered so many interesting topics, let’s touch on a handful of big subjects:

Surviving as Social Media Platforms Discouraged Outbound Traffic
The Polarization and Hot Takes that Social Media Encourages
Understanding Public Sentiment When a Minority Drives Internet/Social Content
Measuring Success in the Multi-Platform Media World
Content Aggregators and Mooches
The Present and Future of the Media Industry

Surviving as Social Media Platforms Discouraged Outbound Traffic

Social media was a boon in the early days, a significant source of referral traffic (I’m old enough to remember going to ESPN.com and browsing for the best stories to read). Then the platforms realized the best way to drive revenue was to keep users on their sites or apps as much as possible. The trend has only gotten worse for publishers and now some algorithms even penalize posts with outbound links.

For sites like Awful Announcing, each algorithm tweak and drop in referral traffic can have a meaningful effect on their business. Koo and his team have to figure out how to balance feeding the platforms with content that’ll drive engagement while still giving fans a reason to click through to the site.

“We’re trying to do more in video,” he said. “We’re trying to be smarter about headlines where we get people interested, but we don’t give away the full story; we’re putting out the most interesting thing about what it is [while] hoping that people want to see more…

“Since Awful Announcing is creating content for a specific audience who’s thirsty for more details it’s not as big of a problem. But it’s still kind of discouraging because we think more people want to [discover] our content, and when it’s being throttled down, just because of new initiatives algorithmically, I don’t think it’s serving the users of those social platforms who have opted in to see our content but are randomly seeing, like, the For You page for Twitter [full] of crypto bots and what have you and Facebook meme pages. I hope it’s a trend that reverses.”

Awful Announcing knows they produce unique content and there’s an audience out there that wants to consume it. It may be more difficult for that audience to discover them and their content, but AA knows if you reach them, they will come (a bastardization of the old Field of Dreams quote, eh?). Koo said their originality, cultivating relationships between the writers and readers, and dedication to expanding their platforms are all key to continued survival in this new era.

Here’s Koo: “I think original content and original voices and being accessible on more platforms, which is something that we’re slowly kind of prioritizing more and more, really good quality voices, and being on more platforms, whether that’s a TikTok, Instagram, we’ve been promoting our content a lot more on Reddit, because I think some people have kind of moved from Twitter to Reddit in terms of content discovery…

“We’re putting in a lot more energy into trying to be at the places where people are because the existing traffic mix has decided that it’s not good for them for other people to drift away from those social media platforms. So we need to be on more platforms. We need to have more original voices. We need to have direct relationships, not only from the site to people, but also writer to readers — so more people following their personal accounts. It’s a major effort and it’s going to affect everyone in media, so we’re trying to figure out the best we can.”

The Polarization and Hot Takes that Social Media Encourages

Social platforms and their prioritization of engagement to reach users have also profoundly affected media across all mediums. Content that elicits a reaction tends to get amplified, and we’ve seen that theme translate to countless debate shows and the rise of hot take artists, with some viewers/readers questioning the authenticity of such dedicated devil’s advocates. It would be easy for Awful Announcing to lean into it, but taking polarizing stances just for the sake of ‘engagement’ is not something Koo and his team want to be about.

“I think it would probably be long-term negative if we were just trying to be dishonest with our opinions for the sake of chasing it…,” he said. “People like to kind of chirp a little bit that we have favorites or this and that, but I just don’t see that. I think our reputation is generally neutral to positive with some nitpicks here and there.

“But we write so much content it’s impossible [to avoid]. I mean, we pissed off Stephen A Smith at South by Southwest. He said last night we should kiss his ass. And then he says Awful Announcing, first off they do good work most of the time, and then he went into [it]. But it’s the first time I’ve ever heard him complain, and it just comes with the territory. I think we do a pretty good job having opinions, covering the space, but not succumbing to the temptation of just hot takes for clicks.”

Understanding Public Sentiment When a Minority Drives Internet/Social Content

Awful Announcing still does lots of work related to its eponymous theme — identifying the bad and good (and otherwise notable) in announcing and sports broadcasting. But talk to any social/digital media professional and they’ll remind you that the vocal minority on Twitter and other social platforms and forums are just that — a loud minority. So while we may get seduced to think a couple dozen comments, let alone a single anonymous commenter, represent the opinion of the masses, the vast majority of the public is not expressing their opinion on these platforms. And even those who do speak up are predisposed to a polarizing take (you generally don’t go on Yelp to give a slightly above-average review, it’s either because you loved it or hated it). Awful Announcing can uncover some of the truth by watching trends and having diverse individuals and perspectives within their ranks.

“[Thinking about] where does the real sentiment lie — one thing is it’s good to have a good group and a diverse group in your own newsroom and on Slack. Kind of like, ‘Do we all hate this person? Oh, there are 3 or 4 people who don’t, and seven people who do, that’s interesting.’ So that is always helpful. I think if we were to put a Twitter thread or a Facebook poll or whatever on just about anyone — Tony Romo, Gus Johnson, Joe Buck, you’re going to get a big cluster of people who are fans, a big cluster of people who are some type of neutral and a big group of haters.

“Announcing is super subjective…Having a good newsroom with diverse opinions, being fair when we do write an opinion piece or critical piece, or putting other people’s comments — like people hated how this person called the end of the game. Another thing is just trends. So sometimes we do polls and we get 4000, 5000 replies and we’ll say ‘Rank the four NFL A booths that are not Amazon.’ So ESPN, ABC, CBS, FOX — which one’s your favorite? And if you saw Romo and Nantz a few years ago when that thing was at 40%, where there are four options, and then a few years later they’re in second or third and they’re at like 20% there’s a trend that we can kind of talk about that more people are getting annoyed with Tony Romo.

Measuring Success in the Multi-Platform Media World

Everything gets more data-driven with each passing year. Writers once were (and at some publications still are) beholden to page views and subscriptions from their individual stories. That’s what pays the bills, and paying the bills, at the end of the day, is pretty much all that matters. There is some nuance for Koo and Awful Announcing, and metrics have evolved a bit for them to define successful content. As someone who loves a good long-form Wright Thompson article (and who lives with data in my day job), it’s good to see the value and insights in different types of metrics for Awful Announcing where, yes, page views matter, but it’s not always that simple in the chase for continued success and revenue.

“We are making investments in video and hiring and whatever, but we are probably more locked in to page views because that’s just what keeps us paid,” said Koo. “We do like front page home page traffic as a big indicator where someone either typed into their [browser] AwfulAnnouncing.com, or they read a story and then clicked on the logo or the home to see what else they could find. Pages per visit is always encouraging to see if we’re doing better there. Time on site helps us with advertiser retention and higher programmatic ad bidding. When people see that people are on here, they’re seeing your ad units for 45 seconds or 2 minutes or three minutes as opposed to 17 seconds.

“[On social media], retweets, impressions on Twitter — how much did this tweet about an article or a piece of video get seen? Generally, as long as we’re profitable and growing, we’re happy. And I try to not have our team too focused on a million different statistics, but I think for us, we’re a little bit different because we’re not part of a larger entity.”

Content Aggregators and Mooches

We’re in the age of aggregation. There are lucrative newsletters based on aggregating headlines and summarizing articles. There are countless social media accounts making hay from lifting a notable quote or anecdote from a robust story by a publication (not to mention the Dov Kleimans of the world, mostly just reposting others’ content). News breakers like Adrian Wojnarowski and Adam Schefter are as well-known as ever, but their ‘bombs’ are merely the first spark for a conflagration of derivative articles, columns, podcasts, and posts. Some question the ethics of professional aggregation, but the bigger issue may be how it affects the ROI of putting resources into original reporting. This excerpt represents a small portion of the discussion with Koo about the themes within aggregation (including a great story involving the Bishop Sycamore story and subsequent documentary), as he touched on how the existing paradigm affects his business decisions around original reporting.

From Koo: “I think as long as you’re referencing where the quotes are from, that’s kind of fair. You’d like to see some links if they use it in an article…

“[Original reporting] doesn’t monetize that well. Every once in a while — we did this story about Kevin Brown, the announcer, getting suspended by the Baltimore Orioles. That story was great. We got a lot of traffic, [and] we do have 2 to 5 original reporting stories, where we’re trying to scoop something, per month, I’d say. Some of them get not that much traffic at all…Whenever we think we have something, we go for it, and as long as someone’s interested and wants to do the work, we go for it. But is there a monetary return on that work? You know, that’s where it’s good to have institutional backing, subscriptions, stuff like that. Because from an advertising standpoint, it’s hard to justify. But we do it because it’s important.”

The Present and Future of the Media Industry

Awful Announcing is nearly 20 years old. In this media environment, that might as well make them a gray-haired lady. So Koo and his team have surely been doing something right over the years. Sitting at the helm of the business for most of the site’s lifetime, Koo has seen much of the media crumbling around him while Awful Announcing keeps going. So it was interesting to get his take on where the greater media and publication industry is headed and what will separate the survivors from the rest in the years to come.

“Niche things that have subscriptions and events seem to be doing well. I think what hasn’t done well is scale for the sake of scale, and that’s like BuzzFeed merging with a bunch of things. I think Vox Media got really big. Complex just sold to a new place…you have basically seen all of these jobs that have been taken away and infrastructure at companies chasing scale for people who were not creating content. I look at us and every dollar that comes in, almost every dollar, a huge percentage goes to people creating content.

“I’m not seeing media as a great investment…even the successes in our space, which are few and far between, if you look at the price tag and what they thought they were going to be, they don’t really [turn] out as big successes, to a certain degree. So yeah, content’s going to be in an interesting place because it definitely helps to have money given to you to become something big and notable and influential, but do the economics work for investors to get their money back? A lot of places have come and gone…”

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Thanks to Ben for his thoughtful and articulate conversation on several compelling topics! The media paradigms may be evolving, but there will always be stories to tell, conversations to start, and content to consume, no matter your interest.

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH BEN KOO

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Fan Development, General Sports Business, Sports Media, Sports Technology, Streaming and Video

The Infusion of Intellectual and Financial Capital is Transforming Sports Business But Developing and Reaching Fans Remains the Key KPI

Picture the stereotypical owner of a sports team. Back when you were growing up, it’s probably an oil tycoon, maybe wearing a cowboy hat, glad-handing in a private box at the stadium, with plans to pass on the team to their children some day. It was either buy a couple of yachts and a fleet of sports cars or buy a sports team.

But that has largely changed in the last decade or so. Sports teams are now multi-billion dollar entities that attract some of the most sophisticated moneymakers and moneymaking institutions in the world. And with the new equation, stuffed with more zeroes and commas than ever, the level of innovation, analysis, and disruptive investment is more accelerated than ever.

It’s in this dynamic new era that JohnWallStreet resides, analyzing the biggest questions, trends, and themes that are driving the greater sports business industry forward and are on the minds of the industry leaders shaping this evolution. Corey Leff, the founder and editor of JohnWallStreet, articulated the new normal in sports, in which teams and leagues are investment assets that demand the same level of innovation that has shaped the other multi-billion dollar businesses in the world.

“Forever sports was just like a hobby that rich people did,” said Leff, who worked in equity research prior to starting the newsletter and sports business advisory resource JohnWallStreet. “And these weren’t investments, these were largely teams that were passed down. But as the valuations, which corresponded with media rights [deals], have skyrocketed over the last 15 years, you’ve had a different class of owner come in because who can afford to buy $2 billion teams.

“With these enormous purchase prices, you get this different class of owner that’s taking a different approach and making sports business a lot smarter and are thinking about things like the fan experience and how to improve and integrate sports tech. So that’s opened up this whole world of venture and investment and all the things that we write about now.”

And then the million, nee, billion dollar question becomes, Leff noted, “To generate any semblance of return on them, we have to monetize them. So we need to do a better job than we have in the past. I think it all goes together.”

While the massive valuations have largely been driven by increases in live television rights (more on that later), a variable area ripe for growth in the tech-infused, increasingly connected and mobile world, is fan experience and fan engagement. While your parents and grandparents may mostly recognize the game on the field or the court, there is so much more new and novel about going to a game. Sure, you can get still get a hot dog and peanuts, but now you can also get a signature dish from a local restaurant favorite from a renowned chef — and order and receive it without leaving your seat. Forgetting the tickets on the kitchen counter is a relic of the past, it’s all mobile now. The game listed on the ticket is still the ‘main event’ (don’t worry, Red Zone is on in the sports book on the concourse) but you might really be going for the postgame concert or the pregame beer-tasting event. Needless to say, some things have changed since those halcyon days of years past. Things had to change, fans have too many other options on which they could spend their discretionary dollar or enjoy a night out.

“There’s a broader trend of fans going less and spending more on those experiences and looking for that premium experience,” said Leff, whose daily JohnWallStreet newsletter involves deep dives analysis and interviews on sports business stories, topics, and developments. “So that’s not where this conversation or even the trend we’re talking about started about why they initially started trying to improve the fan experience, but it’s all on the same kind of wavelength.

“Right now that’s what fans are looking for. They’re looking for that one night [to be] memorable, this is the night of the year type of experience. And that’s why they’re spending a couple grand to go to Taylor Swift. It’s all about memories, Instagram, social, creating experiences that stand out and are not just one of a million.”

The competition to attract fans to come to the games is just one battle, however. The greater challenge at hand is the rapid evolution of the heretofore endless spigot of cash coming through media rights deals. It used to be so easy — just about every household spent their entertainment hours consuming programming one of a few cable bundles and both leagues and networks enjoyed virtually unfettered, lucrative access to every fan.

But now that built-in audience can no longer be taken for granted. The number of households in the traditional cable bundle is only going down from here on out. Those regional media rights deals are increasingly being replaced by direct-to-consumer platforms or smaller deals. But this paradigm shift can be both a feature and a bug. Because while broad reach may get a little tougher, many teams will have more direct relationships with more fans than ever before.

“I think reach has become an increasing focus for sports properties, recognizing that the everybody’s not in the cable bundle anymore,” said Leff, who recently published a piece on the possible rise of FAST (Free ad-supported television) platforms for games. “There’s like 35 million people that now are outside the pay TV bundle. So I think there’s just an industrywide focus on reach.

He contnued: “I think there’s an increasing shift to understanding or trying to understand who fans are, and if you can understand who fans are, then you could start focusing on what’s the lifetime value and increasing the lifetime value of those fans.

“So we’ve seen these integrations, an increased focus on data and data insights over the last couple of years, but we’re still in our infancy; it’s still at the data aggregation and understanding data part of the process. Like, I don’t know that we’ve actually gotten to the part of the process yet where it’s actionable and driving new revenues.”

Driving new revenues is the end destination, of course, even if we’re still charting the path there. Because while massive reach it’s still available, it’s increasingly happening across different platforms. The fragmentation is part of the new normal, a side effect of the dilution of the cable bundle. Teams and leagues are reaching more fans than ever, all across the globe, but that doesn’t mean making money off all those fans will be easy. Leff and I talked about the unparalleled volume of fans of European football clubs, for example, who may have more individuals in the fans identified as fans — but, for a number of reasons, don’t drive anywhere near the revenue per fan of what, say, the NFL does (playing a sport that is largely confined to two countries in the world).

There is no prebaked paradigm for maximizing the revenue of each fan for a truly global sports team. As NFL and NBA teams increasingly seek global brand status, the Premier League clubs are just about there — but don’t quite have the revenue to show for it yet. There’s latent value for each fan, though, even more so with more direct, more increasingly necessary relationships. Leff noted the importance of being able to direct identify and engage fans.

“Especially these teams with global followings,” he said, “if you could put a per dollar value on what each of those fans are [their valuations would be much higher]. The problem right now is that, say, you got a gazillion fans, but you don’t know who any of them are, how do you go about monetizing them? The answer is you can’t.”

The backbone of monetization, as you’ve read (or already knew), has been the games, and It will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future. But it’s obvious the models by which games are monetized are evolving. There are still lucrative linear rights deals for many, but there are also streaming deals, direct-to-consumer offerings, a la carte purchases, and more. And there’s a generation of potential and emerging fans not accustomed to plopping themselves in front of the boob tube for three hours to watch the full game. They’re still fans, but it’d be naive to think the business models that have prevailed for decades won’t have to evolve along with the changing nature of fan engagement.

Leff addressed the narratives around the coveted and sometimes misdiagnosed young fan cohorts. “I think that younger generations will watch longer form content if the content is good. I don’t necessarily just believe that…,” said Leff, who has a six-year-old daughter himself. “There’s no doubt that it’s hard to fit [long live games] into people’s schedules these days. Everything’s more competitive, so you have to make it more attractive…I certainly do not subscribe to the idea that Gen Z’s are not sports fans; that’s a ludicrous idea. There are certainly sports fans, they just consume media in a different way…”

While traditional TV ratings seem to (remarkably) keep going up for live sports, most survey and behavioral data about Gen Z and Gen Alpha sports fans indicate they tend to prefer and consume more highlights and social media versus the traditional live broadcast. Herein lies another challenge, monetizing sports fans in the same ways when their consumption patterns change. There’s no magic formula that says one sports fan of your team = ‘x’ dollars per year in revenue, let alone lifetime value. But all the questions are moot without new ideas, experimentation, and flipping the innovator’s dilemma on its head, and being unafraid to disrupt paradigms that were so lucrative (and still are) for so long.

“Even if we put the monetization to the side, isn’t it about building that [fan]?” said Leff of the monetization of highlights and non-live consumption. “At least as I see it, for a six-year-old girl, it’s building the next generation of fans and fan engagement. [My daughter] doesn’t watch Sports Center like I did. I’m not sure that the ten-year-old or 12-year-olds are watching Sports Center, but they’re flipping on Roblox, so why not have the highlights airing inside the Roblox game?…

“in the context that I’m talking about, at least, it’s about talking to the next generation of fans. You’re not thinking about how to make the most money off of them today.

“You want to make sure that in 20 years, your team valuations are still going up because you still have a fan base.”

The reward for winning in sports (business) is as lucrative as it’s ever been. At the same time, the competition for discretionary dollars from fans and brands is only getting more fierce. The one constant has been, and will be, the fan. The fan is the sun around which everything else orbits. Without the fan, none of all this talk of innovation, experience, media models, and paradigm shifts matters. So while we continue to chase the almighty dollar today, nothing is more important than ensuring we’re cultivating the fans of tomorrow. It’s that emotional investment that will pay off on the fiscal investment in the long run.

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LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH JOHNWALLSTREET | COREY LEFF

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Social Media, Sports Media

How the Sports Reporting Profession is Evolving and One Journalist is Paving a New Way

The sports reporter is an endangered species.

It at least sometimes feels that way with the all-too-frequent news of layoffs at even the biggest publications that dominated for decades. But the reality is that the sports reporter is more powerful than ever. As the superstar era plays out in pro sports and the creator paradigm penetrates social media and marketing, so is the sports journalist able to stand on their own and develop a fan base loyal to them, regardless of where their byline appears.

David Alter has lived through the rapidly evolving career of a sports reporter, surviving and transforming himself and cobbling together a community of fans and a content strategy that allows him to pay the bills, create content, write stories, and even fund his own road trips, oftentimes, traveling to cover the Toronto Maple Leafs beat. The line between creator and reporter isn’t completely blending, but the professions are starting to have more in common than the layman would realize. For Alter, while he does work with Sports Illustrated via The Hockey News, he’s partially independent and autonomous, making it on his own. Such an endeavor is not without ample challenges, but the Canadian journalist is winning credibility and repute through persistence, engagement, and taking advantage of every opportunity.

“Part of the issue of being independent, too, is you don’t have legacy brands where a lot of a lot of places don’t even know to reach out to you that they’ll reach out to you on Instagram or social,” said Alter, discussing how to get on and stay on the radar of publicists as an independent reporter. “Like [Maple Leafs defenseman] Morgan Reilly had this thing with Kellogg’s for media to attend and I didn’t even know about it, but the PR person who is in charge there reached out to me 2 or 3 days prior. I’m like, Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for doing that and keep me on all your lists. So you have to kind of build and do things organically.”

Developing things organically has guided Alter as he’s built up his personal brand and business as a sports reporter. He appreciates that monetizing audiences on digital and social means engagement is the key metric and the KPI that brands hold dear when evaluating where and with whom to spend their marketing dollars. And while Alter drives good, consistent engagement just from his quality content and hockey coverage of the Leafs day-to-day, he also wanted to create additional engagement opportunities for his fans through the kind of interactive activations often backed by sponsors.

So Alter did something creative, a sort of ‘fake it til you make it’ initiative, though it was really about giving fans a reason to have fun and stay engaged with the game, regardless of the score. He created a contest to have fans guess the time on ice of a specific player (the amount of game minutes and seconds a certain skater is on the ice during a game) with the closest to the mark winning a Starbucks gift card. The tweets would get a ton of replies from fans putting in their guess and fans would be checking box scores and updates throughout the game. This wasn’t a Starbucks promotion, though (nor did Alter make it seem that way), it was just a small reward Alter paid for out of his pocket to incentivize fans to participate and engage with him and each other.

“When I did that in 2021, that was more so a way for me to give back to fans who couldn’t be at games because I felt bad that I have this privileged situation where I’m at games with an empty arena [due to COVID] and can see it in person,” he said. “Even if it’s not the same experience where people at home are kind of stuck, especially in Ontario, where it was really shut down compared to any other state or province in North America for the longest time. For me, it was just kind of a way to keep people engaged in the game, even if it was a blowout or a meaningless game.”

Soon brand deals started coming organically. Alter even told of a physical therapist trading his fees for their services in exchange for shouting them out to his audience on social. Alter continued to seize opportunities to engage and entertain the audience, even beyond hockey. The life of a sports reporter, especially one that travels with the team they’re covering, is full of interesting sights and sounds and experiences — content. I’ve often written that the ordinary is extraordinary for fans, and Alter has seen that borne out with something as simple as capturing the media meal served to the press at NHL arenas. NFL broadcaster Ross Tucker turned his own ‘Tuck Spreads’ showcases of press food into a sponsorable asset and Alter has surprised himself with some of the initial virality of what is a very ordinary part of the life of a sports reporter.

“Even when I’m on the road [during the season], I review the media meals now and just things I see on the road that people would not normally see,” said Alter, who noted that MLSE’s Head of Culinary even caught wind of Alter’s press food content. “And reviewing the media meals became this big thing that kind of took on its own life because I looked at TikTok and saw what’s popular on TikTok. Okay, food, celebrity sightings, random stuff. So I started it with food where I’m like, okay, here’s the media meal. And like, that thing would get like 30,000 plays. I’m like, Why? Like, it’s just a meal for me. But people are into that stuff, so I did that…

“The Leafs are a niche and I love doing that stuff, but I do like the broad appeal that multiple people can kind of factor in and enjoy as well…It’s just kind of just keeping your eyes open and just not being afraid to try different things and do that. And, you know, you’ll get ridiculed along the way; I have for sure. But I’m like, Hey, people are into it. If they’re into it, I’m going to keep doing it.”

Creating content that will engage an audience, seeking broad appeal, understanding what’s resonating and popular — these considerations could just as easily describe a professional ‘influencer’ or creator as they fit for Alter’s occupation as a sports reporter. They’re all in the business of audience growth and audience engagement; the means may be different but the desired ends look pretty similar. Alter appreciates the value of his audience, his fans, and their continued engagement over time. No matter how the sports media paradigm continues to evolve, that fan base is his job security.

“On my Twitter, I think today I have 42,500 followers,” he said, “which, you know, as far as Leafs reporters or Leafs enthusiasts that cover the beat, it’s not the highest by any means. But I would argue that my engagement rate is as high, if not higher, than most on the beat for the reason that those people are loyal, coming back to me and are repeat customers in terms of clicking on my links, in terms of getting their information firsthand from me or whatever the case may be. So I look at that and I kind of go in that regard where I’m trying to grow things organically that way.”

As long as there is sports, there will be reporters delivering news, access, and insight to fans. But reporters no longer must be beholden to media publications with the biggest bank accounts and logos — they own their audience and they can make their own way.

LISTEN TO MY FULL INTERVIEW WITH DAVID ALTER

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Fan Development, Sports Media

What Marketing Niche Sports Teaches about Sports and Social Strategy

What was the last sport you became a fan of? Not the sport that captured your heart as a 9-year-old, but one that came along later and, for whatever reason, hooked you in?

After decades of relative status quo in the major pro sports landscape, there are more fans than ever finding themselves gravitating to sports they never thought they would. Social media has made highlights, storylines, and community more accessible; infinite streams and channels largely eliminate barriers to entry for fans to watch any sport; and the proliferation of content allows for broad exposure giving potential new fans a taste of a sport they never knew they wanted and could grow to love.

Karen Ramming wasn’t facing a lack of familiarity as an issue for potential new track and field fans as she took on her role with TrackTown USA. The majority of the world can recognize a race, a jump, or a throw, and many have participated in such pursuits with varying degrees of competitiveness. But that doesn’t mean they’re all fans, who will tune into major competitions and follow the athletes and stories that surround the sport. So the challenge she is faced with in her role setting the digital strategy for TrackTown is pulling in new fans, but not at the expense of serving the fans that are already there.

“With niche sports in general, you want to make sure that you’re serving the existing fan base because they’re the ones that are going to keep you alive online,” said Ramming, who was in social media roles with the Golden State Warriors and Pac-12 Networks before joining TrackTown. “But you also want to make sure that your coverage is appealing so that way, yeah, you can break through that bubble of whatever sport it is and reach a potential new audience…

“So how can you balance those two things of still serving the existing fan base and creating content in a way that’s accessible to potential new audiences?”

So about that sport you, dear reader, came to enjoy later in life — what first pulled you in? Not necessarily what made you a fan, but the clip or friend or athlete or story that first caught your attention. Ramming had years of experience promoting dozens of sports across the Pac-12 Conference, some with broad, well-established fan bases and others more in the ‘niche’ category.

The encouraging opportunity is that the entry points for new fandom are near-infinite. An amusing or incredible TikTok highlight can drive initial interest for some, a photo finish can draw in others, or an inspirational athlete can ignite another group of fans. They’re all sparks that can fuel the growth of a future fire, creating fans from the embers of even the most esoteric or eccentric elements.

“Let’s say a mascot race or like a baby race or whatever, those things are helping tell the story of the brand and the experience and the athletes,” said Ramming, who is TrackTown USA’s Senior Director of Digital Strategy and Innovation. “And I think that especially when you’re looking at growing an audience of a sport, the stories are what grows the sport, especially for new audiences…

“They’re going to become a fan initially because they found somebody in the sport that appeals to them and that makes them want to come back and root for them and learn the sport on their behalf.”

As Ramming noted, a common element shared by every sport is the athlete. They may be manipulating a different apparatus, if they even have a stick or ball, but it’s the people that make up the ecosystem of sports that most often form the foundation of emotional investment and fandom. Athletes recognize they’re the talent in the program, the stars of the show. But as sports become more and more like entertainment, showcasing the powerful stories and personalities is just as important as the competition. For Ramming, especially when she was surrounded by global superstars like the Golden State Warriors players, collaborating effectively with players meant earning trust at all levels, and treating them not like talent, but like, well, humans.

“Before we even touch on building trust with the players, a lot of it is a step back and building trust with operations and with public relations — they’re the ones who are the gatekeepers essentially to player access on a lot of the teams…,” explained Ramming, who was with the Warriors from late 2018 – 2021. “So that was the approach that I took and just being really proactive with my communications with them, overexplaining everything that we were doing, showing them the results of what we were doing and that was how we earned that internal trust…”

About working with the players, Ramming described that “It’s kind of a balance of being really professional, knowing exactly what you need from them so that way you don’t waste their time while also being just a normal human and talking to them in a way that shows that you respect them as a person and not just as an athlete who will bring a million new followers or whatever it is to the channels.”

But there’s another factor when it comes to marketing a sport through its athletes. Or, as Ramming faced both at Pac-12 and now at TrackTown, putting muscle behind the content, sports, and athletes that will more predictably perform versus telling more complete stories that better serve the team, conference, or sport [and fans] going forward. The NBA, for example, is accurately cited as a superstar-driven sport. It’s Jimmy Butler and the Heat, LeBron James alongside Anthony Davis and the Lakers, and, of course, Steph Curry and the Warriors. The social media metrics may dictate that focusing all content on Curry would deliver the highest numbers, but that may be missing the forest for the giant, all-time shooting tree.

“We knew when I was there that we could post a clip of Steph [Curry] hitting a halfcourt shot once a day and nobody would get tired of it and it would hit a million views every single time,” Ramming explained. “But that would be doing a disservice to our players, our team, and our fans by not showcasing the other players. So it wasn’t even just the social team that was keeping that in check and making sure that there were faces getting on the feeds, it was our entire marketing department…”

Ramming and her team face a similar challenge in showcasing the various disciplines that make up the track and field competitions put on by TrackTown USA. Many casual fans can recall seeing Usain Bolt win the 100-meter dash or Michael Johnson set records in the 400, but trying to develop fans of every competition within track and field is not necessarily the right way to go about fan development. If someone loves the long jump, but couldn’t care less about hurdles, that’s okay, and it may not be a good use of resources to try.

But Ramming notes that perhaps that’s not the right question. These days, quality content is what cuts through, and getting the content and storytelling right — can render everything else, if not moot less of the main point.

“There are a lot of people who are throws fans and they care about the throwers and discus, shot, javelin, hammer — that’s what they care about and that’s great. How can we serve them? How can we create content for that specific audience? Same thing for sprints, jumps, distance,” she said…

“I don’t think that I have an opinion right now in terms of segmenting [social accounts] for jumps, throws, sprints, and distance, necessarily, but instead looking at how we structure actual content packaging…”

Ramming cited the recent example of TrackTown’s docuseries ‘Road to TrackTown,’ hosted on their YouTube channel, which follows athletes in their preparation and lifestyle leading up to their major competitions. It wasn’t necessarily that Netflix’s Drive to Survive made us all realize what a cool sport Formula One is, it’s that the level of storytelling gave us a reason to care and to learn more. So, for ‘Road to TrackTown,’ Ramming said that within the phenomenal storytelling and packaging, they were able to produce narratives across track and field disciplines.

“We intentionally chose one runner, one jumper, one thrower and one multi-event athlete, so that way it could appeal to those specific fanbases while still all living on our larger TrackTown USA Channel,” she described.

In the end, they’re all athletes showcasing passion, dedication, triumphs, failures, hard work, and humanity.

Said Ramming: “Being able to experience that kind of raw emotion from athletes directly when you tune into a track meet, whether it’s online, on TV or in person, I think is what makes the sport really special. And even outside of those moments, obviously, these athletes are humans. They have hobbies and interests and they have other stuff going on. So understanding how we can better tell those stories to make them more relatable and potentially find new audiences through them and who they are as people is really valuable.”

It’s incredible to think that there have been sports and sports fans for thousands of years. The games and the mediums evolved, but those same undying principles that made fans cheer and jeer centuries ago, the stories that captured our imagination still do so today.

LISTEN TO MY FULL CONVERSATION WITH KAREN RAMMING

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