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Being a high-profile skilled athlete means dwelling beneath fixed scrutiny, with a billion-dollar business constructed round analyzing your each transfer. From tabloids to speak exhibits to tweets, sports activities content material is nearly not possible to flee.
Have a foul sport? Sure media members are licking their lips. A playoff dud? You will be dodging bar TVs taking part in ESPN for every week. However what occurs once you give athletes the instruments to degree the taking part in discipline? What occurs once they get to reply?
That is the query Brandon Harris desires to reply with Playmaker.
Rewriting the playbook
Based in 2018, Playmaker has grown right into a globally acknowledged sports activities media enterprise, that includes video podcasts — or, as Harris calls them, exhibits — with top-tier athletes like Angel Reese and Shaquille O’Neal. Harris based Playmaker after rising disillusioned together with his position in sports activities advertising.
“I used to be on the shopping for facet, and I all the time noticed individuals on the opposite facet having far more enjoyable,” he says. “I used to be uninterested in simply getting individuals to purchase merch. I wished to construct issues that followers might take pleasure in.”
For Harris, that meant creating distribution channels centered on sports activities storytelling instantly from the athletes.
As soon as Harris outlined his content material technique, his subsequent precedence was setting Playmaker other than the competitors. He did this by emphasizing video, not like main gamers within the house who centered on audio.
“Our pitch was easy,” Harris says. “We perceive the panorama, know easy methods to interact on social, construct communities, and create partaking video.”
Since launching Playmaker, Harris and his crew have produced tens — if not tons of — of 1000’s of items of “graphic content material,” together with three- to six-minute breakout movies. He makes an effort to eat as a lot suggestions as potential, estimating he is learn tens of millions of feedback.
“I used to name myself the frequent man barometer,” Harris says. “I’ve learn sufficient and posted sufficient that I believe I perceive most sports activities followers.”
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One purpose an athlete may hesitate is the chance of changing into a viral meme after a foul sport or seeing main sports activities retailers report stats like, “Participant X has recorded extra podcast episodes this season than video games performed” whereas recovering from an harm. Whether or not it is jealousy, insecurity, or loyalty to a rival crew, some sports activities followers – and even conventional media – are likely to react negatively to athlete-hosted exhibits, usually for causes which have little to do with the precise content material.
“I believe it is ridiculous,” Harris says. “It looks like a ‘shut up and dribble’ mindset. Folks applaud athletes for constructing companies, and that is precisely what that is. They’re spending an hour or two every week on it—if that is taking away from their follow, then there are larger points at play.”
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Turning clips into clicks
In 2024, Playmaker’s authentic content material generated over $25M in earned media worth from greater than 1,000 posts and articles shared by publishers. Earned media, which refers to publicity a model good points from third events with out paying for it, is taken into account a holy grail in digital advertising.
Harris likens this natural content material to a “funnel” that directs viewers of viral clips towards the total present. He attributes Playmaker’s success in earned media to 2 key elements: its huge social distribution and dynamic expertise roster.
“We’ve expertise that’s genuine and keen to say issues some safer personalities keep away from for PR causes,” Harris says, highlighting figures like Shaq, Angel Reese, and Marshawn Lynch. “We have all the time prioritized expertise that’s genuinely entertaining and will not simply regurgitate PR messaging each episode.”
As a reasonably small firm, Playmaker does not have the posh of limitless sources. Due to that, Harris may be very explicit about who he chooses to work with.
“There’s numerous expertise that I actually like and respect that I’ve needed to say no to,” Harris says. “We do not tackle initiatives until we’re assured in our skill to dedicate the time, sources, and a focus wanted to make them profitable.”
In contrast to a lot of their rivals, Playmaker permits athletes to retain full management of their belongings and IP.
“If you happen to’re an athlete, partnering with Playmaker means having a platform constructed for you which you could take with you, monetize now, and use to develop your different manufacturers,” Harris says. “So why would not you do it?”
This turns into notably related with streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon eyeing the video podcast house. Whereas Playmaker is open to distribution offers, Harris insists any partnership should be non-exclusive. That stated, he isn’t ruling out a collaboration with one of many content material kings.
“We might work with them to develop one thing new and non-exclusive,” he says, “however for us, the precedence has all the time been digital and social native.
Although Playmaker’s enterprise mannequin is comparatively new, Harris admits they aren’t the primary to do an athlete podcast. Nonetheless, reasonably than constructing an organization in an business with a long time of confirmed success tales to mannequin plans on, Harris began Playmaker at a time when athlete podcasts had been nonetheless seen as a novelty reasonably than a norm. As a substitute of balking, Harris embraced the uncertainty, believing he was onto one thing with huge potential.
“As an enormous sports activities fan myself, I take into consideration what I wish to see extra of and what I wish to see much less of,” Harris says. “And I’d reasonably watch a top quality, genuine athlete podcast than something that is on TV.”