Guest: Bill Simmons
Host: Peter Kafka
Bill sold Ringer for $250M to Spotify just before pandemic
HBO helped a bit, but he was primary investor
Gimlet had sold for $200M a year earlier
When he launched Grantland in 2007, felt podcasting could be a big thing
ESPN didn’t recognize that, was a source of tension
For first few years, podcasting just felt like fun, was trying new things, taking chances
Podcasting as listening-on-demand
Started getting more fans on street saying “I love the podcast”
Random jogger with headphones pointed to him, “I’m listening to you”
Listening on commutes, at work, while exercising
Initially there wasn’t much competition – just Marc Maron – easier to get celebrities, was like a first date with guests
Now in 2022, all celebs have already been on podcasts, know what it is now
Guests are less interesting now – they’ve already been on many podcasts
Now it’s more about reactive content – about what’s going on in the world, analysis and commentary
Major change is speed at which people react and consume media
The Ringer – trying to figure out how it differs from Grantland – realized it was the speed of reaction, and coverage across multiple channels (blog, video, audio)
Rewatchables is their most successful podcast library – have done 250 movies now
Grantland was sports + pop culture, lots of people didn’t understand how they could combine
What do people care about? “We need to be there”
Netflix’s mistake – binge model doesn’t work for all shows – like Stranger Things (could have gotten 8 weeks of content and commentary, instead of 1 week)
Netflix has so few water cooler hits – would be great to stretch out the this for multiple weeks, give people time to digest each episode
2008, didn’t know repercussions for anything (for social media content) – now it’s just the price of having a platform
Third decade as a national media personality
Prefers when things are quiet, being ahead of curve, talking about stuff he’s really interested in
Spent a lot of time on Ringer film content
Didn’t like doing TV that much – like his former HBO show – podcasts have replaced that format
Players now have their own pods (eg, Draymond)
Last successful new Late Night show was James Corden
But think about how many successful new podcasts have launched in the same timeframe
Spotify built $Billion compound in LA
Adding more video content to audio now
Video very important to Spotify now
Son likes to watch YT clips of Bill’s podcast
Young people just staring at phone, have to win their attention in 2 seconds
Will next gen listen to podcasts? Kinda scary
Sabermetrics really hurt baseball – misses the narrative and story focus
eg, Jeter v Ichiro, do more eye tests, debate it all day, instead of just talking on stats
Football is fun because of the randomness – season to season, teams and individual players, high variance, easier to debate
Tougher with other sports
Went to Spotify in part because of the data on listening behaviors, content, can spot opportunities, eg, Derek Thompson (great writer) – wanted to work with him for awhile
Assessing talent for writing vs podcasting is different skillsets
Grantland had 9 out of 10 of the biggest podcasts at ESPN – value of cross-promo, a combined sensibility / package
Spotify helped with infrastructure, let them focus on what they’re good at, Spotify strong position to be audio leader
For first 2 years of joining Spotify, they were all remote and doing everything on Zoom
Similar vibe to when he joined ESPN, felt like they had momentum, were growing, market leadership, lots of potential (clarified that ESPN didn’t fire him, but didn’t renew his contract)
Runs global sports for Spotify, developing a comprehensive global strategy
Basketball, F1, Soccer – thinking about it globally, leveraging Spotify’s huge audience and tech and resources
Spotify video player will eventually have live content too
Can you watch Euro League championships on Spotify? Day 1 of Coachella?
Spotify’s only been in content seriously since 2018 – lots of progress in a short time
Still has a few years left on his Spotify deal
150 employees in his Ringer universe now
Returning to a normal office / working situation
Feels like Grantland in 2014 – cool checkpoint – getting inbound, momentum, opportunities
Dream podcast guest is David Letterman
Only other time he had nervous energy was Larry Bird (even more than Obama)