Things have not been going very well for the Yahoo brand lately and David Gow may have seen the writing on the wall. Yahoo has had to write-down over $700 million for its purchase of Tumblr and for the past three months Yahoo has been taking bids on purchasing the company’s core business. On the heels of the announcement that Gow Media would be changing sports affiliations from Yahoo! Sports to SB Nation, we reached out to Gow CEO David Gow about why he’s making the change and what it would mean to affiliates.
Why are you making the switch to SB Nation?
We are really impressed by SB nation. The company is a digital leader, leapfrogging many long-standing brands in sports media. We get access to industry-leading content. And we can position ourselves for growth, on-air, and online.
What do you want affiliates to know, just in case they might be worried?
First, we think they will love the SB Nation brand. It is young and fast-paced, and we are going to tweak our sound and imaging to reflect the brand. Second, we continue our commitment to a strong lineup of talented radio professionals. And third, with writers all over the country – covering every team, every sport in nearly every locale – SB Nation will provide significant contributions to our on-air product. Conclusion: Affiliates who like us today will like us better as SB Nation Radio.
How does this affect your on-air lineup?
We like our lineup and are not announcing wholesale changes. But we are always looking for quality talent, and envision finding ways to add some of the SB Nation journalists.
What do you think is the biggest plus in aligning with SB Nation?
We position ourselves for leadership in digital audio. Think about the attributes of our partnership: (1) Content: We have a large pool of SB Nation writers with whom we can create audio content; (2) Placement: We grow our own digital platform, Podcastarena.com, and can now display content on over 300 SB Nation sites; and (3) Promotion: We have our combined reach – over 90 million – to promote what we are creating.
How will this play a role in adding more affiliates?
With both a national site, SB Nation.com, and hundreds of local team sites, SB Nation looks a lot like network radio. Now, in addition to our national lineup, we can connect affiliates with local writers of their home teams. This is a strong, industry-leading partnership for adding more affiliates.
