Over the last decade, there has been a proliferation of athlete-driven content in the sports media ecosystem wherein competitors tell their stories and shape narratives directly. Authentically conveying their thoughts and opinions through production companies and original content ventures, these competitors are able to leverage their insights and expertise in the world of media. For example, former athletes Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird founded A Touch More, a podcast and production company that has elicited a large following telling stories from those who move the culture forward. Rapinoe was part of a panel about athlete-driven content from the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference alongside industry luminaries Constance Schwartz-Morini and Marie Donoghue.
Donoghue, who works as the chief business and growth officer of DraftKings, previously collaborated with Schwartz-Morini on the Coach Prime documentary series while at Amazon. Within her remarks, she professed the presence of trends in the marketplace that can catalyze alterations in consumer taste. Yet she is a believer in storytelling and affirms that it is more important in finding the right partner as well. Donoghue enjoys working on and watching athlete-driven documentaries, but she also sees another vertical with palpable momentum in the overall ecosystem.
“I think podcasts have been having a moment and [are] going to continue to grow,” Donoghue said. “I just saw something the other day that YouTube now has their podcast traffic is bigger than every other platform.”
YouTube recently divulged that there are more than 1 billion monthly active users watching podcast content on the platform. The data corroborates that YouTube is currently the most frequently used service to hear podcasts around the country, and the company referenced award-winning shows based in sports media such as Club Shay Shay and New Heights within its announcement.
“One of the reasons I love podcasts – and we did this back in the day with Grantland – it was such a great touchpoint with fans because it’s so intimate,” Donoghue said. “You take them on walks, you take them on runs, they’re in your ear.”
Schwartz-Morini, the co-founder and chief executive officer of SMAC Entertainment, has had the chance to work with prominent sports figures such as Deion Sanders and Tony Gonzalez, and her company is also in the midst of developing a scripted project about the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins. On top of that, she also works with FOX Sports reporter Erin Andrews on various ventures, including the Calm Down podcast she co-hosts with colleague Charissa Thompson. Schwartz-Morini mentioned the project while answering if she has a preference in terms of content format.
“The Buccaneers just did a ‘She is Football’ [Summit on Friday],” Schwartz-Morini said. “Eight-hundred women showed up, people were flying from all over the country, so the demand is there, and so long as there’s demand, I can check a box for all of this.”
Donoghue was curious if Rapinoe had seen a dichotomy between fans who knew her as a soccer player and those who listen to the podcasts. In response, Rapinoe articulated that she is not sure if she feels that yet, but she acceded that there is something different about the podcasts and that they ultimately drive the content. Furthermore, she discussed her interest in the longer format that licenses more nuanced discussion about a variety of topics.
“Women’s sports – it’s rarely just what the headline is,” Rapinoe said. “There’s always going to be a sort of deeper lens that we need to look through it with and talk about it with, and I feel like that gives us – podcasting gives us the ability to do the headlines and sort of say what’s going on in women’s sports but also have a more nuanced on take on why this is happening and sort of the historical context of that that we miss so much.”
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