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

READ THE SNIPPETS

Podcast Snippets

Building a Modern Newsroom at Front Office Sports, Inside the Sports Business Reporting Field, and the Future of Journalism

On episode 285 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil chatted with Dan Roberts, Editor-in-Chief, Front Office Sports (FOS).

What follows are some snippets from the episode. Click Here to listen to the full episode or check it out and subscribe to the podcast via Apple or listen on Spotify or YouTube.

Podcasts

Episode 285: Dan Roberts on Covering the Business of Sports, Upholding the Front Office Sports Brand, and Today’s Reporting Landscape

Listen to episode 285 of the Digital and Social Media Sports podcast, in which Neil chatted with Dan Roberts, Editor-in-Chief, Front Office Sports (FOS).

88 minute duration. Listen on Apple, Spotify and YouTube

Posted by Neil Horowitz Follow me on Twitter @njh287   Check out my LinkedIn articles

Podcasts

Thanksgiving Throwback Episode: Taylor Stern (then with Dallas Cowboys, now with Smash GC)

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, we’re throwing it back to a phenomenal episode, the wonderful Taylor Stern. When Neil spoke with her, she was Social Media Coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. Today, she is VP, Brand and Marketing for Smash GC, one of the team in LIV Golf.

62 minute duration. Listen on Apple, Spotify and YouTube

Fan Development, Social Media, Social Media ROI

Building Brands Through Social Media: Lessons from Sports Marketing

It’s been a while since anybody really bought the whole ‘the intern runs the social media’ trope. It retreated into obsolescence long ago (ed note: But hell yeah, milk the intern for insights about young people’s habits and trending topics and behaviors).

Social media has become far too important to the organization, a font of value and insights. Sure, it can be annoying at times when a coworker who scrolls TikTok or has an Instagram page has constant constructive criticism of strategy and execution (they mean well!), but it’s only because the power of these channels is unquestioned. It’s a direct line to customers, an opportunity to develop a brand and cultivate evangelists, it’s the one constant touchpoint with the majority of fans/customers and potential future fans and customers.

Jared Harding was there for the genesis of such strategic importance of social media, before many began to connect the dots (a work in progress, still, for many organizations). But he understood early on that the increased attention by colleagues, the friendly ideas, the unending asks (editor’s words, not his!) — all of this was a clear signal: social media mattered more than anyone had fully realized yet.

“When I started observing the scrutiny that myself and our team was under, at first it felt like all of a sudden everyone started to care about what we were doing,” said Harding, who was with Kroenke Sports and Entertainment (aka KSE: Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Mammoth, among other properties), eventually coming to lead digital and content for the group. “But that was actually a sign that what we were doing was impactful for the business, and other people were starting to see it.

“Ultimately, businesses want to build revenue opportunities. There are a lot of other things that matter, but for a business to stay in business, it needs to produce revenue. So when I started finding ways to help other departments see the value and see how it could increase sales, could become an asset for our partners that previously wasn’t there, it didn’t exist, and now it’s a whole new realm of assets that could be monetized in that way.”

There’s no single paradigm for governing social media within an organization, whether for a unique entity like a sports property or an everyday b2c or b2b brand. For some it’s an extension of a communications or PR team, others have a dedicated digital practice, for some it may ladder up to a senior creative or content leader, while still others place social media within marketing. But no matter where social media sits, the impact of social isn’t confined to a single department — the new era that social media ushered in forced everybody to adopt a new way of thinking.

In discussing how social media got infused into every aspect of marketing, Harding invoked a phrase from Jason Mitchell, a co-founder of social media marketing agency Movement Strategy, ‘social-centric marketing.’

“That’s how I’ve seen it for years and that’s how I see it now, that the smartest marketers are looking at all marketing through the lens of social,” said Harding, who earlier this year left his post at Kroenke to found brand and marketing strategy company Tewdilly. “It doesn’t mean what are we producing on social, but how can every aspect of our marketing become something that our customers might share on social, and live in that way.”

With social sitting in such a centric role, the voice and brand of the business have become orbited in alignment with the organization’s social channels, and vice-versa. It’s not easy to develop a brand that’s consistent and authentic across a business, let alone a sports team. Multiply that challenge for Harding and his colleagues within Kroenke, overseeing numerous teams concurrently. He talked about the challenge of developing distinct voices for KSE’s diverse teams, and I loved the way he articulated extracting ideas from ‘micro-moments.’

“I think the best we did over time at nailing it in terms of voice, style, and tone was when our content team was closely connected to the front office and to team ops and to the players, and was at the training facility and at the practices and on the road and really got to know what the vibe was like and what the culture was like and what words were being used,” he said, “and being able to extract some of those micro-moments and the feelings and use that as a foundation for how we communicated publicly on these channels.”

There’s rhyme and reason to it all. It can be tempting to conform to the mean, to adopt a voice and brand strategy that appears to win on social media, sometimes at the expense of what actually resonates with and represents your fans. To get the most out of social media requires a two-way street. It’s part art, part science, part trial-and-error, and part thoughtful understanding of your fan base, customer base, and/or desired audience.

Harding had a front-row seat, and indeed active role, in managing the sometimes subtle and sometimes salient differences between fans across the KSE family. A lot of Nuggets fans and Avalanche fans, for example, share a connection to the state of Colorado, but to generalize across a cohort across any singular trait falls short. Harding and his team came to study the similarities and differences, and even found strategic opportunities of intersection to collaborate.

“The organizations are different, they just are, so embracing that is important,” said Harding. “I think it would be a mistake to treat all Denver fans or all Colorado fans in the same way and market to them in the same way, but there is opportunity for some crossover organically; some of that just happens organically. So I think the fine line is doing the things that make sense and finding crossover opportunities that unfold for you without forcing it.”

As my conversation with Harding progressed, it became clear how many of the principles and insights gleaned from all the years in sports translated to everyday brands. Even as the seasons changed (and the team performances) and as platforms evolved (and multiplied), the foundations Harding had learned became more solidified.

It’s not easy to go from leading digital and social for major pro sports teams to working with ‘normal’ brands and businesses, whether within the sports industry or not. It’s easy to wonder if the strategies and tactics honed over years of working on properties where the majority of customers are fanatics (fans!) and the brand is proudly worn on apparel, showed off on posters, and often (insistently) passed on to one’s kids. Harding reflected on his years with Kroenke and what he’s taken away as he works with clients at Tewdilly today.

“What I’ve learned is that the mechanisms can change, but the connection to customers is what’s most important, and then being true to your brand,” he said.

Harding continued, emphasizing how honest we must be with ourselves. It’s a rite of passage for a social media marketer to post something that they either don’t like or don-t understand — but their fans do.

“One thing I think is underrated or maybe not talked about as enough is just listening as a sales tactic,” he said. “Like, I hate — some of these words I actually have a reaction to, but it’s actually just listening to what your customers are saying and then genuinely trying to do what you can to give them what they’re asking for. It sounds really simple, but to me this means tapping into what is holding so many of us back at work, and maybe in other ways, but that’s the noise that’s in our heads.

“The fear, the insecurity, the comparison — and instead just truly listening to what we know to be true.”

Social media has become the gravitational center of how businesses connect, communicate, and grow—a lens through which every aspect of marketing, branding, and customer experience is refracted. It holds the answers to what customers want, how they behave, and what truly resonates. But those insights are only actionable when we approach them with curiosity and humility, allowing our own notions and assumptions to be challenged. The answers are all there—waiting to guide us, if we’re ready to listen.

LISTEN TO MY FULL INTERVIEW WITH JARED HARDING

READ THE SNIPPETS

Check out Jared’s business Tewdilly

Podcast Snippets

Lessons from Sports on building brands, developing digital strategy, and creating lifelong fans

On episode 284 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil chatted with Jared Harding, Founder and CEO of Tewdilly, longtime digital/social/content for Kroenke Sports and Entertainment (Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Mammoth, among many other properties)

What follows are some snippets from the episode. Click Here to listen to the full episode or check it out and subscribe to the podcast via Apple or listen on Spotify or YouTube.

Podcasts

Episode 284: Jared Harding on Creating Brand Identities in Sports and Taking Lessons from the NBA and NHL into Tewdilly

Listen to episode 284 of the Digital and Social Media Sports podcast, in which Neil chatted with Jared Harding, Founder and CEO of Tewdilly, longtime digital/social/content for Kroenke Sports and Entertainment (Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Mammoth, among many other properties).

97 minute duration. Listen on Apple, Spotify and YouTube

Posted by Neil Horowitz Follow me on Twitter @njh287   Check out my LinkedIn articles

Podcasts

Episode 283: Best Of The Podcast — NFL, Australia, MLB, Brand Storytelling, Community, and more

Listen to episode 283 of the Digital and Social Media Sports podcast, a best of, featuring parts of conversations with:

Listen below or on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.

97 minute duration. Listen on Apple, Spotify or YouTube.

Posted by Neil Horowitz Follow me on Twitter @njh287   Connect on LinkedIn

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

READ THE SNIPPETS

Podcast Snippets

World Wide Wob on Building his NBA Content Brand and Carving Out a Career in New Media by Staying Ahead of the Curve

On episode 282 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil chatted with Rob Perez, aka World Wide Wob, a leading voice in NBA media and NBA Twitter, currently working with SiriusXM NBA and Sorare NBA.

What follows are some snippets from the episode. Click Here to listen to the full episode or check it out and subscribe to the podcast via Apple or listen on Spotify or YouTube.