THE SCOREBOARD SHOWS LOCKED ON WINNING BIG IN LOCAL SPORTS PODCASTS

At the Locked On Podcast Network we were truly sorry to hear last week about the demise of yet another local sports podcast network. This time, Vox Media’s SB Nation shuttering their remaining local sports podcasts on the heels of The Athletic last year and further cuts in sports media, from ESPN to the New York Times. To be clear, we are never happy when our fellow podcasters lose jobs or have their podcasts canceled. We are not dancing in the streets the way fans of the Gamecocks might be after winning the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. We are ambassadors of the podcast business first and foremost. We want all podcasters to be successful and want to see more podcasts in the space, not fewer. Hard stop.

While these high-profile failures are getting a lot of attention, so is the misinformation about the local sports podcast model. So, we’d like to set the record straight.

The local sports podcast model is thriving. The Locked On Podcast Network, which features daily 30-minute podcasts for more than 200 NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and major college teams is bigger than ever, still growing dramatically, providing a viable outlet for local hosts to reach their audience, and returning amazing results for our advertisers. Locked On has been delivering, “Your Team. Every Day.” since 2016 and enables our network of nearly 300 local hosts and team experts to reach avid sports fans who crave educated, insightful perspective and talk about their favorite teams all year, not just during the season. In 2023, Locked On delivered 300 million listens and views to sports fans. And, we will grow again this year.

With this proven, successful model, Locked On and our advertisers and partners are winning. So are the sports fans who follow us every day.

Why are we doing so well, when others have stumbled?

Daily. It’s not easy to do, but for 8 years now we have been delivering daily podcasts for all the teams we cover. Sports fans are fans of their teams not just year-round but every day. Furthermore, as listeners and viewers migrate from mature forms of media, such as terrestrial sports radio, they are looking for a daily replacement for their new listening habits.?

Consistent. Our hosts are the best in the business, and they are true experts on the teams they cover. They each bring their own skills, approach, and style to their podcast, so they are not a monolithic bunch, but each one of our shows follows a format that works for the audience first and then in turn for our advertisers.

Local passion at national scale. Despite what you may have read, bundling great local sports podcasts together into a national network for ad sales works. Really, really well!? Our ad sales are growing and our advertisers are seeing results that keep them on board. Moreover, on any given day, our network collectively, along with our individual networks of NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and college shows, represents six of the biggest sports podcasts on the planet each day.

On top of that, our approach is advertiser-centered. We still offer host-read ads because they work. We offer digitally inserted ads because they can be tracked using the latest attribution technology. We offer a hybrid because they can do both. We thrive on creative solutions and content integrations for our advertisers because they blend seamlessly into our shows. And, our hosts are pros at delivering ads because they have been doing it consistently for a while now.

Local ads work too. It is true that audience numbers when viewed only at the local level are smaller. But, looking at a sports market like Dallas, when combining say the Cowboys, Mavericks, Rangers, Stars, Horned Frogs, Longhorns, and Aggies podcasts together for the Dallas market, local ad sales are also having great success for Locked On. To be fair, scaling a local sales model across more than 75 markets is challenging. Fortunately, we are having such strong results selling our network nationally, we don’t need to clear a lot of inventory locally.

Finally, let’s put to rest the crazy notion that banner ads and affiliate links on blogs are better advertising options than rich audio and video advertising on podcasts. Sure, banner ads have their place in the digital advertising ecosystem, but nothing comes even close to delivering both product sales and brand lift like a great podcast ad. CPMs and ROI prove that every day. We do agree that it takes a skilled operator to pull it all together into an ecosystem that works for both the advertisers and the podcasters. Hint: that is where we come in.

Brand matters. In some markets, and for some teams, there are several local sports podcast options. That is why our brand stands out. We have been at this every day for 8 years (see Consistency and Daily above). Our podcasts are published under a consolidated brand architecture. And, we have built the most trusted and recognizable brand in the local sports podcast space in doing so. 67% of our hosts have been with us for more than 3 years and that number grows to 83% for our NFL and NBA shows, our most mature networks. We have built THE brand that local sports fans can count on.

Constant innovation. We were one of the first networks (not just in sports, but for all podcasts) to embrace the short-form podcast model, 30 minutes or less, when we launched back in 2016. We were one of the first to go daily, even before The Daily made it vogue. We were one of the first to embrace the move to video and YouTube as the fastest growing segment of the podcast business. And, now we are moving aggressively into OTT with FAST TV and VOD distribution on platforms such as Roku and Amazon Fire TV. ?We have never subscribed to conventional wisdom such as, “ads are bad for podcasts” and “podcasting is an audio-only medium”. We practice a bottom-up philosophy for product development. Our listeners will tell us what they want and how they want to follow us and we will cater our product to them. In doing so, our network and our advertisers will be winners too.

To sum it up…Locked On, the once-little sports podcast network that started with just one show out of Park City, Utah is thriving, perhaps at the expense of our competitors. But, make no mistake, the local sports podcast category is one of the strongest segments in the podcast business.

Have more questions? Reach out to us, we’d love to talk with you.? ??