Maybe every show will have some Boston homer on to bitch about something. We can only hope.
I got so sick of seeing the ad spot on HBO before Game of Thrones that I haven’t bothered watching.
I’m really liking this show. It’s such a welcome relief from the bombastic talking heads of ESPN.
They’ve also done a great pairing of guests. Mark Cuban and Malcolm Gladwell together? This week it was Chris Bosh and the actor Anthony Anderson, and they were excellent (Bosh especially).
Make sure to catch the Extra Time segments on YouTube. A lot of the commentators are like me; they really need to make the show an hour long, because the discussion feels too short as it is.
Here’s a segment of this week’s episode that was aired:
Here’s a segment that was unaired
Recode has the first major interview with Bill Simmons since The Ringer launched. Pretty long, but lots of interesting stuff about the HBO show, his relationship with ESPN, and what’s it like starting up a media company.
What’s impressive is that they have 65 full-time employees, and that they are generating a profit already.
WSJ reporting that Spotify has had direct talks to buy The Ringer to build their podcasting business.
Talks began in October. Not sure where they’re at currently.
Ayups.
Simmons was reportedly wanting $200 million.
He may have gotten it.
So are these podcasts gonna become Spotify exclusives? Paid Spotify exclusives? That’s dumb. Exclusives dumb. Down with copyright! Ra-ra-ra
Other than BS’s podcast itself, I wouldn’t really miss any of The Ringer’s podcasts if they went paid exclusive…and I listen to several regularly.
I think I might kind of miss Bill’s podcast. Somewhere along the line he became a really good broadcaster. At least I’d try to track down bootleg copy of Parent Corner.
But none of their podcasts are high enough quality to pay for.
Also, it’s pretty gross to see Spotify throwing around hundreds of millions of dollars for a couple of podcasters while still paying their musical artists an insulting pittance for streams. . .
I am in a bit of a high dudgeon today over Spotify, sorry.
Yeah, I think Simmons is great. He’s managed to maintain that entire “few guys talking shit at a bar” feeling for quite a long time.
It’s always funny when Cousin Sal teases him about the fact that he’s nowhere near the Boston everyman persona he still tries to pedal, and Simmons kind of sheepishly laughs about it.
I quite enjoy the Ringer’s basketball podcasts. It’d suck if they go behind the pay wall.
I pay for Stitcher Premium, as I’m a huge fan of the Earwolf comedy podcasts, and figured it was worth a few bucks a year to throw in some support and get some timed exclusives. They also remove the ads from the Stitcher Premium feeds. However I won’t be ponying up for a Spotify subscription to listen to The Ringer if they go that route. I guess time will tell.
As much as I quite like the ringer content im certainly not prepared to sign up for spotify premium for it.
This is exactly what I thought as well.
They were claiming $15m/year in podcast revenue, so that $250m figure sounds about right.
Ben Simmons will be getting a raise in his Amazon allowance.
A parent corner fan!
Apparently the whole world has been busy teeing off on Simmons and the Ringer for the last week or two. I missed most of it, but I liked this Henry Abbott piece.
(Still the definitive BS hit piece, though.)
Wow, Jason Concepcion is leaving The Ringer… He’ll finish the Binge Mode Marvel podcasts, but they literally just started this week with the first Iron Man movie. I wonder what’s up? I’m thinking he’s got a bigger offer somewhere. Dude won an Emmy last year for NBA Desktop.
Mays left for the Athletic in August. The Ringer’s NFL content is garbage now.