Bloodbath at ESPN Will Lead To a Long Train of New Sports Podcasts
Kurt Laufer
27 Apr 2017
What was a sad day for ESPN & and dozens of on-air talent will lead to a plethora of new podcasts. As we learn of the big-time names that were let go Wednesday, the podcast world anxiously awaits and welcomes them.
Big Names With Huge Social Followers
Notable names let go by ESPN were: Ed Werder, Trent Dilfer, Jasyson Stark, Jay Crawford, and the list goes on.
And the podcast train is already leaving the station, as NFL guru Ed Werder already has launched his podcast:
Well it has indeed been a Doomsday of sorts for me today and so our podcast is aptly named. And I’m full time too! https://t.co/SjTOlxkysK
Listen Here (Click on Pic) To New Sports Podcast by Ed Werder & Matt Mosely
Listen to the Show: Click Here!
Why These Layoffs Matter?
As mentioned in our Bill O’Reilly story earlier this week, the monkey-see-monkey-do attitude will take hold, creating a domino effect of media personalities diving into the platform.
It matters because these public personalities bring new awareness to the medium and massive social followers which create immediate discovery.
Ed Werder has 207,000 Twitterfollowers…and many of his followers will get a taste of the podcast medium for the first time.
Jayson Stark has over 500,000 Twitter followers…how quickly will it be until he launches his own podcast?
Here’s what Jayson Stark Tweeted out:
For 17 yrs I’ve had a dream job covering baseball for ESPN. Today is my last day. Thanks to all the great people at ESPN, MLB & all of you!
Bottom line, you don’t want to be late to the game…let alone last to the podcast party. Despite the fact that it was a terrible day for many employees at ESPN, it will be entertaining to watch the impact this has on the podcast industry, let alone to the enhanced quality of diverse sports podcasts made available.
Most notably, to us at #TopPodcast, newpods will have the chance to discover the on-demand audio platform for the first time…thanks to what was a terrible ‘doomsday’ at ESPN.
Onward and Upward!
EDITORIAL NOTE & CLARIFICATION – VIA ED WERDER TWITTER FEED
To be fair and accurate, we started a few days before myself and all our neighbors learned of my TV fate https://t.co/OHkXiaUDhi
Kurt has been embedded in the digital marketing world for over 15 years. After overseeing Digital Sales for CBS New York for 5 years, he left in 2016 to launch TopPodcast.com alongside his botique marketing agency (Ace Attribution Group). Retained by AmeriGas, he is their National Media Buyer for TV, Radio, and Digital marketing services for their new grill tank home delivery service Cynch. Kurt also manages social media and editorial content for BJB Worldwide & Albero, Kupferman & Associates.