Matt Mallon comes from a large family, and it was his oldest sister who had been a media buyer and in media sales, that threw him a copy of Ad Week Magazine to look at. Mallon, who had just finished college, found a listing in the magazine for an open sales assistant position at Katz Media. That started him out on a media sales journey through CBS and ABC in Los Angeles, followed by 11 years as Senior Director, General Sales Manager for ESPN LA, which all led him to his current role as Director of Advertising Partnerships for Locked On Podcast Network, a position he started in November 2020. In looking at his career as a whole, Mallon sees that very first job as one of the most important ones he has had.
“Katz was a really great training ground for a young seller,” Mallon said. “They just teach a discipline and the knowledge of sales. So, I had that background and we morphed into the ABC Radio Group at Katz…and then when we lost that contract…and I took a job at CBS radio here in LA selling locally.”
Eventually, Mallon was hired to be the General Sales Manager of KABC and when the station was able to win back the rights to Los Angeles Dodgers play-by-play, things really took off. “It’d been like an eight- or ten-year hiatus since [the Dodgers had been on the station]. So, we won them back and I built a sales team around the Dodgers and had some great success.” After ABC Radio sold their group, Mallon ended up at ESPN LA. “I took over sales there and built up a really good sales team around the Lakers, USC, the Angels, the Rams, and LA FC for play-by-play properties,” he said.
While Mallon loved the ability to engage clients with the team partnerships and take them to games or down on the sidelines, what he really appreciates about sports sales is that sometimes things that matter to a client or an agency in another genre, may not come in to play with a sports buy due to the passion the client has for the team and the ability to tie their business’ name in with it.
“The beautiful thing about selling sports and sports radio sponsorships is that there’s been such pressure over the years on CPM efficiencies, etc.” he said, “But, if you do it properly, you get the client and the agency involved, CPM sort of goes out the window.”
Mallon became a casualty of layoffs after nearly a dozen years with ESPN LA and almost ended up at iHeart in Los Angeles, however COVID happened and there was no longer a job offer. After starting a small ad agency, Mallon connected with Locked On executives David Locke and Carl Weinstein who were looking to add a sales executive to the team.
“It was just a perfect match,” Mallon said about his initial conversations with Locke and Weinstein. “Once I got on the phone with Carl and David, we all just were totally connected on mindsets and goals and the way we do business. And I couldn’t be more thrilled. It’s just a fantastic environment.”
As far as transitioning from years of ‘traditional media’ to podcasting, it was that experience back at Katz Media that Mallon believes helped him pick things up quickly.
“Because of the training I had at Katz Media for those five years or so, where literally one market you’re selling country and News Talk and the next market you’re selling CHR and Classic Rock,” he said. “So, you learn how to pivot pretty quickly and sell the benefits. And so, the ramp up time for me was really just getting the vernacular of podcast advertising down.”
Unlike a lot of podcasts, Locked On is not out trying to sell individual shows. They are a true network sale, although clients can pick off pieces such as all of the baseball podcasts or all of the college sports podcasts and opportunities exist to do embedded, host-read ads as well as dynamic ad insertion with targeting.
In explaining the Locked On strategy, Mallon said, “The NFL is 42 shows, NBA is 38, College is 61, etc. So, we are bundling those together, you’re buying 42 NFL shows that speak directly to that fan base.”
Those ads go into the audio RSS feed for the show as well as the Locked On Podcast Network video platforms, which include YouTube, OTT, and a new app which will launch next month, the Lockdown Smart TV app.
When Mallon started with the company in 2020 it was doing around 80 million downloads. He said this year they will do north of 400 million listens and views. “The growth curve is tremendous,” Mallon said. Even so and with Tegna purchasing the company in 2021, it still operates as “a pretty lean machine” with Mallon and a couple of others responsible for advertising revenue.
Mallon said the Locked On Podcast Network describes itself as “hyper-local passion at national scale,” and said the moniker for the content side is “Your Team, Every Day.” He explained the daily show drops and keeping the shows around 30 minutes help fans in that they don’t have to remember what day the show comes out on, versus most networks doing weekly shows, and they don’t have to invest hours of time to keep up with their teams.
“30 minutes is a very, very digestible amount of time,” Mallon said. As for the daily rhythm and the length, he said, “We think that’s kind of our secret sauce.”
As far as the secret sauce of sales, Mallon used the term, “a pleasant persistence,” to describe what he thinks it takes to have success in the industry. “Also, integrity, I think you just have to have knowledge of your product and you have to speak with honesty and integrity and make sure that you can deliver what you say you’re delivering. And then also come to the table with creative ideas. Creative solutions for your clients are really critical. But more than anything, I think just being reliable, dependable and honest…These clients and agencies are under the gun to produce results. And if you can’t trust a partner, then why are you going to invest in that partner?”
As for the creative part of the process, Mallon pointed to a partnership Locked On has activated with LinkedIn surrounding recruitment and the transfer portal and when those subjects come up on their network of college sports shows or one of the shows visits with a recruiting specialist. Those are presented by LinkedIn and, in addition to regular reads they get from the hosts, the company is recognized as the sponsor of those particular segments.
As Mallon looks toward the future, he said, “We’re full of good, smart, hardworking people. So, I think we really attack issues that are for headwinds in a really intelligent way. And our growth curve has been tremendous.”
He mentions immediate reaction shows as something the network is looking to expand upon, where shows are live on YouTube within 15 minutes of a game ending and get posted on the audio side shortly thereafter. Mallon is excited for those to continue and also pointed to the fact that as far as users are concerned, research shows they don’t differentiate between where they consume a podcast, (audio, YouTube or other), they consider it a podcast, so the video side is simply an extension of the content and audience.
“With the integrations we can do in video product placement, it’s a whole new world,” Mallon said. “And, you know, we’re in the right place.”
Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
