Barstool Sports’ performance since the coronavirus pandemic shut down sports illustrates the strange position sports media companies have been in over the past six weeks.
More people are reading stories or listening to podcasts or watching videos. In Barstool’s case, its YouTube numbers are up 200%, CEO Erika Nardini told me.
But so far advertisers have retrenched and aren’t taking advantage of that increased interest.
Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini says that in the absence of ad revenue, the company has focused on other revenue streams such as merchandise.
“We’re obviously seeing a lot of risks related to the ad business because advertisers have pulled back pretty dramatically. The revenue side is not nearly as rosy,” Nardini said during SBJ’s World Congress Comes To You event last week.
“I do think the ad market comes back,” she said. “I don’t necessarily think it comes back to pre-March levels instantly. I think the curve will take a longer time, but ultimately, brands want to sell their product. … It may be a shadow of itself for a time, but I’m an optimist. I do think it will come back and it will eventually come back the same, if not bigger.”
In the absence of ad revenue, Barstool has focused on other revenue streams — like merchandise — during the ad slowdown.
“We’re seeing some bright moments around merchandise and limited-edition merch,” Nardini said. “We’re starting to look at our medium mix, which is basically looking at how does radio perform in a time where everyone is home, vs. live video, vs. Instagram, vs. Snapchat, vs. Twitter, vs. TikTok, vs. podcast audio.”
In terms of content, Barstool hasn’t been as affected as other sports media brands because it doesn’t trade in live sports.
“If you look at the engine that runs traditional sports media, it’s live sports rights,” she said. “We never had live sports rights, so we’ve always been reliant on pretty much weird brains. For a long time, we’ve been able to make our own shows and our own stunts. We’re really focused on the humor and fan perspective on things.”
What works during a pandemic? Nardini said the most popular content does not mention the virus outbreak. Barstool launched 34 shows over the last three weeks, she said.
“People are looking for humor and relief,” Nardini said. “They’re not turning to us for another 15 articles on how depressing everything is related to coronavirus. They’re looking to us for a laugh. … Overall we’re seeing a big rise in terms of consumer adoption, time spent and engagement.”
Like some of the bigger sports media companies, Barstool has produced stunt programming. Founder Dave Portnoy has traded sports betting for day trading. One of Barstool’s biggest stars, Dan Katz, streams a race via Periscope with four plastic horses most afternoons.
“We’re able to make sport happen even though it’s not real professional sport,” Nardini said. “Our Barstool crew understands what’s captivating and what resonates, and they’re able to take the things that apply to professional sports or collegiate sports and apply them to ridiculous sports on the internet.”
