I cover creators at Like & Subscribe, a standalone Ankler Media newsletter that’s being sampled today for paid subscribers to The Ankler. I wrote about LinkedIn’s creator boom and creators launching scripted series on Instagram. I’m natalie@theankler.com
Today I’ve got the scoop on a partnership between two tech giants that I bet never would have happened if it weren’t for YouTube’s growing podcast dominance. Let’s get into it.
Back in 2018, Bill Simmons’ The Ringer set up a Twitch account and started live streaming video game sessions among some of its staffers. The experimental broadcasts were short-lived, and the account has been dormant for the better part of the last eight years.
On Monday, it flickered back to life.
Amazon-owned Twitch is now the home of live broadcasts from Ringer Wise Guys, its sports gambling show with hosts Cousin Sal, Anthony Dabbundo, Raheem Palmer, Joe House and Tate Frazier. And since this is being touted as the first video podcast from Spotify-owned The Ringer on Twitch, I expect to see more shows stream there in the future.
After a flirtation with exclusivity in its early podcasting days, Spotify is increasingly willing to send its podcasts onto other platforms — including YouTube and Netflix, where it streams video episodes from some of its top shows exclusively — if doing so reaches new audiences. And Twitch, where nearly 70 percent of viewers are between the ages of 18 and 34, is a good fit for a show all about gambling and sports like Wise Guys.
“We always have wanted to meet fans where they are,” Noah Malale, Spotify’s director of originals partnerships and new initiatives, tells me. “Bill and The Ringer have always wanted to be on the forefront of new media.”
Twitch probably isn’t the first place you think of for video podcasts, though the streamer is home to some ESPN Radio broadcasts and a chat show from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. This morning, the platform’s entire Talk Shows & Podcasts category accounted for less than 1 percent of all live viewers, according to analytics site Stream Charts. From one angle, that’s a pretty small footprint. From another, it helps explain why this deal matters: Teaming up with Twitch also helps Spotify check YouTube’s growing dominance of the medium. Twitch may be tiny in podcasting today, but its strength in live video and community gives The Ringer something YouTube has already proved audiences want — and gives Spotify another place to experiment outside Google’s ecosystem.
Paid subscribers can keep reading for more on The Ringer and Twitch and why Wise Guys moved to a new home, including insights from Malale on the deal and my conversation with Twitch CEO Dan Clancy.
I’ve got:
- Why Spotify sees an ally in another YouTube rival
- The reason Wise Guys is a fit for Twitch
- The shows Twitch’s CEO thinks can actually work there — and the ones that won’t
- How Twitch has stepped up to YouTube in the past — and can help Spotify battle the Google-owned giant
- What Wise Guys can do live that it can’t do on a traditional podcast feed
- Why The Ringer’s tiny first audience may not matter yet
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