On Monday, Boardroom broke the story that the popular podcast, The Pivot, had signed an exclusive, multi-year deal with Netflix, and staring on September 8th, Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder will be making the move to the world’s largest streaming platform.
“I’ve gained a new perspective: passion over platform and people over perception,” said Clark to Boardroom. “I’m grateful and excited to take The Pivot to Netflix. This is the beginning of a new chapter….the story is far from finished.”
Clark’s big news comes one month after he was disrespectfully fired by ESPN while he was on air for the network.
The show’s decision to sign with the global streaming leader is great news for the trio and their team, as it gives them an audience of 300 million+ subscribers to potentially reach, which should help the show’s continued growth.
But the move also demonstrates that sports programming isn’t required to live on ESPN to thrive, which is the feeling many have had for decades.
As a former ESPNer, I know first-hand that advertisers flocked to the network as it was considered a “must have” on their media plans and leagues, sports and show creators craved to have airtime on the World Wide Leader.
But as streamers and other distribution platforms have emerged, ESPN’s reach and lock on sports programming has weakened, and the news by The Pivot only further proves this.
Now, this isn’t to say that ESPN is dying, for it’s still the overall leader in sports programming as a whole.
But more options exist and are available to individuals like Clark, Taylor and Crowder, so they don’t have to be on ESPN to be successful.
Yes, their show didn’t have a deal with the network, as it lived primarily on YouTube, but Clark did, and his forced exit from ESPN, coupled with the show’s success, provided Netflix with the reasons it needed to sign the exclusive deal with the podcast, which also provides Netflix with, per Boardroom, “a first negotiation on new content produced by Pivot25 Productions, the company co-founded by Ryan Clark and Alicia Zubikowski. Pivot25 will also produce bonus episodes exclusively for Netflix as it continues expanding its slate of original, talent-led programming.”
ESPN dominates in live sports, with huge, multi-billion dollar investments locked up in programming like the NFL, NBA and the SEC. It has also decided to make Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith the face of the network, the former even more so than the latter.
But smart people like Ryan Clark have realized that ESPN isn’t what it once was, so they can explore their options and work with others like Netflix.
And now the former ESPN talent has the reach and paycheck to remove the stain of his treatment by ESPN.
