"We have a lot of work to do on podcasting," Burke Magnus, ESPN's president of content, said in a recent interview with Business Insider. "There just really hasn't been anything that has cut through, and I think that has been a matter of poor prioritization, to this point."
ESPN has just six of the top 50 sports podcasts on Spotify - including two in the top 35. Although many ESPN alumni have made hit podcasts elsewhere, the network's most haunting loss has to be Bill Simmons. The podcasting pioneer, who claims to have the most downloaded sports podcast ever, left ESPN in 2015 and soon after launched podcast-focused sports and pop-culture site The Ringer, which he sold to Spotify for around $200 million.
Another success story is Colin Cowherd, who left ESPN for Fox Sports in 2015 and started podcast company The Volume in 2021. Cowherd now works with Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green and - ironically - current ESPN personality Shannon Sharpe.
Magnus is ready to change ESPN's podcasting approach, stating, "I would like to make it a big priority," recognizing the need to catch up in the podcasting market.
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