While the coronavirus pandemic forced many media companies to slow down production and forced athletics to grind to a halt, Barstool Sports adapted and CEO Erika Nardini says the company was able to capitalize on a slew of non-sports-related content.
Now Barstool Sports' priority is to show buyers at the company's first appearance at the NewFronts marketing conference that it can still be profitable even without the return of North American pro leagues.
"We wanted to show, not only the showcasing of what we're creating -- so, all of the brands we're developing and running -- but also how we're performing for advertisers," she said.
Barstool's success during the shutdowns, Nardini explained, is not only attributable to the team's ability to "create content that's authentic" but also its commitment to creating content that fans want to engage with.
"We're building some of, if not, the very biggest brands on the internet," she said. "I think that during quarantine, most media companies stopped making content. They either had production challenges, they weren't able to gather in studios. We took the opposite approach."
Barstool's growth on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram has also allowed the company's "brands the ability to play ball with those audiences" where they otherwise might not have had access, according to the CEO.
"Every single brand that's created at Barstool is programmed and produced for the internet, which means that we naturally attract what you would call 'young viewers,'" she said.
Even with the success of the non-sports content, Nardini said the company will not abandon its newfound format despite the imminent return of the pros, but will instead marry the new content with Barstool's core programs.
"What we've found is when you have eyes for the internet, and you're making content for the internet, that stuff can last," she noted.
The Super Bowl is only a few days away, and the game is currently tracking to be the most expensive one ever.
Gametime, a website and app for last-minute tickets, says the average ticket price for the NFL's championship game is $9,502.50, with the most expensive seats costing nearly $38,000. That's a far cry away from the average ticket price of the first-ever Super Bowl in 1967, which was only $12. The average ticket price increased by more than $8,000 in just the past decade. Matt Rados, Senior Operations Manager at Gametime, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Earlier this week, digital investment advisor Betterment announced that it has hired Makara, a company known for its management of cryptocurrency portfolios. Sarah Levy, CEO of Betterment, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she explains why crypto represents such a promising long-term play and how her company stands to benefit from this latest move.
At-home medical labs company Getlabs raised $20 million in a Series A round, led by Emerson Collective and the Minderoo Foundation. Getlabs aims to be the boots-on-the-ground partner to telehealth. The company says more than 70% of medical decisions still require collecting diagnostic tests in person, and that it fills that void by delivering health care directly to their patients' homes. Founder & CEO of Getlabs Kyle Michelson joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
The White House laid out plans for a $5 billion investment into a national network of charging stations to ease EV driving anxiety. Bruce Brimacombe, CEO of EV infrastructure GOe3 joined Cheddar News to discuss how much needs to be done for drivers to get over the fear of running out of energy. "People need to be able to do what they're doing now," he said. "But that is the way that if you're going to buy an electric car, you got to feel like you're not changing your world." Brimacombe noted that building out the infrastructure between cities was GOe3's own focus.
U.S. automakers are saying that the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, a crucial border crossing between the U.S. and Canada, is affecting their production lines. Michelle Krebs of Cox Automotive warns that the disruption "couldn't come at a worst time," amid chip and labor shortages in Detroit.
AND DETROIT-BASED AUTO MAKERS SAY THEY ARE SHUTTING DOWN PLANTS OR SCALING BACK PRODUCTION BECAUSE OF PARTS SHORTAGES.
Sonos reported better than expected Q1 earnings amid chip shortage with the release of its Roam product. CFO Brittany Bagley joined Cheddar News to discuss the smart speaker maker's successful report and its plans to hit its 2024 targets as people leave their homes as pandemic restrictions ease. "Even as people head out in the world, it doesn't mean they don't like to listen to music at home or watch a streaming movie at home," she said. "So there's still a real role for us and our products in peoples lives, sort of, no matter what else they're doing."
