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The Volume Lays Groundwork for Next-Gen Sports Talk Network

The Volume Lays Groundwork for Next-Gen Sports Talk Network

February 07, 2023

February 8, 2023

The Volume Lays Groundwork for Next-Gen Sports Talk Network

Colin Cowherd’s podcast network, The Volume, turns two this month. He’s hosting a celebration in Phoenix tomorrow evening (Feb. 8) to celebrate.

Cowherd is clearly building a valuable business. The profitable digital media company now generates eight figures in annual revenue.

However, he believes he has also laid the groundwork for what next generation sports talk networks will look like. Big personalities delivering video-first instant reactions, with all the content widely distributed across multiple channels.

"Throughout my career, I've adapted to reach sports fans wherever they are consuming content," said Cowherd. "We want to be providing content across all platforms to best serve our audience. In 2023, that means prioritizing YouTube, which is why we're putting every one of our shows on the service and hiring producers and editors who are experts on what works best on the platform."

Cowherd has been among the biggest draws in sports talk over the last decade. His syndicated show,

The Herd

, is touted as the number one sports radio show in America.

Cowherd has a podcast on The Volume, the aptly named

The Colin Cowherd Podcast

. However, he has also taken an active role in identifying and recruiting similarly outspoken opinionists to the platform. Draymond Green, Richard Sherman, Daniel Cormier and Darius Slay are among the big personalities to have signed on to date.

Sports talk today is “not just about getting it right,” Logan Swain (head of content, The Volume) said. “It’s can you be the most interesting.”

The Volume has made speed, reaction and opinion core tenets of its strategy. “The sports news cycle is fast…That’s why we try to produce content as soon as the fans want it,” Swaim said.

That is a very different approach from traditional podcast or studio networks, which tend to operate on strict programming schedules.

Of course, the rigidity of the more traditional format means there is almost always an extended gap between when an event takes place and when fans get their favorite personality’s thoughts on it.

In some cases, that delay can be more than a day. “Let’s take UFC for example,” Swaim said. “There is a big fight on a Saturday night and many of the most popular reaction shows air on traditional linear networks on Monday.”

The Volume sees the always on media environment that exists and has set out to deliver reaction and analysis, in near real-time, around the clock. “If news breaks, you will see something from Colin or one of our opionists, on one of our channels, within 20 minutes,” Swaim said. “Sometimes, if Colin is driving, he will literally pull over to the side of the road to film his instant reaction.”

The company believes the appetite to listen to ones’ favorite opinionist is greatest in the immediate aftermath of an event.

Cormier now provides cage side commentary on Daniel Cormier TV –a YouTube Channel affiliated with The Volume– immediately following the conclusion of UFC bouts.

Similarly, Green is publishing content in the wake of games he just participated in. The unscripted, unfiltered moments have been some of the most widely consumed videos in company history. “We’re doubling down on that [active athlete] strategy,” Swaim said.

Because The Volume has high profile talent like Cowherd, Cormier and Green taking opinionated stances, and because it is often the first outlet publishing content on a given subject, the upstart podcast network regularly generates earned media coverage. Swaim said the awareness gained from that exposure has helped to accelerate the company’s growth.

The Volume’s podcasts collectively received over 40 million downloads/month in ’22 (+43% YoY). Brian Landau (CEO, Vennly) called the figure a “tremendous accomplishment” and said the number suggests the company could be doing upwards of $3 million per month in podcast ad revenue.

“We're seeing podcast CPMs benchmark at $20. Different networks have different ad loads but the back of the napkin math on this is four available ad units per show translates to $3.2 million in gross revenue assuming sell-out.”

It’s unlikely the company is sold out across all 18 shows.

But the video side of the business is where The Volume believes it is really finding its stride.

“[Podcasting is] such a crowded space. We quickly [realized] to get noticed, to get awareness, and additionally, to drive revenue, we had to start producing as much video as audio,” Swaim said.

YouTube views rose 89% YoY to 16 million/month in ’22. It is now a seven-figure revenue stream for the company.

The Volume sees YouTube as “the home of the modern sports fan,” Swaim said. So, the company built out a channel on the platform that houses all its video content.

The channel gives existing fans another, perhaps more convenient, means of consuming network programming. “[YouTube is] now the