Barstool Sports the most valuable media company in the world by 2025?

Yes, they'll still be into it.
My buddy told me about this newspaper he was reading in Boston and said I should try and write for it. I laughed. I started reading it, but it clearly wasn't "journalism" and wasn't a path I wanted to go down. That was Barstool Sports in 2005 and I regret being a snobby dick about it ever since.
Twelve years later I still read the site and so do my friends. I don't read every blog. I read what interests me, like I would a newspaper. I listen to their podcasts, or at least the ones for my demo - PMT has grown on me even though I'm not a huge PFT guy, the Rundown is entertaining and as a dad of two, Podfathers is relatable. The shows that skew to a younger demo? Not for me.
Barstool Sports stopped being a sports blog a long time ago. They're an entertainment site. They're not professional journalists and don't claim to be. Want to attack the quality of writing? Blog writing isn't the same as newspaper writing and there aren't a lot of newspaper guys good enough to work at Barstool because they've had the fun beaten out of them.
Instead of shitting on Barstool, media should look at what they're doing and figure out how they could incorporate it into their coverage. 41,000 people watched Big Cat watch Game 7 of the World Series on Facebook Live. They had 12,500 people pay $5 to watch a backwoods fighting event. They're carrying a Sirius Radio channel. They turned podcasting into a profitable venture and all of their podcasts dominate the standings, which is crazy considering their size vs. who they're up against. Oh, and they're paying employees livable wages unlike most newspapers.
Simmons failed because he was relatable until he got popular. Barstool hasn't done that. They've remained who they are.

 

Lets not go crazy. A lot of people before Barstool turned podcasting into a profitable venture, including Simmons.

 

I could have put it better. Podcasting was big, but for the most part the podcasts making money were celebrity ones or podcasts hosted by major media corps. Barstool dropped theirs and they all shot to the top of the rankings. PMT was No. 1 its first day and I don't think its left the post. Their golf podcast - which I refuse to listen to because their golf guys are basically stealing No Laying Up's schtick - ranks up there every week.

I wonder if Barstool could add a true media wing focused more on covering sports, like Deadspin was before it became the liberal safe space it is now. They'd need to hire some bodies because from what I've read, nobody - other than their baseball guy Jared Carrabis and this intern Robbie Fox, who did a really great WWE series that I read despite not being a wrestling fan - has the chops to go more than 500 words without losing steam.

 

Liked the site when I was 28. Now I'm 39 and haven't visited the site in at least 10 years. Tastes change. Priorities change. Young kids will always be looking for stupid crap on the internet, and fortunately for them, the avenues to find what they are looking for are endless. Ultimately, a younger generation of idiot bloggers/podcasters will come along and kids will jump ship like Barstool never existed. It's a good brand for now, but nothing lasts forever.

 

Thanks to the Fed manipulating the money supply by printing hundreds of billions of dollars.

 

Richard Dietsch blocked me on Twitter. I have no idea why.

 

Basically this. Portnoy's half as funny as he was 2 years ago and he's only been in NY for what 8 months? Not sure what the shelf life is and I don't see them adapting.

 

Society is so fickle that we don't know what the most valuable media company will be in 2019, never mind 2025.

I'm not into the site, but they've had staying power in Boston.

 

I think he's been successful in hiring younger guys, much like Simmons had the foresight to do with Grantland. But Simmons obviously made missteps subsequent to the launch of Grantland. No one can say that his brand hasn't taken a tremendous hit with the firing from ESPN, the cancellation of his HBO show, and the lukewarm reception of The Ringer. But Simmons had the right idea in hiring younger people and giving them a forum, attaching himself to the next wave of writers. He just overstretched himself in so many ways. There's the lesson Portnoy needs to learn.

 

Didn't Carrabis leave for CSNNE?

I don't think the Simmons/Portnoy comparison is particularly relevant. They mostly did two different things. Simmons succeeded based on his writing and developed a podcast that still is very successful. He got other chances at ESPN like 30 for 30, but Grantland and The Ringer are nothing but vanity projects. Portnoy built a brand brand attractive to college guys and cubicle dwellers. It was never about writing, it was about clicks and merchandise. He has expanded it a bit, but it is still a brand linked to young men. Let's see if he can maintain it.

 

My main point is that the ability to build and retain a branded media empire for both is the ability to appeal to the same 18-35 demographic while both aging. Simmons did it awkwardly for a while, by watching shitass MTV shows that were not something a self-respecting dad would be watching, and then shifted a bit by building Grantland around voices who could do that age-associated pop culture meddling without sounding like the creepy older guy. Portnoy is still young and goofy enough that it doesn't seem too forced, but he's also hired younger guys who are right in that wheelhouse and are genuine meatheads who can appeal to that 18-35 demo. But yeah, they obviously made their bones in different ways.

 

Honestly kind of shocked no one else will admit these guys are giant losers and that their success is appalling. They have nothing interesting or funny to say.

The main takeaway is that there's no shortage of other unfunny and uninteresting losers that will flock to it, I guess.