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May 2, 2023

Sports Radio Remains Vibrant Despite Podcasting’s Rise

Sports radio soared in popularity following WFAN’s introduction of the format in 1987.

For the last three decades, You [couldn’t] drive around this country and find a market without a dedicated sports talk station,” Kevin LeGrett (president, iHeart Sports) said.

It would have been reasonable to believe that would change given podcasting’s rise.

But the reality is the two mediums are not necessarily competing, they can strengthen each other, and podcasting’s emergence has been –in at least some cases– good for sports radio.

“If anything, [it is collectively] bringing more people to the audio space,” LeGrett said. The iHeart executive added that the live broadcast business remains “as vibrant and strong as it has ever been.”

Podcasting's emergence has not had a tremendous impact on radio listenership. 

“When you look at big [sports talk] stations like KLAC in Los Angeles, KFAN in Minneapolis, or WFAN in New York, listener numbers [continue to be] very consistent,” LeGrett said.

That’s largely because there has been little to no attrition in the percentage of vehicles with terrestrial radio.

“10 years ago, radio reached 91% of the population [each week]. Today, radio reaches 91% of the [18-49] population,” LeGrett said. 

Podcasting has grown in popularity. EMarketer reports the average time spent listening per day has doubled amongst P18+ listeners over the last five years.

But the baseline for consumption was so small to begin with, at least relative to live terrestrial radio, that it still only holds a fraction of the fans’ share of ear.

And while podcast revenue numbers are “on fire”, and blue-chip advertisers have started to embrace the format (see: expected to spend $2.3 billion on podcast advertising in ’23), LeGrett said his company is not seeing a cannibalization of radio spend.

The radio broadcaster and podcast publisher has 850 radio stations across 160 markets.

“[Podcast revenue] is growing at the expense of social, not broadcast,” LeGrett explained.

In fact, iHeart’s most prominent local sports stations are performing as well as they ever have.

“KFAN in Minneapolis is putting up tremendous numbers, have never fluctuated,” LeGrett said. “In Los Angeles on KLAC, we had a record-breaking year last year; [the] highest revenue that we ever had on the radio station.”

That is in part because radio tends to pull from a different pool of advertisers.

“You’re going to have a lot more local advertisers [on radio]; particularly in sports because they want to [tap] into the local hosts, stories and local play by play,” LeGrett said.

By contrast, national direct-to-consumer companies are the ones investing most heavily in podcast sponsorships.

“In podcasting, there are those one show niches and psychographic networks that [brands and advertisers] can tie into,” LeGrett said.

It is widely believed within the radio business that podcasting has been additive from a consumption standpoint.

LeGrett believes people are spending an increased amount of time listening to audio content because their “eyes have gotten tired. There’s only so much video you can watch, and people love companionship, and that’s what audio delivers; that best friend in the passenger seat as you drive alone on the 405.”

There's also been a migration towards shorter-form video, which has created an opportunity for spoken word media properties to provide deeper context and additional color.

“The podcast is [meant to be] less debate. It’s more of the understanding of why something happened and what the elements were that caused those things to happen–the story behind the story,” LeGrett said.

The two audio channels work hand in hand to deliver fans coverage of their favorite sports and teams.

“One of the things we’re really focused on is making sure we are able to follow consumers throughout [their day and] surrounding them with content and multiple touch points,” LeGrett said.

On demand podcasts and live terrestrial radio are also effective megaphones to promote one another.

“Radio is the marketing machine behind podcasting,” LeGrett said. “Radio [promos have helped] us to go from 50 million monthly downloads across our podcast network to 443 million downloads on a monthly basis.”

It is harder to track the impact podcasting has had on radio’s audience. But logic suggests if the host of a prominent national pod were to talk about a station in a specific market that it would “really boost things,” LeGrett said.

While LeGrett was hesitant to make predictions just a quarter of the way into the year, he is “very bullish” ’23 will be another record year for the company's podcast business, its largest local sports radio stations (see: KFAN, KLAC), as well as for Fox Sports Radio.

He also said there is no reason to believe the broadcast business is going to take a step back anytime soon.

“People love sports. As long as [radio has] unbelievable personalities, you’re going to have people who seek out that content [

for instant reaction

], education and storytelling–and as part of those shows, listen to sponsor ads.”

Dan Patrick and Colin Cowherd are among the high profile talents on Fox Sports Radio. iHeart has enjoyed a 23-year relationship licensing the Fox Sports name. It owns and operates the network.