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Colin Cowherd is the leading voice in sports radio. But it’s his podcast network that’s his most lucrative venture.
He launched The Volume in February 2021, of which he’s the majority owner. The brand is separate from his flagship daily program The Herd, an iHeart Radio and FS1 simulcast.
Cowherd’s eponymous podcast, Draymond Green, Joe Burrow, and Richard Sherman headline The Volume’s list of titles.
Colin Cowherds says the brand is now worth over $100 million.
“I think I know what it’s worth. I’ve talked to LionTree, a couple of banks. We are in a very soft advertising market, so what your evaluation is can be very fluid. I feel very strongly about what we are worth and we are not looking to sell it. It’s over $100 million,” he told the New York Post.
There are two ways to monetize digital media: A) via a subscription service. B) selling ads for video/podcast views.
Cowherd monetizes The Volume through the latter, capitalizing on video engagement across Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
The high engagement likely explains the nine-figure valuation. The Volume has 666,000 YouTube subscribers.
Cowherd Comparisons
By comparison, Dan Le Batard streams his flagship podcast and other Meadowlark Media titles on the LeBatard Show YouTube page — to only 140,000 subscribers.
Bill Simmons’ The Ringer joined YouTube in 2016 and has since amassed 442,000 subscribers.
The Volume does trail Barstool Sports’ 1.57 million, however.
For reference, Penn Entertainment, the parent company of Barstool, finalized an acquisition of the brand earlier this year for a total of $551 million.
Note: Barstool is more than just a podcast network, offering a website, merchandise, live events, and a Sportsbook.
Perhaps Spotify’s 2020 acquisition of The Ringer for $250 million is a more accommodating point of comparison for Cowherd.
With Barstool and The Ringer off the table, and Pat McAfee signed to ESPN, The Volume and Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions are the most valuable independent sports media brands on the market.
Third is Stephen A. Smith’s Mr. SA Productions, the home of his self-titled podcast in which he made headlines on the topic of politics.
The Volume would offer suitors market space in a still-developing industry: live, full-produced post-game podcasts.
The channel features instant reactions to marquee sports events in real-time, from Cowherd or the cast. Such content is in demand as PTI, First Take, Get Up, and Pardon My Take can’t react in full to a matchup until the next morning.
The Volume has already broken down and given a spin on Sunday Night Football before Stephen A. Smith, Skip Bayless, Big Cat, and Pat McAfee arrive at the studio to record.
And social media engagement shows younger viewers are most interested in reaction immediately after the game; not the next morning.
So, expect The Volume to continue to capitalize on this market with more events moving forward, with more additions to the roster.
Speculatively, FanDuel, DraftKings, Fox Sports, Amazon, and Apple would be possible bidders for the brand should Cowherd sell.
Though he says he’s not actively looking to sell at the moment. At least not at the current valuation.
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June 10, 2023 at 01:44AM
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Colin Cowherd Says His Volume Podcast Network Is Worth $100 Million - OutKick
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