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Being a high-profile skilled athlete means residing below fixed scrutiny, with a billion-dollar trade constructed round analyzing your each transfer. From tabloids to speak exhibits to tweets, sports activities content material is nearly inconceivable to flee.
Have a foul recreation? Sure media members are licking their lips. A playoff dud? You will be dodging bar TVs enjoying ESPN for per week. However what occurs while you give athletes the tools to stage the enjoying subject? What occurs once they get to reply?
That is the query Brandon Harris needs 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 along with his function in sports activities advertising.
“I used to be on the shopping for facet, and I at all times noticed folks on the opposite facet having far more enjoyable,” he says. “I used to be bored with simply getting folks to purchase merch. I needed to construct issues that followers may get pleasure from.”
For Harris, that meant creating distribution channels targeted on sports activities storytelling immediately from the athletes.
As soon as Harris outlined his content material technique, his subsequent precedence was setting Playmaker aside from the competitors. He did this by emphasizing video, not like main gamers within the house who targeted on audio.
“Our pitch was easy,” Harris says. “We perceive the panorama, know how you can have interaction on social, construct communities, and create participating video.”
Since launching Playmaker, Harris and his group have produced tens — if not a whole lot — of 1000’s of items of “graphic content material,” together with three- to six-minute breakout movies. He makes an effort to devour as a lot suggestions as doable, estimating he is learn tens of millions of feedback.
“I used to name myself the widespread man barometer,” Harris says. “I’ve learn sufficient and posted sufficient that I feel I perceive most sports activities followers.”
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One cause an athlete may hesitate is the danger of turning into a viral meme after a foul recreation or seeing main sports activities shops 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 group, some sports activities followers – and even conventional media – are inclined to react negatively to athlete-hosted exhibits, usually for causes which have little to do with the precise content material.
“I feel it is ridiculous,” Harris says. “It looks like a ‘shut up and dribble’ mindset. Individuals applaud athletes for constructing companies, and that is precisely what that is. They’re spending an hour or two per week on it—if that is taking away from their apply, 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 features 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 components: its huge social distribution and dynamic expertise roster.
“We now have 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 at all times 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 quite a lot of expertise that I actually like and respect that I’ve needed to say no to,” Harris says. “We do not tackle tasks except we’re assured in our capability to dedicate the time, sources, and a focus wanted to make them profitable.”
In contrast to lots of their rivals, Playmaker permits athletes to retain full management of their belongings and IP.
“For those who’re an athlete, partnering with Playmaker means having a platform constructed for you which you can take with you, monetize now, and use to develop your different manufacturers,” Harris says. “So why would not you do it?”
This turns into significantly related with streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon eyeing the video podcast house. Whereas Playmaker is open to distribution offers, Harris insists any partnership have to be non-exclusive. That mentioned, he isn’t ruling out a collaboration with one of many content material kings.
“We’d work with them to develop one thing new and non-exclusive,” he says, “however for us, the precedence has at all times been digital and social native.
Although Playmaker’s enterprise mannequin is comparatively new, Harris admits they don’t seem to be the primary to do an athlete podcast. Nonetheless, quite than constructing an organization in an trade with many years of confirmed success tales to mannequin plans on, Harris began Playmaker at a time when athlete podcasts have been nonetheless seen as a novelty quite than a norm. As a substitute of balking, Harris embraced the uncertainty, believing he was onto one thing with large potential.
“As an enormous sports activities fan myself, I take into consideration what I need to see extra of and what I need to see much less of,” Harris says. “And I might quite watch a high quality, genuine athlete podcast than something that is on TV.”
