How Does The Website The Ringer Make Money?

Pivoting to…podcasts? That's the general thesis of theWall Street Journalarticle (subscription required) "For Bill Simmons's The Ringer, Podcasting Is the Main Consequence" (past Benjamin Mullin and Joe Flint), which discusses in detail how important podcasting has become to The Ringer. The site obviously even so does a off-white bit of written content, and video content matters to them too (particularly for projects washed in partnership with networks and/or tech companies), just podcasting is turning into their staff of life and butter.

As Ryan Glasspiegel notes at The Big Lead, that'south too truthful for Ringer founder Simmons. Simmons' author feed at the site is about exclusively podcasts now (including his own podcast and his guest appearances on other Ringer podcasts), except for a NBA Merchandise Value column in December and a few other columns throughout the year. And Simmons' shift in focus for his personal work's too seen in their general emphasis on podcasts; The Ringer now has 28 podcasts in its network and has made some splashy additions in that location in the past months, adding entries from Ryen Russillo and Vince Carter and Kent Bazemore. Equally the WSJ piece discusses, a fundamental reason for that focus on podcasts comes from the difference in advertising revenue.

It's no hole-and-corner to anyone that display advertising rates for written content have plummeted, which has been a factor in major recent media layoffs at the likes of Verizon Media (Yahoo/Huffington Post/AOL) and Buzzfeed (only non the only one; at Buzzfeed in particular, the issue wasn't profitability in full general, but rather profits that didn't reach investors' targets). It'due south as well no secret that podcasts have washed well for many sports media companies. Merely it's interesting to hear the specifics on only how well The Ringer is doing with ad rates for its podcasts.

As per Mullin and Flint, The Ringer charges betwixt $25 and $fifty for every one,000 people who hear an advertising on their podcasts. With the site averaging over 35 meg podcast downloads per month in the fourth quarter of 2018, that's a lot of money. The WSJ piece says The Ringer made more than $15 one thousand thousand on podcast ad sales in 2018. With both that attractive cost per mille and the significant calibration they're reaching, it makes sense that podcasting is their focus.

What's also interesting nearly that piece is how it has Simmons saying that further expansion for the site volition come from their ain acquirement growth, with him not targeting farther outside investment at this point. In order to abound that fashion, they'll need to take significant profit, and so this volition be an interesting way to proceed runway of how profitable they really are. Simmons said the site was assisting back in 2017, and he reiterates that hither, and that's notable for coverage of where The Ringer is at this point in time; it sounds similar they're non making big splashes to effort and abound audition and draw further outside investment, but rather trying to build on what they take using their existing revenues. So if they do make further notable hires or expansions, that volition suggest their revenue is doing well indeed.

Something else that arises from this piece is that this podcast-focused media model may not exist something that'southward hands copied elsewhere, though. Simmons pokes fun at how Buzzfeed went to podcasts and then went away from them, saying bashing podcasts considering of that is similar saying the NBA's struggling overall because the Atlanta Hawks are bad, but the bigger takeaway there may exist just why podcasts are working so well for The Ringer.

For one thing, The Ringer started with one of the virtually popular and long-established sports podcasts out in that location in Simmons' bear witness, which helped get a lot of listeners in the door. They've also grown their network with numerous shows centered effectually people familiar to Simmons' readers and listeners, and Simmons has done a good job of bringing other Ringer personalities onto his prove to promote their own work. Plus, The Ringer had significant financial backing to kickoff with, and an association with HBO (the WSJ slice notes that HBO owns 10 percent of the company) that helped add further credibility. So the takeaway isn't that every media company should pin to podcasts, or that podcasts are going to be successful for everyone. But they certainly appear to be working out for Simmons and The Ringer.

[The Wall Street Journal]