The Ringer CEO Bill Simmons said that the multimedia website is "already making money -- enough to support a staff of 65 full-time employees," according to Peter Kafka of RE/CODE. Simmons said, "The one thing that’s not a problem for us is money. ... I don’t know why people are so surprised by that." He detailed the success of the site's podcasts, noting "The Ringer NBA Show" draws 140,00-150,000 listeners per show, while "Channel 33" generates 125,000 and "The Ringer NFL Show" has almost 100,000 listeners. Simmons said the "biggest reason" the site had success during its first year was that it "had brands that wanted to do business with us." He mentioned sponsors Dunkin' Donuts, Buffalo Wild Wings, Callaway Golf, Miller Lite and SeatGeek, which is presenting sponsor of Simmons' eponymous podcast and has been an "unbelievable partner." He said, "These are deals where we’re in business with these people and we’re figuring out different things to do. Diageo’s another one that I think we’re going to get a lot more involved with." Meanwhile, Simmons said '16 was the year to "set up" '17. Simmons: "We’re now equipped, from a multimedia standpoint, to try and do a whole bunch of cool things. Last year was about hiring people, figuring out what our voice was, figuring out some brands we wanted to work with. We have people who are really working, who really believe (in) what we’re doing and really work hard. They’re up on Sunday night working on some football piece." He added, "The biggest challenge for us ... was we knew we had to be a little more reactive than we were at Grantland" (RECODE.net, 2/3).
