Christ Ethan, the comments today so far are awful. Just wanted to send you a “your subscribers love your stuff” comment. Anyway: we love your stuff. Keep up the great, thoughtful work.
Ethan, why don't you notify your subscribers when you appear on a podcast? It was interesting listening to you as a guest for a change on the Meghan Daum podcast.
even before the (obvious) years of decline in NBA coverage & commentary quality at ESPN, I've long wondered "do the executives at TNT, ESPN, etc. run focus groups or evaluations of their game commentators?" Prime example, how the hell does TNT still employ Reggie Miller (who, based on Twitter/X, everyone universally despises) but not, say, Doug Collins or Brent Barry? Besides just being amiable (e.g. Doris Burke), what factors (talents, or lack thereof) actually determine who's employed, especially as color-commentator, and who gets to call what games?
I’ve noticed lately an extreme push by sports (and a couple non-sports) podcasts to please consume the podcast over YouTube if you can. But hey we still appreciate you listening if it’s over your typical podcast player.
As someone more familiar with media economics—> could you explain the dramatic increase in prevalence of this push to consume pods via YouTube?
Speculation here but I suspect YouTube offers better discoverability (when any video ends you’re given a number of algorithmically selected other videos to watch, and of course the more likes and subscribers a channel has, the more likely it is to be suggested). And the other reason might also be “monetization.”
Yeah overall I suspect it being greater levels of monetization and discoverability. Guess I’m just wondering if there was some big shift in the background of these factors or the various companies that I don’t know about. Because it just has become so much more prevalent and up front lately.
Full disclosure- As someone who works in the office business, I’d like to thank you for renting office space for your business.
My question is whether you think that people will see the value of gathering together in a work environment in the future. It seems like some younger people are realizing the benefits of being together and learning from others who have more experience. However, as people get married and have kids, will this continue?
Also, what general market did you rent your office and why did you chose there? Curious about this given the state of the Bay Area office business.
Could you speak more on some of the hinting you and Kawakami were doing about the changing nature of being a beat writer? Do you think the increased demographic diversity amongst beat writers is a sign that the job has long been held back by bigotry or that being a beat writer mainly consists of regurgitating press releases and is an easy place for orgs to stow diversity hires. Or something else?!
I second this, would really like to know some of the insight behind TA's beat writer strategy. I'm a fan of a southeastern NBA team and TA had a beat writer for them that was just fucking terrible. They provided 0 in game or management decisions on basketball insight (can't count their plagarism of other writers as insight, which they did frequently), routinely missed games, and hardly broke any news. They were a plus writer on quirky narrative stories though.
Did you mean to say beat writers twice or best writers twice?
It's probably worth taking into account cohort effects too- 23 year olds are much less white than they used to be (and people tend to age out of the industry).
Ethan when you narrate your articles, why do you start by saying “Cold intro, cold open”? I know what the words mean but I’ve never heard anyone feel compelled to say it before narrating an article. Have you heard it done that way somewhere else? I don’t listen to every single narrated article but do you ever start with a hot opening?
Enjoying your work, I left the paid subscription for a few months but felt like I was missing out and had to come back.
Your voice doppleganger, Pablo Torre, has been doing a lot of work exploring the trans issue in sports. Might be worth having him on your pod to have a discussion.
Ethan, thought you'd find this interesting. Australia sold its soul to gambling long before the US, and for the past decade plus our sporting coverage has been soaked in gambling-normalisation. Combined with the rise of social media, this has resulted in significant social harm, and government is finally starting to act after a decade of head-in-the-sand from conservative governments.
The issue is being studied in detail at Deakin University, although there is a lot more research than that. The Parliamentary Inquiry should have an attached archive of the research.
Is there a reason Miami media is, at least in how it appears to me, completely losing their mind over the Lillard trade? Almost all of the nationally focused media has thought that the Holliday/Ayton package was better than the one around Tyler Hero, but people in Miami keep insisting that they had the better package. For example, I love Amin when he's a guest on your podcast, but he called Jrue Holliday a corpse when discussing the trade. The collective reaction feels way over the top
One of my favorite little theories posited over the last year was essentially: Nike can't promote and provide the most satisfying Giannis narrative because they have a LeBron sized conflict of interest.
I'm very biased, but what do you make of what me and Bucks Twitter perceives as the comically bad spin most of the media is putting on the Dame Lillard acquisition? There's simply no way this is framed the same way if the Lakers traded for a Hall of Famer, right?
Well, they should look around for a better representative, because he does not represent moderation in any sense. His words and actions are not in any sense moderate. They are about as extreme as can be.
Christ Ethan, the comments today so far are awful. Just wanted to send you a “your subscribers love your stuff” comment. Anyway: we love your stuff. Keep up the great, thoughtful work.
We love your stuff. Just upgraded to Paid. Your appearance on Meghan Daum’s “The Unspeakable” was awesome
Ethan, why don't you notify your subscribers when you appear on a podcast? It was interesting listening to you as a guest for a change on the Meghan Daum podcast.
https://meghandaum.substack.com/p/ethan-strauss-sports-media-marketing-unspeakable#details
even before the (obvious) years of decline in NBA coverage & commentary quality at ESPN, I've long wondered "do the executives at TNT, ESPN, etc. run focus groups or evaluations of their game commentators?" Prime example, how the hell does TNT still employ Reggie Miller (who, based on Twitter/X, everyone universally despises) but not, say, Doug Collins or Brent Barry? Besides just being amiable (e.g. Doris Burke), what factors (talents, or lack thereof) actually determine who's employed, especially as color-commentator, and who gets to call what games?
What's up with PEDs in the NBA? Always lots of rumors and innuendo, but never much reporting.
To second this, PEDs seemed to be the elephant in the room in the podcast with the sports improvement coach
I’ve noticed lately an extreme push by sports (and a couple non-sports) podcasts to please consume the podcast over YouTube if you can. But hey we still appreciate you listening if it’s over your typical podcast player.
As someone more familiar with media economics—> could you explain the dramatic increase in prevalence of this push to consume pods via YouTube?
Speculation here but I suspect YouTube offers better discoverability (when any video ends you’re given a number of algorithmically selected other videos to watch, and of course the more likes and subscribers a channel has, the more likely it is to be suggested). And the other reason might also be “monetization.”
Yeah overall I suspect it being greater levels of monetization and discoverability. Guess I’m just wondering if there was some big shift in the background of these factors or the various companies that I don’t know about. Because it just has become so much more prevalent and up front lately.
Full disclosure- As someone who works in the office business, I’d like to thank you for renting office space for your business.
My question is whether you think that people will see the value of gathering together in a work environment in the future. It seems like some younger people are realizing the benefits of being together and learning from others who have more experience. However, as people get married and have kids, will this continue?
Also, what general market did you rent your office and why did you chose there? Curious about this given the state of the Bay Area office business.
Thanks, Ethan.
Could you speak more on some of the hinting you and Kawakami were doing about the changing nature of being a beat writer? Do you think the increased demographic diversity amongst beat writers is a sign that the job has long been held back by bigotry or that being a beat writer mainly consists of regurgitating press releases and is an easy place for orgs to stow diversity hires. Or something else?!
I second this, would really like to know some of the insight behind TA's beat writer strategy. I'm a fan of a southeastern NBA team and TA had a beat writer for them that was just fucking terrible. They provided 0 in game or management decisions on basketball insight (can't count their plagarism of other writers as insight, which they did frequently), routinely missed games, and hardly broke any news. They were a plus writer on quirky narrative stories though.
Did you mean to say beat writers twice or best writers twice?
It's probably worth taking into account cohort effects too- 23 year olds are much less white than they used to be (and people tend to age out of the industry).
Oooh good catch, thank you. Beat.
What do you think is being selected for instead of experience?
Romantics and people without much money drive or money consciousness.
Ethan when you narrate your articles, why do you start by saying “Cold intro, cold open”? I know what the words mean but I’ve never heard anyone feel compelled to say it before narrating an article. Have you heard it done that way somewhere else? I don’t listen to every single narrated article but do you ever start with a hot opening?
Enjoying your work, I left the paid subscription for a few months but felt like I was missing out and had to come back.
Your voice doppleganger, Pablo Torre, has been doing a lot of work exploring the trans issue in sports. Might be worth having him on your pod to have a discussion.
Ethan, thought you'd find this interesting. Australia sold its soul to gambling long before the US, and for the past decade plus our sporting coverage has been soaked in gambling-normalisation. Combined with the rise of social media, this has resulted in significant social harm, and government is finally starting to act after a decade of head-in-the-sand from conservative governments.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/03/the-parallels-between-tobacco-and-gambling-are-striking-so-why-are-we-ignoring-the-lessons-of-the-past
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/04/australia-youth-gambling-crisis-parliamentary-inquiry
The issue is being studied in detail at Deakin University, although there is a lot more research than that. The Parliamentary Inquiry should have an attached archive of the research.
Is there a reason Miami media is, at least in how it appears to me, completely losing their mind over the Lillard trade? Almost all of the nationally focused media has thought that the Holliday/Ayton package was better than the one around Tyler Hero, but people in Miami keep insisting that they had the better package. For example, I love Amin when he's a guest on your podcast, but he called Jrue Holliday a corpse when discussing the trade. The collective reaction feels way over the top
One of my favorite little theories posited over the last year was essentially: Nike can't promote and provide the most satisfying Giannis narrative because they have a LeBron sized conflict of interest.
I'm very biased, but what do you make of what me and Bucks Twitter perceives as the comically bad spin most of the media is putting on the Dame Lillard acquisition? There's simply no way this is framed the same way if the Lakers traded for a Hall of Famer, right?
What is opinion of readers and the combining of so many conferences in the ncaa? Baton Rouge native here, I like Texas and Oklahoma coming into sec.
Big 10 getting pac 12 teams is silly to me. Michigan playing ucla seems odd. Lsu playing Texas does not.
I suppose it’s more of a podcast topic, but what is Hannitys motivation in platforming newsoms shadow campaign?
Well, they should look around for a better representative, because he does not represent moderation in any sense. His words and actions are not in any sense moderate. They are about as extreme as can be.