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Bill Simmons is leaving ESPN

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Songbird, May 8, 2015.

Page 32 of 34
  1. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    I think I’ve written I hope it succeeds and I do. They’ve found a niche and good for that network.

    I was far less enamored with - and much more critical of - Grantland, even if it did more good work than the Ringer.
     
    Alma, Jan 30, 2019
    #373
  2. Guy_Incognito

    Guy_Incognito Well-Known Member

    Why?
     
    Guy_Incognito, Jan 30, 2019
    #374
  3. CD Boogie

    CD Boogie Well-Known Member

    Boggles the mind that anyone has any interest in any of this shit. I've tried getting into podcasts and simply can't, and I ride the train an hour per day. I'd rather read, write or nap than listen to people talk. To each his own. It's a good thing he pivoted to podcasts, bc the written content on The Ringer is mediocre, at best. The NFL guys are good. The rest is borderline garbage.
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2019
    CD Boogie, Jan 30, 2019
    #375
  4. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    They sold $15 million in ads doesn’t mean the podcast unit turned a $15 million profit, of course.
     
    wicked, Jan 30, 2019
    #376
    Inky_Wretch likes this.
  5. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    Correct. I'm sure they weren't produced for free.
     
    Alma, Jan 30, 2019
    #377
  6. justgladtobehere

    justgladtobehere Well-Known Member

    The NYT does well with its daily political podcast. The Globe tried an Aaron Hernandez podcast series. With the promotion they put into it, seems like the paper thought of it as the start of a new area. NPR has a bunch of podcasts. Slate does podcasts, doesn't it?
     
    justgladtobehere, Jan 30, 2019
    #378
  7. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Right. Doesn't tell you how much they are spending on head count, technology, hosting costs, etc. If they aren't running the business well, $15 million in revenue isn't going to leave a ton of room to grow organically, at least very quickly.

    I read the WSJ story, though, and I think it is smart to sit back and try to grow organically they way it said he wants to. Buzzfeed had something like $300 million in sales last year, well more than what we are talking about here, but the layoffs they recently announced seemed pretty urgent and were sparked by the fact that they have raised hundreds of millions of dollars from outsiders, including a huge capital raise from Comcast. The pressure to finally give a return on investment probably ramped up on them. Because The Ringer doesn't have investors who could lean on it at any moment, if Simmons is willing to sit back and give it time, it gives him a luxury that other new media companies that have relied heavily on bags of venture capital don't have. This is how businesses used to have to succeed or fail. If you produce something people will buy, you do that and then grow based on your success.

    I posted this on the thread on the journalism board a few months ago, addressing how the company could be profitable from podcasts, but how it probably isn't throwing off a huge dividend yet.

    Someone might argue that he is better off than if he had stayed at ESPN, because even though he almost definitely has taken home less money than he would have, let's say you figure he could get 4 times sales for The Ringer (I don't know if anyone would value an internet media company that richly now that the environment has started to sour), he would now have a $60 million company. The problem is that I think the brand is so heavily dependent on his name that nobody would buy it without him attached to it. Which is a catch-22 for him. For better or worse, I suspect he is all in on his site. Of course, having said that, we'll probably get a story tomorrow about how he sold it for $75 million.
     
    The Big Ragu, Jan 30, 2019
    #379
  8. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Yes, many do. I was just making a joke related to all the "pivot to video" stories we've seen the past few years.

    Like @CD Boogie, I'm not into pods. My commute is less than 10 minutes (less than five during the summer and I don't have to deal with traffic from two schools). I should probably give them a try when I'm on the treadmill or bike trainer, I guess.
     
    Inky_Wretch, Jan 30, 2019
    #380
  9. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    Gladiator did top the iTunes chart right after it launched, so I think they did ok, and they’ve also done/are doing a couple others. Regarding Mr. Wretch’s point: I didn’t really get into podcasts until my one-way commute went from a 7-minute drive to a 40-minute train ride. Occasionally I’ll listen to a short segment when I’m home and I want to finish up an episode.
     
    wicked, Jan 30, 2019
    #381
    Inky_Wretch likes this.
  10. Hermes

    Hermes Well-Known Member

    I'm at a desk alone or working on an assembly line for 18 hours a day. I'd lose my mind without podcasts.

    Although I probably should switch to Audible and start getting my "reading" in that way.
     
    Hermes, Jan 30, 2019
    #382
  11. CD Boogie

    CD Boogie Well-Known Member

    well, yeah, that makes sense. If my boss rolled up on me and I was wearing headphones, though, he'd figure I was underworked.
     
    CD Boogie, Jan 30, 2019
    #383
    Hermes likes this.
  12. Hermes

    Hermes Well-Known Member

    Community newspapers...where we've been cut to the bone so much that I'm the only one in the office 90 percent of the time! It's great and awful all at that same time.
     
    Hermes, Jan 30, 2019
    #384
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