Sports podcasts are a subset of podcasts that cover topics related to sports and athletes. Content can include sports news, predictions and analysis of game results, debates and discussions between hosts, and interviews with sports figures.

History

Podcasts in general began to gain a following in the mid and late 2000s. In October 2004, Sam Coutin began ''The Sports Pod'' and shortly after he launched the My Sports Radio podcast network.} By 2006, shows on Coutin's network were achieving 500,000 downloads each month.

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

was an early adopter of the podcast format, launching their first in 2005. In 2007,

Bill Simmons William John Simmons III (born September 25, 1969) is an American sports analyst, author, podcaster, and former sports writer who is the founder and CEO of the sports and pop culture website '' The Ringer''. Simmons first gained attention with ...

stumbled upon a podcast interview of

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

executive Danny Ainge by

NBA draft analyst

Chad Ford Chad Ford (born 1971) is an associate professor at Brigham Young University – Hawaii (BYUH). He is director of the university's McKay Center and is known for his study of conflict resolution with an emphasis on large group ethnic and religious ...

. Simmons, also an ESPN employee at the time, inquired to his management about hosting a podcast of his own. Simmons was sent basic audio equipment and hosted his '' B.S. Report'' podcast in a DIY fashion from his home. Simmons' podcast was popular among sports fan and he his success would help "launch a sports podcast revolution." In 2016, Simmons left ESPN and founded his own website venture, The Ringer, that centered much of its focus through podcasts. His ''Bill Simmons Podcast'' hosted on the website was "the lone sports program among

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

' 20 most popular odcasts in 2017"

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

punter Pat McAfee retired following the

2016 NFL season The 2016 NFL season was the 97th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL) and the 51st of the Super Bowl era. The season began on September 8, 2016, with defending Super Bowl 50 champion Denver defeating Carolina in the NF ...

and ventured into podcasting. His eponymous ''Pat McAfee Show'' has been credited with "paving the way for fellow athletes to pursue a media career upon retirement." Around this period, sports podcasst began attracting more attention as a vehicle for advertisements, similar to how

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

functions. The Ringer's ad sales exceeded $15 million in 2018. From 2015 to 2020, ad revenue for podcasts rose 1,350%; sports podcasts were near the top of all genres driving that revenue. By the late 2010s, podcast versions of sports television talk shows like '' The Herd with Colin Cowherd'' and '' First Take'' were among popular sports podcasts. Radio shows are also repackaged into podcasts. Established sports networks, such as ESPN, also offered original podcast programming in addition to their repackaged content. Series hosted by

Bomani Jones Bomani Babatunde Jones (born August 26, 1980) is an American sports journalist who is currently employed by ESPN. He was the co-host of '' Highly Questionable'' with Dan Le Batard, before leaving the show in June 2017 to develop his own show, ' ...

and Katie Nolan, as well as

Barstool Sports Barstool Sports is an American blog website and digital media company headquartered in New York City that produces content on sports and pop culture. Founded by David Portnoy in 2003 in Milton, Massachusetts, the company's two primary owners are ...

' lineup, including ''

Pardon My Take ''Pardon My Take'' (abbreviated "''PMT''") is a comedic sports podcast released three times per week by Barstool Sports. It is hosted by Dan "Big Cat" Katz and PFT Commenter. The podcast debuted on February 29, 2016. It first appeared on the US ...

'', were also cited as popular by the ''

Sports Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor News ...

'' (''SBJ''). Colin Cowherd (2011 crop)

The 2020s brought upon further expansion and growth for sports podcasts, with major acquisitions and network developments occurring. Simmons sold The Ringer to

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

for $196–$250 million in 2020. In 2021, television station group Tegna purchased the Locked On Podcast network, "which produces 160 daily shows for U.S. sports teams." Partnering with

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

in 2021, established sports media personality

Colin Cowherd Colin Murray Cowherd (born January 6, 1964) is an American sports media personality. Cowherd began his broadcasting career as sports director of Las Vegas television station KVBC and as a sports anchor on several other stations before joining ...

launched The Volume, his own podcast network, to better connect with consumers. In January 2022, Fox Sports launched Fox Audio Network, a podcast network to leverage its on-air talent such as

Skip Bayless Skip Bayless (born John Edward Bayless II) is an American sports columnist, commentator, and television personality. He is well-known for his work as a commentator on the ESPN2 show '' First Take'' with Stephen A. Smith, a show which he left ...

and Nick Wright, in the audio space.

Audience and demographics

Early in the history of sports podcasts, exact numbers on viewership was difficult to track. ESPN opted to not share viewership of ''The B.S. Report'' with Simmons, and the latter only realized how popular his podcast was when

Seth Meyers Seth Adam Meyers (born December 28, 1973) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, and television host. He hosts ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'', a late-night talk show on NBC. Prior to that, he was a cast member and head writer for NBC ...

, then a cast member on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'', asked to guest on it. In 2018, ''SBJ'' wrote that "Unlike TV, where live games account for all but a handful of the most-watched programs in the U.S. each year, sports podcasts trail shows focused on news and political shows or general interest in both audience size and revenue." According to industry analyst Podtrac, only two sports programmers ranked among top 10 among podcast programmers in March 2018:

was ranked 7th and

was ranked 10th, with 4.4 million and 2.4 million monthly unique listeners, respectively. ESPN experienced a 43% increase in 2018 over 2017 in podcast downloads. ''

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz ''The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz'' is a syndicated sports talk show hosted by Dan Le Batard and Jon "Stugotz" Weiner broadcast out of Miami. It was also carried on many ESPN Radio Network affiliates nationwide and simulcast nationally on v ...

'' was the network's most downloaded sports podcast show in 2018, with more than 91 million IAB Certified downloads. In 2019, ESPN executive Traug Keller stated that "podcast listeners skew significantly younger, certainly younger than ESPN Radio, in fact, younger than any other platform at ESPN," detailing that, "the ESPN podcast listener is on average 33, and 60% of our podcast listeners are 18 to 34. That's 13 years younger than our radio listeners."

References

{{Portal bar, Sports Sports podcasts Sports mass media

History

Audience and demographics

See also

References