Good Karma Brands enters into an agreement with ESPN to handle sales of the ESPN Radio Network and the ESPN Podcast Network. GKB President Steve Politiziner will oversee the new division at Good Karma Brands.
“This partnership reaffirms ESPN’s commitment to audio while endorsing GKB as a trusted operating partner and primary sales representative across multiple platforms – audio, digital, and events,” Founder/CEO Craig Karmazin wrote in a letter to staff. “Our relationship with ESPN began over 20 years ago with GKB’s affiliate relationship with ESPN through our radio stations and has grown to encompass Florida-based bowl games with ESPN Events, ESPN’s digital assets, and our recent purchases of their largest market radio stations. We are thrilled to now lead sales for ESPN Radio and ESPN Podcasts connecting advertising partners with passionate sports fans across the country.”
Terms of the relationship were not announced, but it reportedly includes a revenue-share between the two companies on advertising sold.
The ESPN Radio Network sales staff was terminated as part of the recent widespread cuts at ESPN and its parent company Disney. At the time a source said that the company was planning to outsource its radio network sales. The GKB partnership sees this come to fruition.
Norby Williamson, ESPN Executive Editor & Head of Event and Studio Production added, “ESPN has been leading and innovating in the audio space for over 30 years with our national radio lineup as well as our live event schedule with over 300 signature events annually and always-expanding podcast library. This latest iteration of our long-standing partnership with Good Karma Brands reinforces our commitment and ability to further grow the business.”
Williamson says ESPN will continue to “lead the content, distribution, and marketing across our wide range of audio platforms, with Good Karma now handling the advertising sales efforts. Our strategy, goals, and passion for ESPN audio are very closely aligned with the Good Karma team and will lead to continued success and an unmatched experience for sports fans.”
Good Karma Brands owns or operates ESPN Radio affiliates in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, OH, West Palm Beach, FL, Milwaukee, WI, Madison, WI, and Beaver Dam, WI.
The ESPN podcast lineup includes more than 60 shows. According to Podtrac, the combined Disney podcast portfolio, which also includes ABC and ABC News, had more than eight million unique listeners in June with more than 41 million downloads.
Karmazin first approached then ESPN head George Bodenheimer with the idea that GKB should run ESPN Radio in 2007 while attending the 2007 NCAA Women’s Final Four Tournament in Cleveland. At the time, Karmazin’s company ran a handful of ESPN Radio affiliates across the country.
“This is the culmination of what we’ve been working towards for the last 20-plus years,” Karmazin told the Sports Business Journal. “For us over the last 20 years, we’ve been focused on the medium and focused on the ESPN brand. Now for us to be able to run the sales operations of the entire network and the podcast business, it truly is like a culmination of everything we’ve been working towards in this partnership with them.”
Karmazin estimates that a third of Good Karma Brand’s business now is local; a third is digital; and a third will come from be the ESPN radio and podcast business.
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