by Gavin Gaddis, Head of Content, Sounds Profitable
During Evolutions by Podcast Movement, I sat down with Mike Wright and Jason Moore, two of the three hosts of The Fantasy Footballers podcast, a multiplatform podcast that’s hit its tenth year of production, as well as starting an exclusive podcasting relationship with SiriusXM back in January that includes episodes airing on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (channel 87, by the by) in addition to major podcast platforms.
What is The Fantasy Footballers, and how long have you been around?
Mike Wright
We’re heading into our 11th full NFL season. When we were first starting – it’s kind of cheesy – we approached it like it was a business from the very, very beginning. It wasn’t just “we’re making a podcast,” it’s, “we’re gonna make a fantasy football business.”
We said the way that the show has to work is the show has to be entertaining, because while we’re in a competitive [space] where people want to win, you have to entertain people or they’re not going to listen to you. You want your information to be accurate. And then high-level production. When we started, you know, 10 or 11, years ago, the production quality of podcasts was like, people sound like they’re in the dentist chair. Only the the big corporations were the ones that spent time or knew how to do the audio. My background is audio, so I brought that piece to the show and made sure that we sounded fully professional right away. So those three things: entertaining, accurate, and a high quality production.
Jason Moore
As far as what we exist to provide now from a business standpoint, I would say we’re just one of the largest shows that has a rabid fan base. A very movable, actionable fan base that is a daily listener. We’re not a weekly show, we’re a part of people’s lives every day. So we got a really hungry audience that moves and at a large scale.
The Fantasy Footballers recently signed with SiriusXM, what was the transition like and how have things been since?
Jason Moore
It’s been awesome. We’ve transitioned a couple times over the last decade, and this has been the smoothest one we’ve experienced so far. The competency of the humans is so pleasantly high. Their acquisition of Midroll in the past has proven to be awesome. We used to work with Midroll back in the day, and unlike some of the other massively big players, all the people that used to work at Midroll 3, 4, 5 years ago are still doing that job. They’re very good at it, and they’re not just bouncing from one corporate company to another.
Looking back at the decade the show has been running, what are some of the big differences? How does the business of running a podcast feel now compared to way back in 2014?
Mike Wright
Well, 10 years ago it was three dudes that commandeered Andy’s house. We kicked his son out of his room and we said “this is our new this is our studio.” For a couple years that’s where everything ran. We’re based in Arizona and in this tiny room where we recorded, we couldn’t run air conditioning. By the end of episodes our backs would be drenched in sweat, thank goodness you can’t see it on the video. It was just three guys doing everything. Video editing, audio editing, I was out there grinding to try and get brands that I like. I was trying to email them and and say, “Hey, you should come be a part of this show. Check it out, see what we’re doing. Check out this audience.”
And now, 10 years later we have full-time people who we take care of, who have families. It’s something I never expected in my life. I’m not a business entrepreneur, guy. That’s Jason and Andy. Like, that’s their skill set.
Jason Moore
We got the team kind of under us, as far as employees, staff, producers, all that, and then we got the team around us. That’s been the biggest difference from a business perspective, is instead of us trying to go out and find an advertiser and work with them. Now we’ve got a team of people who are used to selling to Coke and Pepsi and Chevy and, you know, people with enough portfolio to matter to these companies, and that’s made a huge difference.
I think it was probably about three, three or four years ago, where things really changed for our company, and we were able to go from medium-sized advertisers to the largest of the large, the big dogs. And I think people came a long ways in understanding fantasy football and podcasting. You know, the same way that, like, a decade ago podcasters couldn’t say that they were a podcaster, because they would have to explain what that is. And now everyone can say, “I’m a podcaster.”
Mike Wright
Oh, oh yeah, it was the best. It was like “What do you do?” “Podcasts.” “So, but like, what’s your real job? “… I’m on the radio. I do a radio show.”
Jason Moore
It also has come with high-level companies understanding fantasy football is mainstream. It’s not some niche in, you know, someone’s basement being, you know, foul and dirty. It’s like, oh, the whole world is doing this. It’s supporting the NFL. And so brands want to get on board too.
Sports is one of the fastest-growing, if not the fastest-growing podcast genre today. What do you think makes it such a good fit for podcasting?
Mike Wright
I would say at the at the very top level, for me, like, what’s so appealing about sports is, you may not know this: America is pretty divided right now. In sports, the division in sports is my team versus your team. It’s so childish and so dumb, yet we all recognize that we’re diehard fans of my team. I will defend my team, but it but when it really boils down to it is we all love this sport and I love greatness. So if your team is great, I love watching your team play. And for however long a sports podcast is – our show’s an hour every day – you can tune in, have a really great time. Any garbage that’s going on in your life, any arguments, they’re gone for that hour of me-time about something I’m really passionate about. So the fact that it is not polarizing is, I think, the greatest attribute for right now.
Jason Moore
To me it’s a combination. It’s immediate, it’s literally news that’s happening today, tomorrow, and yesterday. Immediate, newsworthy information that doesn’t ever get divided in divisiveness. Divided in divisiveness… I’m a wordsmith. From an advertiser perspective, news shows can seem dangerous for that reason. If you want something that people are listening to today, not “oh they’re going to listen to this over the next year,” Fantasy Footballers is evergreen content. They’re not listening to our show from last Thursday tomorrow, because it’s irrelevant now. They’re listening to today’s show today. And by not being polarizing, I think that’s what makes sports like a reprieve. Yes, “Oh, thank goodness we can just enjoy life.”
Thinking about that energy sports content brings, how is Fantasy Footballers leveraging that energy when transitioning into ad segments?
Jason Moore
People are listening to us for advice. Our show is advice. All they’re doing is listening to us essentially give credible takes as to what they should do. Then when we talk about advertising and sponsorships, they’re used to saying, “Oh, I like Mike. I’m gonna listen to what Mike says to do, who Mike says to start, who Mike says is good.” And it just kind of flows into, we’ve seen over a decade, “what Mike says is the best mattress, I agree. I like his takes. I like his beliefs. And if he’s giving me a personal endorsement on something, I’m in on it.” And I think that is the leveraging point of our audience moves. We call our audience The Foot Clan and we say they’re undefeated because whenever there’s been a voting competition we’ll say “We’re up for this award, you can go vote” and we pretty much dominate because our audience does what we say to do. I think we’re really lucky in the senses that our show is an advice show, and it mobilizes our users.
Imagine you’re talking to an advertiser, or a brand who should be investing in podcasting and they ask the following: Why podcasting?
Mike Wright
The way that a podcast is consumed is different. I’m on my way to work, you know, I’m I’m on my commute. I don’t want to be on this commute, thank goodness I have this podcast to keep me company. We are keeping company. Our audience is essentially like the fourth person at our conversation. They’re listening to three friends talk every single day, and you build up a parasocial friendship with that person. It’s different from a random television ad that plays that everyone’s trying to be like, “I’m gonna run get some snacks while that’s going on.”
We’re choosy with our with who’s gonna advertise on our show. We have a bunch of categories where we absolutely will not do that.
Jason Moore
I would say there’s literally no better medium in existence than podcasting for an advertiser to reach someone that matters. There are very few television shows that you could say, “oh yeah, there’s 1500 episodes of that.” But you know, we’re on about episode 1500 and there are people who have listened to every second of every hour of those. And you’re not advertising on characters. It’s not Michael Scott from The Office. It’s human beings who are real. We’re not playing a role or a character. We meet people at our live shows and they say, like, “I feel like I know you better than I know my family, and you’ve never met me,” it’s a really weird relationship that’s awesome. It’s intimate, and the amount of volume, ability to advertise is unparalleled in any other medium.
You can find out more about the series at TheFantasyFootballers.com
