For the second year in a row, Sport Social Podcast Network has been announced as the headline partner for the Sports Podcast Awards event. The continued partnership highlights Sport Social’s commitment to supporting the booming sports podcasting industry and promoting the voices that shape how fans consume sports media today.

Building on Last Year’s Success

Last year’s partnership was a huge success, setting a strong foundation for their ongoing collaboration. In 2024, Sport Social Podcast Network played a key role in elevating the awards to new heights, helping to increase visibility for podcasts across many categories like “Best Football Podcast” and “Best Cricket Podcast.”

The 2024 edition saw increased global participation, with podcasts from different countries competing for top honours. The partnership between the awards and Sport Social helped to create more buzz around lesser-known shows, shining a spotlight on creators from various corners of the world.

Anthony Cooper, Head of Content at Sport Industry Group, on behalf of the Sports Podcast Awards, had this to say:

“Sport Social Podcast Network’s involvement as the headline sponsor for the 2025 Sports Podcast Awards is a commitment to the ever growing industry of sports podcasts. Their dedication to distributing, growing and monetising high-quality sports content aligns perfectly with our mission to honour excellence in sports podcasting. We are thrilled to have them on board and look forward to an incredible celebration of the sports podcasting community.”

Stefan Doyle, Head of Sport Social, added:

“We are thrilled to once again be the headline sponsor for the Sports Podcast Awards. This partnership continues to reflect our shared commitment to elevating the world of sports podcasting and celebrating the creators who bring sporting stories to life. As the sports audio industry grows, we’re excited to support the awards in reaching even more fans and recognising the global talent driving the medium forward.”

This partnership is a testament to the growing influence and importance of sports podcasting in the world of sports media. It’s not just about broadcasting games; it’s about telling stories, analysing plays, and giving voice to the passions of sports fans worldwide.

Entry Requirements

Here are the entry requirements for the 2025 Sports Podcast Awards! Your main entry will be a minimum of one and a maximum of three samples from your podcast. These should each be 5 minutes or less. You will also provide us with your podcast artwork, podcast description, and a few sentences as to why you should win. Please note, if your show makes the official shortlist, all information will be publicly available unless otherwise noted.

NAME & ARTWORK

Provide the name of your show and the podcast artwork.

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

What is your podcast about?

AUDIO SAMPLES

Upload up to 3, 5-minute audio samples.

ONE FULL EPISODE

A link to a full episode of your show in case there is interest to hear more than your samples.

SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES

Send in all your handles to facilitate connecting with others in this community.

WHY YOU SHOULD WIN

Your opportunity to tell the judges why your podcast should win.

Important Entry Information

• Cost of entry = $150.
  • Creators who independently produce and manage their own podcast, without the management or ownership from major networks or corporations.
• Entry is free for independent podcasts
  • Creators who independently produce and manage their own podcast, without the management or ownership from major networks or corporations
  • Use the code INDIE at checkout.
• You can enter multiple categories. Capped at $300
  • Earlybird offer. Capped at 2024 prices with the code EARLYBIRD 
• Contact us for more details 
• Please note that if you reach the official shortlist, your information will be made publicly available unless otherwise noted.
• The clips and episodes you submit must have been released between August 2023 and October 2024

>> Click to enter the Sports Podcast Awards 2025

Categories include:

• Best American Football Podcast
• Best Baseball Podcast
• Best Basketball Podcast
• Best Combat Sports Podcast
• Best Cricket Podcast
• Best Cycling Podcast
• Best Equality and Social Impact Podcast
• Best Fantasy Betting and Gaming Podcast
• Best Fitness Health and Wellbeing Podcast
• Best Football Podcast
• Best Golf Podcast
• Best Hockey Podcast (Ice and Field)
• Best Motorsports Podcast
• Best Olympics and Paralympics Podcast
• Best Rugby Podcast
• Best Sports Business Podcast
• Best Sports Comedy Podcast
• Best Sports Documentary Podcast
• Best Sports Talk Podcast
• Best Team Podcast
• Best Tennis and Racket Podcast
• Best Wrestling Podcast
• Diverse Voices Award

>> Browse all categories and select a suitable category for your entry, enter now! <<

Check out the full list below and you have until Sunday 13^th October to cast your vote NOW!

BEST IN VIDEO 

Organisation 

• Hayters TV – BEST IN WOMEN’S FOOTBALL 

Creators 

• Holly Shand – FPL Green Room 

BEST INFLUENCER 

• Paul John Dyes – ACSOM 

• Ricky Sacks – Last Word On Spurs 

BEST PODCAST 

Organisation  

• Football Cliches 

• Seaman Says 

Premier League 

• Forest Focus 

• Last Word On Spurs 

Football League 

• Blades Ramble 

• Steve Bloomer’s Washing 

• Undr The Cosh 

International 

• A Celtic State of Mind

• Guiricast  

BEST CLUB CONTENT CREATOR 

Premier League 

• Last Word on Spurs 

• United View 

BEST IN FANTASY FOOTBALL 

Creators 

• Above Average FPL

• FPL Focal

• FPL Fran 

• FPL Harry

• FPL Raptor – FPL Therapy 

• Gianni Buttice – FPL Green Room 

• Holy Shand – FPL Green Room 

• Let’s Talk FPL

• Planet FPL  

Organisation 

• Fantasy Football Scout 

• FPL Optimized 

BEST BRANDED CAMPAIGN 

• Chicken Shop Challenge Global Fan Network 

BEST. MEDIA ORGANISATION – Publisher 

• Global Fan Network 

Best New Content Creator 

• Forest Focus 

Best in Women’s Football – creators 

• All for United WFC 

• The Women’s Football Podcast 

12th-26th January 2025: 2025 Australian Open (Tennis) – Melbourne Park (Melbourne, Australia)

31st January – 15th March 2025: 2025 Six Nations (Rugby Union) – England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland & Wales

February 2025

8th-16th February 2025: 2025 Invictus Games – Vancouver & Whistler (Canada)

9th February 2025: Super Bowl LIX (NFL) – Carsars Superdome (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA)

13th February – 22 February 2025: The Super League Season (Rugby)

19th-9th March: 2025 ICC Champions Trophy (Cricket) – Pakistan

March 2025

1st March 2025: 2025 Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves (Rugby) – Las Vegas

2nd March 2025: 2025 Tokyo Marathon – Tokyo (Japan)

14th-16th March 2025: Australian Grand P (Formula 1) – Melbourne

April 2025

5th April 2025: 2025 Grand National (Horse Racing) – Aintree Racecourse (Liverpool, England)

10th-13th April 2025: 2025 Masters (Golf) – Augusta National Golf Club, (Augusta, USA)

11-13 April        Bahrain Grand Prix (Formula 1) – Sakhir

19th April – 5th May 2025: 2025 World Snooker Championship (Snooker) – Crucible Theatre (Sheffield, England)

21st April 2025: 2025 Boston Marathon – Boston (Massachusetts, USA)

27th April 2025: 2025 London Marathon – London (England)

May 2025

10th May-1st June: 2025 Giro d’Italia (Cycling) – Italy

15th-18th May 2025: 2025 PGA Championship (Golf) – Quail Hollow Club (Charlotte, North Carolina, USA)

17th May: 2025 FA Cup Final (Football) – Wembley Stadium (London, England)

21st May 2025: 2025 UEFA Europa League Final (Football) – San Mamés (Bilbao, Spain)

23th-25th May 2025: Monaco Grand Prix (Formula 1) – Monte Carlo

24th-26th May 2025: The Sky Bet Championship Play-Offs (Football) – England

24th May 2025: 2025 European Rugby Champions Cup Final (Rugby Union) – Principality Stadium (Cardiff, Wales)

25th May 2025: 2025 Indy 500 (Motorsport) – Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Speedway, Indiana, USA)

25th May – 8th June 2025: 2025 French Open (Tennis) – Roland-Garros (Paris, France)

31st May 2025: 2025 UEFA Champions League Final (Football) – Allianz Arena (Munich, Germany)

June 2025

11th June-15^th June 2025: 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans (Motorsport) – Circuit de la Sarthe (Le Mans, France)

11th-15th June 2025: 2025 ICC World Test Championship Final (Cricket) – Lord’s Cricket Ground (London, England)

12th-15th June 2025: 2025 U.S. Open (Golf) – Oakmont Country Club (Plum, Pennsylvania, USA)

15th June – 13th July 2025: 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (Football) – USA

28th June – 2nd August 2025: 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia (Rugby Union) – Australia

30th June – 13th July 2025: 2025 Wimbledon Championships (Tennis) – All England Lawn Tennis Club (London, England)

TBD: 2025 Stanley Cup Finals (Ice Hockey)

July 2025

2nd-27th July 2025: UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 (Football) – Switzerland

4th-6th July 2025: British Grand Prix (Silverstone, England)   

5th-27th July 2025: 2025 Tour de France (Cycling) – France

11th July-3rd August: 2025 World Aquatics Championships (Aquatics) – Kallang (Singapore)

13th-20th July 2025: The Open 2025 (Golf) – Royal Portrush Golf Club (Portrush, Northern Ireland)

TBD: 2025 NBA Finals (Basketball) – TBC

August 2025

August 2025: Start of the English Premier League season 2025/26 (Football) – England

23rd August -14th September 2025: 2025 Vuelta a España (Cycling) – Spain

25th August – 6th September 2025: 2025 US Open (Tennis) – Flushing Meadows (New York City, USA)

27th August – 27th September 2025: 2025 Rugby World Cup (Rugby Union) – England

September 2025

September 2025: Start of the English Championship season 2025/26 (Football) – England

13th-21st September 2025: 2025 World Athletics Championships (Athletics) – National Stadium (Tokyo, Japan)

19th-21st September 2025: 2025 Laver Cup (Tennis) – Chase Center (San Francisco, California, USA)

21st-28th September 2025: 2025 UCI Cycling Road World Championships (Cycling) – Kigali (Rwanda)

25th-28th September 2025: 2025 Ryder Cup (Golf) – Bethpage Black Course (Farmingdale, New York, USA)

TBD AFL Grand Final 2025 (AFL) – Melbourne Cricket Ground (Melbourne, Australia)

TBD: 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup (Cricket) – India

October 2025

12th October 2025: 2025 Chicago Marathon – Chicago (USA)

TBD: 2025 MLB World Series (Baseball) – Tokyo

November 2025

4th November: 2025 Melbourne Cup (Horse Racing) – Flemington Racecourse (Melbourne, Australia)

TBD: 2025 Davis Cup Finals (Tennis) – TBA

TBD: 2025 ATP Finals (Tennis) – Pala Alpitour (Turin, Italy)

TBD: 2025 WTA Finals (Tennis) – Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)

November 2025- January 2026: 2025-26 Ashes series (Cricket) – Australia

December 2025

5th-7th December 2025: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Formula 1) – Yas Marina

15th December 2025-3rd January 2026: 2025/2026 PDC World Darts Championship (Darts) – Alexandra Palace (London, England)

21st December 2025 – 18th January 2026: Africa Cup of Nations (Football) – Morocco

The event is widely recognised in the fantasy gaming community as a curtain raiser for the new FPL season, and one of the biggest gatherings of avid Fantasy Football managers in the world. 

Last season, millions of people around the world created fantasy teams as they pitted their wits against their friends, families and colleagues in mini-leagues that dominated dinner-table conversations during the season.

Sport Social Podcast Network’s bank of fantasy football podcasts help those users navigate the pitfalls that many managers fall down throughout the year, including advice on when to activate chips, when to bench big names and advice on the best cut-price assets your team needs to succeed.

Sport Social listeners can get £5 off their tickets at checkout with the code ‘FEST5’.

Grab your ticket now and join over 350 managers ready to panic together as the first FPL deadline of the season approaches.

The show is one of the biggest National Football League podcasts which is hosted by Nat Coombs, who has spearheaded NFL coverage on TV and radio in the UK for the last 15 years.

American BBQ restaurant brand Hickory’s will be able to tap into a passionate and engaged audience of NFL viewers and fans as a result of the partnership which will run throughout the 2024/2025 NFL season.

Listeners will hear unique, targeted and engaging content in a campaign including host-reads, sponsored mini-episodes, and a live recording of The Nat Coombs Show from Hickory’s Wilmslow restaurant.

As the NFL season kicks off, Hickory’s will be the go-to place for fans to watch the games – particularly on NFL Sundays – so joining forces with The Nat Coombs Show is a powerful way to further elevate the fan experience. 

“There’s also a significant focus on engaging new audiences, with content aiming to help demystify the NFL and make it more inclusive to UK fans. 

“Podcast advertising can be hugely beneficial for brands, especially when working with shows that truly align with their essence and ethos, and this partnership is an ideal example of that.

Paul Swaine, Brand Partnership Director at Sport Social Podcast Network

We’ve been huge fans of the NFL ever since we first fired up the smokers and swung open the doors in Chester back in 2010. 

“We’ve loved introducing a whole host of new fans to barbeque and the NFL over the years, with guests joining us to watch and share the love of the amazing game. And, with the growing popularity of American football in the UK, our NFL Sundays and Super Bowl parties just keep getting bigger.

“We’re super excited to be partnering with The Nat Coombs Show. It will be a great opportunity for our team and regular fans to engage with even more content around the sport and help us reach new audiences. 

“We can’t wait to welcome listeners to Hickory’s and give them an unforgettable experience of this high-stakes game.

Jason Bligh, Director at Hickory’s Smokehouse

Inside, you’ll discover:

• Spending trends: Discover why there is a growing appetite for brands tapping into podcast advertising during major sporting events, as we analyse podcast download increases with campaign spending data from Magellan AI.
• Fan engagement: Understand how passionate sport fans are about their audio content.
• Behavioural shifts: Explore how podcast listener behaviour changes during key sporting events
• Brand benefits: Find out how your brand can reap the rewards on these insights.

Our white paper demonstrates why incorporating podcast advertising into your marketing strategy can be the game-changer brands and advertisers during major sporting events.

Click here to download our white paper now!

It’s been an eventful few weeks, with the team exhibiting at the Podcast Show in London and speaking at Radiocentre’s Tuning In North event in Manchester. We also have some exciting new additions to the network to announce!

If you’d like to book a meeting to see what Sport Social can offer you, please email podcast@sport-social.co.uk  

The Podcast Show 2024

The Sport Social team had an incredible time at the Podcast Show in London at the end of May. It was great to catch up with some of the podcasters we already work with, and speak to potential new shows about joining Europe’s biggest dedicated sport podcast network.

Didn’t manage to speak to us at the event? Want to find out more about how we can grow the audiences and revenues of your podcast? Email the team at podcast@sport-social.co.uk today to arrange a chat. 

Podcast Consumption is Undercounted due to Co-Listening

Your podcast audience could be bigger than you think! A new report from Cumulus Media and Signal Hill has found that podcast listening numbers may be under-estimated as many people listen with friends, family and children (which currently go un-uncounted). You can read the full report and delve into the state on listening habits here.

Sport Social Announces Partnership with Goalhanger Podcasts

We are delighted to announce a partnership with Goalhanger Podcasts that will see Football Cliches, The Spanish Football Podcast and Football Ruined My Life hosted on Sport Social! 

Football Clichés sees Adam Hurrey explore the glorious and unique language of football: the words, the phrases, the mannerisms and, above all, the clichés. 

The Spanish Football Podcast is the award-winning LaLiga show from Phil Kitromilides, Sid Lowe and Alex Kirkland. Since 2013, they’ve been the only pod in Spain sharing their love of Spanish football with listeners every week.

Football Ruined My Life is the new podcast about old football. Colin Shindler, author of the best selling Manchester United Ruined My Life, joins with the distinguished football journalist Patrick Barclay and the Super Agent Jon Holmes (think Gary Lineker, Peter Shilton, Tony Woodcock etc.) to talk about football as it used to be in the days before the invention of the Premier League.

New to Sport Social

Wisden Women’s Cricket Weekly 

Since 2022, we have been working with Wisden on their Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast. We are delighted to announce that we are now also the hosts of Wisden’s new women’s edition of the podcast! Join Lauren Winfield-Hill, Yas Rana and Katya Witney discussing the biggest stories from the women’s game each week.

Let’s Be Having You: The 00s Football Podcast  

Attention noughties football fans! Join Quickly Kevin’s Chris Scull and Alex Brooker (of Last Leg, Soccer Aid and Masked Singer fame) and sports producer Nick Lustig, to embark on a series of 00s based football adventures. Get ready for a dynamic lineup of footballers, broadcasters, and comedians as they delve into that thrilling decade of football.

That’s all for this month, we’ll be back next month with more headlines from Europe’s biggest sport podcast network!

Submit your entry now for the Audio Production Awards 2024

The Audio Production Awards, sponsored by Audible, return for their fourteenth year in 2024. Celebrating the people both behind the scenes and in front of the mic, the awards celebrate audio right across the board – from podcasts to radio, audiobooks to sound design, production to presenting. 

The Awards are organised by AudioUK, which provides business support and growth to people who make podcasts, radio and audiobooks.

There are 23 categories ranging from Best Producer in Comedy, Factual, Drama & Fiction, Arts, Music, Entertainment, Lifestyle & Society, Audiobooks, Sound Design and more, plus a variety of on-mic and emerging talent awards, Best Ensemble Cast, and the special AudioUK award – last year awarded to Reform Radio.

This year welcomes a new category, Little Ears Producer, which celebrates the explosion of audio being created for younger audiences. Winners from the 2023 awards included Anishka Sharma who took the coveted Producer of the Year award, Overcoat Media were named Production Company of the Year, Kwesia AKA City Girl in Nature took home Best New Voice and Betty Glover, Christian Hewgill and Greg James were voted Best Ensemble.

As usual, there are awards for Production Company of the Year, Publisher or Network of the Year, as well as the continuation of last year’s addition of Producer of the Year and The Sustainability & Climate Award.

Once again, the Grassroots Production category will celebrate producers, teams and/or organisations working close to their communities, and this category will be free to enter, recognising the particular challenges faced in that part of the sector.

The Awards are opening for entry earlier this year so applicants will have 12 weeks to enter instead of 9 as in previous years. Voting is open now and closes on Wednesday, September 11th at 2pm.

I am delighted that the APAs now sit alongside an ever increasing number of audio awards ceremonies – testament to the thriving popularity of audio. The APAs have really stood the test of time, as this year marks their 14th year. What started as a small ceremony is now a yearly staple at the BFI in London. There is always an enormous effort that goes into bringing the awards to life from the APAs team, and I am very grateful to them for their work. 

It is really important to have an opportunity to celebrate audio across the industry, as well as an opportunity to really shine the light on producers, who are so central to the audio industry and to AudioUK as an organisation. Once again Audible are supporting us as the lead sponsor, for which we are extremely grateful – enabling us to celebrate the many excellent people who make up the audio industry.

We’re committed to there not being any barriers to entry, so if you can’t afford to enter the awards, please take advantage of the Pay What You Can scheme, which we run in partnership with Amazon Music & Wondery, or if you face other barriers to entry, please get in touch with the team.

What started as something that was focussed purely on the independent sector retains that independent spirit, but has now been opened up to the whole audio industry. So get your best audio ready to battle it out across the categories.”

Chloe Straw, Managing Director of Audio UK

Early Bird entry fee is frozen at 2018’s prices of £35+VAT for AudioUK Members and £45+VAT for non-members, and will run for 5 weeks until Wednesday 31st July at 9am. From then on, the standard entry fee will be £50+VAT for AudioUK Members and £60+VAT for non-members until the final deadline on Wednesday 11th September at 2pm (please note: there will be no late extension to the entry deadline).

With the excellent support from Amazon Music and Wondery, AudioUK will be running the Pay What You Can scheme for a third year, offering discounted entry rates and tickets for those under financial constraints, who would otherwise be unable to enter and attend the Awards. Please email katie@audioproductionawards.co.uk to access the scheme.

With maturity however, comes increased responsibility. 

Bigger brands and advertisers are entering the podcast space all the time and with those big names comes big expectations. How can podcasting cash in on the increased interest in the medium, provide evidence of ROI for advertisers and maintain the authenticity and effectiveness that has made it such an attractive prospect in the first place? 

At this years Podcast Show at the Islington Design Centre in London, Sport Social Managing Director Sophie Hind hosted a panel discussion looking at the opportunities and challenges of advertising in the podcasting space and managing that delicate balance. 

She was joined by Thomas Balaam, Trading Director at Mindshare UK who has been selling audio to brands and advertisers for 20 years. Jake Storer, Influencer Marketing Director Podcasts at NordVPN, who use podcasting with great effect to market their products and Jack Milligan, Global Entertainment Director at Essence Mediacom who have used audio and podcasting as a key part of their media strategy activation.  

The trio joined Sophie to discuss their experiences of working and selling in the podcasting space. These are our five big takeaways from the discussion:

1. Finding the right podcast for the right brand is important

The power of podcasting is still very much in the relationship between listener and host or show. 

Whilst podcasting can offer large-scale awareness campaigns via spot advertising it’s “Secret Power” remains in its ability to speak to audiences in a way that most forms of mass communication cannot. 

The ‘trusted voice’ of a podcast host when promoting a product or service is hard to beat. Listeners have a personal connection towards podcast hosts which enables personal endorsements and reads to be delivered in an authentic and impactful way. 

With that in mind finding a synergy between brand/product and show/host is at the front of an advertiser mind when looking at which titles to work with. 

We always find it so important that the host is fully on board with our product. Because I feel with their audiences, they’ll instantly know just by listening to them and how they speak that if they’ve just been given a scripted read it feels ingenuous. We want it to feel like a personal recommendation from a friend.

Jake Storer, NordVPN

2. You need a clear objective

Understanding what you want to achieve with the campaign will help you develop the right podcast strategy. It offers a very different environment to most other mediums. 

Do you want to educate about a service? Do you want to raise awareness of a brand? Are you trying to drive a response – visits to your website or purchase? Podcasting can offer everything from reach-based marketing campaigns to super-targeted brand messaging – so understanding your campaign objective is essential. 

A question we get most of the time is; “What can I do in podcasting?”. It’s not too dissimilar to how you’d approach radio in terms of a strategic standpoint. But you’ve got to understand really what is it you’re trying to achieve because it’s so versatile.

Jack Milligan, Essence Mediacom

3. Podcasting is finding hard-to-reach audiences

To paraphrase another famous advertising campaign: Podcasting reaches the places that other mediums cannot. 

The ability for podcasting to target specific groups has not gone unnoticed. Be it by setting parameters around the delivery of audio inventory, (age, sex, location etc.) or by working with shows that have very specific and targeted audiences, brands and advertisers and using the medium to zero in on their desired target demographic. 

This ability to find focused, hard-to-reach has bought more clients, brands and advertisers into the audio space who may not have considered audio previously. 

I’ve seen brands that would work with me over the years that previously had not bought space on commercial radio because they didn’t feel that was their right audience. When it comes to the podcast space, we can actually go out and find that audience because there’s so much content out there that we know that can work for them

Tom Balaam, MindshareUK

4. Attribution has changed the game

As podcasting has matured so have the methods for measuring success. 

Traditional tools for campaign measurement such as voucher codes or unique vanity URLs have been replaced with full attribution tools that can track audience behaviour across digital media after hearing a podcast advertisement. 

This development in technology is not only giving advertisers more confidence in the medium, it’s also giving us greater insight into audience behaviour and allowing podcasters to optimise plans based on that information.

I think attribution is incredibly valuable if we want to keep advertisers coming back. The challenge for us has sometimes been, how we quantify what we’ve done within that host read or campaign.  

The technology is getting better and better. We’re now starting to gather information on how long should we run the host reads for before we make a change? Or how long does it take for someone to actually take action after hearing the ad? How many times?

Tom Balaam, MindshareUK

5. PODCASTING ISN’T JUST AUDIO

One of the big takeaways from the Podcast Show was the message that podcasting isn’t JUST audio. 

The most successful podcasts use their show as a “content engine” around which other elements can orbit. The podcast is the IP but Live shows, paid channels, video content and much more are now all part of many the regular output. 

This not only provides the opportunity to reach bigger audiences but also creates a whole new catalogue of content which can attract sponsors.

There is a whole ecosystem of stuff around the audio. Podcasts are becoming brands. We don’t just think “Let’s just do something with the audio”. We work with all the other things that are going on around that.  

Audiences don’t see in format style, they just see the brand and how they consume it and we have to think like that too

Jake Milligan, Essence Mediacom

If you’d like to understand more about how podcasting advertising could work for you or discuss ideas on how you could use the medium for your next campaign then our team of experts are happy to chat. 

Get in touch: sales@sport-social.co.uk 

*IAB ‘Surge in CTV & Podcast Spend’

Fan-facing content is undoubtedly an important part of any Rights-holders commercial strategy. Not only does it bring supporters closer to the sport and allow them to forge their own narrative, but it also can prove to be a valuable revenue stream – but only if the outputted resource can match the cash coming in.

Let’s take football clubs as an example who are, in the main, leading the line in terms of digital content creation within sport.

For years the perceived wisdom has been that as well as running the day-to-day activities of a football club they should also function as a media house creating video, social and audio content for the fans.

As Roger Mitchell, Founder at Albachiara SAGL pointed out on a recent episode of the Unofficial Partner podcast, that viewpoint is now beginning to change:

“Sports are now starting to say, that’s not my core competence. I will never be good enough to do that because no matter how good I get at it, the management and ownership time that is dedicated to what I do compared to the player side is a fraction. Saving through efficiency, better recruitment better selling on the player side massively outweighs whatever you do on the revenue, it’s not even close. I think smart owners are starting to realise this now and they’re saying, not only shouldn’t I do this internally and how can I get into a partnership way of doing it?”

Roger Mitchell, Founder of Albachiara SAGL

That’s not to say that Rights-holders should just totally abandon the idea of content creation as B2C communication but rather they should find the right partners to deliver it on their behalf to improve efficiency, and quality and allow them to focus on the most important parts of their jobs.

Outsourcing this content also allows Rights-holders to find the right content creators for their target medium and audience rather than relying on whoever happens to be within their content team. Finding content producers that truly understand the medium of delivery and the tone required to reach an audience can dramatically improve the effectiveness, engagement, and impact of any piece of audio.

We need to hire producers that reflect our audience. That relatability between who’s asking the question, who’s doing the filming, who’s speaking to the athlete and brand.

Stephen Sidlo, Head of Media at Airspeeder (Speaking at the Broadcast Sports Round Table)

Outsourcing production can sometimes however be an expensive option compared to using internal resources. This is why it’s important to take a similar approach to the commercial side. Although the digital revenue may not compare to that of player acquisitions and transfers there is still significant money on the table.

At Sport Social Podcast Network, we are a trusted partner of official Rights-holder and our offering considers both sides of this conversation. Firstly, we have a production team that knows how to use audio to connect to fans and audiences, taking into consideration the values and voice of our Rights-holder partners. Secondly, we understand the value of audio/media as official content based on the value of both the content itself and of partnership.

This gives our partner clubs, teams and official bodies total confidence that not only can we create content that connects to their fans and delivers their values but also that they can achieve full commercial value from that content, making it more cost-effective than using internal resources.

It’s time that Rights-holders take the same approach to podcasting as I take to plumbing! I could have a go at fixing that leaking tap, but it would be quicker, easier, probably cheaper and lead to a much better job (and happier wife) if I got a professional to do the job.