Shannon Sharpe: an authentic digital media brand
Once again, the heart of life’s philosophies are exemplified through a sports analogy. Many of you may not know Shannon Sharpe. He is a sports personality, whose most recent exploits have demonstrated his heart, authenticity, self-confidence and determination to succeed. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not an ardent Shannon Sharpe fan. In fact, my sentiments towards him shift between enjoyment and laughter, skepticism, and outright disapproval of his stand on some issues. But you’ve got to give flowers where flowers are due.
So, what is the relevance of Shannon Goad Sharpe?
Shannon Sharpe’s bio. https://www.foxsports.com/personalities/shannon-sharpe/bio
I came across the astonishing statistic that 70% of professional athletes will wind up broke, after their careers end. https://yourmoneyvehicle.com/mindset/why-pro-athletes-retire-broke/. These are the people we read of; soccer players earning £500,000 per week; NBA stars earning $50 million a year; and athletes who have earned over $100 million over the course of their careers. I won’t go into the reasons for 70% of these people losing their money, but Shannon Sharpe isn’t one of them.
Having followed him for some time now, I can say that he planned well, and gained financial literacy and awareness, while he was still earning money on the playing field. He could have stumbled and used (but didn’t) the same excuses that other athletes use for their loss of wealth – coming from poverty; not understanding how to manage such huge amounts of money given their background; being at a very young age when they were earning those millions; not anticipating that the income streams would dry up the day they retired from the field.
Shannon’s heart, authenticity, self-confidence and determination
After a decade and a half of success on the field, let’s take a look at all the things that Shannon had going against him, going into retirement.
- – Broken home at age 3 months, arising from his parents’ separation.
- – Grows up in poverty.
- – His father dies when he is only a teenager.
- – He’s a poor student in school.
- – Suffers from a lisp all his life.
- – Not a highly sought after college athlete prospect, and only received a single scholarship offer.
- – Only taken with the 192nd pick in the NFL draft.
- – Goes into a broadcasting career immediately after football retirement, with a lisp and a southern drawl, that attract criticism towards his abilities in the profession, from all quarters.
- – Suddenly released from broadcast jobs under unclear circumstances; 2014 from CBS Sports ‘The NFL Today’, and 2023 from Fox Sports 1 ‘Skip and Shannon; Undisputed’.
Despite all these setbacks, Shannon’s reputation at every stop; from the sports field, to the broadcasting desk, has always been one of dedication, hard work, authenticity and a willingness to learn. His strength as a broadcaster is his charisma, humourful personality and 1000 watt smile. He however realised that he really needed to dedicate himself to the technical craft of broadcasting, and that is what he did; learn all the skills to deliver, training himself to project articulately, take guidance and instruction from those more knowledgeable and experienced, and practice, practice, practice until he got it right.
Skip and Shannon; the authenticity of Undisputed
When Sharpe left CBS Sports, he appeared to have arrived at FS1 with heart, authenticity, self-confidence and determination. Here he was sitting alongside a highly seasoned, and experienced journalist in Skip Bayless, and he was every inch his equal in professionalism, ability and engagement. It was clear that, while he was determined to learn and improve himself as a broadcaster, he was bringing his authentic self to the table.
The good times – authenticity, self-confidence and engagement
Sharpe had in the past been solid on ‘The NFL Today’, as his authentic, down-home self, but I wouldn’t say spectacular. Then Skip Bayless, as seasoned and highly celebrated a journalist of decades experience, gave him a chance to be his broadcast partner on this daily sports debate programme on FS1. Here is where Shannon’s appeal as a broadcaster fluorished. Skip and Shannon were an antagonistic, but outstandingly engaging pair of opposites.
The end…of the ordinary
Then in early 2023, tensions began to mount between these two hosts. Some were of Shannon’s making, others were simply from disrespect from Skip towards him. As an ardent Lebron James fan, Sharpe tried to pick a fight with the opposing team at an NBA game. He didn’t show up at work a day after a bitter argument with Skip, about a player whose heart stopped on the playing field, as the whole audience was watching. But Skip also showed him disrespect, as they took their antagonistic positions on players they supported; accusing him of career jealously against the player Skip considered the G.O.A.T. in NFL history; this despite Shannon having had a NFL Hall of Fame career, being the NFL’s most accomplished tight end when he retired, and being in the top 5 greatest NFL tight ends of all time.
Suddenly one day, FS1 released Sharpe from his contract. We had all seen the tensions building, and known that the continued partnership between Skip and Shannon was untenable. But what was Shannon going to do? He had Skip to thank for giving him his opportunity. And given the way their partnership had taken off over 7 years, we couldn’t imagine what Shannon was going to do next, on his own. After all it was ‘Skip and Shannon’…together. Even Sharpe himself made statements that sounded unsure of his next move. To be honest, I felt that Sharpe would land a spot on another show, but never be as successful as he had been on ‘Undisputed’.
Disruption era Shannon – heart, authenticity and determination
Then Shannon Sharpe surprised us all.
He landed on ESPN’s ‘First Take’, after some initial uncertainty regarding his future, and eventually being brought on board by the show’s star and lead personality Stephen A. Smith. But what he was doing behind the scenes, demonstrated his aptitude as a great student of his experiences; and his heart, authenticity, self-confidence and determination.
A short digression: Uncertainty when networks are firing sports broadcasters left and right
Let me digress for a minute. Around the time that Sharpe lost his job with FS1, the cable broadcast networks were firing sports broadcasters en masse; to cut costs. It made his landing at an equally lucrative position quite uncertain, let alone being able to find another broadcast job.
ESPN took a public position that they could see audiences moving more to independent shows, and broadcasters with strong online followings. After firing almost 20 celebrated on-air personalities, they replaced them with Pat McAfee, his tank top, non-polished approach his authenticity, and his 1.7 million Youtube subscribers. ESPN believed that this windfall of new, non-traditional subscribers would add to their overall audience.
But as the saying goes, the math was just not mathing with Pat McAfee’s move to ESPN. While McAfee is still performing well on digital media with his own media asset, he hasn’t added that much to ESPN’s linear channels, with an average viewership of 253,000 which, while good, is not impressive against other shows with a viewership above 500,000. I believe that his chaotic, disorderly, but authentic show is crafted for the digital, independent, free-wheeling world, and is a mismatch for ESPN’s staid cable broadcast format. https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/pat-mcafee-show-digital-linear-viewership-youtube.html
Shannon Sharpe’s heart, authenticity and self-confidence engage the world of disruption
Meanwhile, Sharpe had taken a different approach; as he seems wont to do, when facing conventional perspectives. He revealed his ESPN gig to actually be his moonlighting gig, behind his independent digital media assets of ‘Club Shay Shay’ and ‘Nightcap with Unc & Ocho’ – Sharpe being ‘Unc’, paired with Chad Ochocinco ‘Ocho’ Johnson, who had a stellar career as a premier NFL wide receiver. These look like they will be his mainstays. All of a sudden, Shannon has a very busy, diversified and eclectic broadcast schedule. ‘Nightcap with Unc & Ocho’ 3 nights a week and more, ‘Club Shay Shay’ once a week both on digital; and ESPN’s ‘First Take’ twice a week on cable broadcast, with clips and repeats online.
Shannon had decided that the key to his survival, was to focus on what he loved to do; which is conversations that build human connection. https://bizlifesmarts.com/love%20your%20career
Shannon has gone from being largely seen as Skip’s sidekick on ‘Undisputed’, to being the lead broadcasting man on sports media, with the following portfolio:
Club Shay Shay: authentic heart to heart conversations
Club Shay Shay is a relatively conventional interview talk show, where Shannon interviews various celebrities across the spectrum, from athletes, to actors, to musicians, and even to wrestlers; amongst other celebrities.
And then you look at the numbers, and you realise why Club Shay Shay, which he’s owned since his days on ‘Undisputed’ on FS1, is his day job. He’s built a 1.5 million subscriber base with views above 300,000. What is the secret to this appeal, you may ask? What Club Shay Shay is unspectacular on in production values and presentation, they make up for in content of discussion and Shannon’s authentic, down-home personality.
The setup is of a lounge setting, which Sharpe uses to also promote his luxury cognac brand. The theme of an intimate evening lounge setting, having a no holds barred, soul-baring conversation with the down-home country boy, with no pretensions really works. It is unlike all the inauthenticity, flash, clout-chasing and noise that we see across the online spectrum.
Nightcap with Unc and Ocho: authenticity
Again, themed as a late night intimate conversation; this time between two buddies who come across as your homeboys from the neighbourhood. Again, with the slogan, ‘Come for the sports, stay for the stories’, the conversation is no holds barred, and covers everything from the NFL/ NBA game of the day, to some of their lifetime hilarious experiences, to relationships, to life lessons, to sexual banter. Unc and Ocho built up their subscriber base to 400,000 in just 3 months (Sept – Nov 2023), and targeted 1 million subscribers by January 2024. They managed to hit 600,000 subscribers by the end of 2023, so their trajectory is impressive.
First Take with Shannon Sharpe, Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim
Shannon’s arrival at First Take has by all accounts driven up their viewership ratings, with unaudited viewership numbers showing a growth from 360,000 to 540,000 since Sharpe’s debut. Also, 3 of the 4 highest viewership First Take shows of 2023 have been when Shannon is co-hosting. His appeal is evident from the fact that ‘First Take’ seems to often require his presence, beyond the initially contracted Monday’s and Tuesdays.
My caution to Sharpe would be not to let his moonlighting gig (First Take) stretch him so thin, that he compromises what will be his long-term foundational vehicles. In fact, overexposure on the ESPN network is the biggest threat to his value. The rare and valuable is more desired; and Shannon needs to guard his value, like a virgin guards her loins.
Just when I thought he was losing his focus, his determination shone through
Despite Nightcap: Unc and Ocho doing amazingly well, and on track to hit a million subscribers by end Q1, I felt Shannon was neglecting his other day job, Club Shay Shay, for ESPN appearances. Well, shock on me. On the 3rd January, 2024 Shannon had comedian Katt Williams as the guest on Club Shay Shay, to kick off the year; and wow! 37 million views in it’s first week! Just for reference, the leading episode of the most popular podcast in the world, The Joe Rogan Experience, in an interview with Elon Musk, has taken 5 years to hit 68 million views. https://www.forbes.com/sites/soniathompson/2024/01/09/katt-williams-viral-shannon-sharpe-interview-has-essential-lessons-for-brands/?sh=2a247e45513a
This conversation (as Shannon himself has said, it was not an interview) has lessons for brands and particularly building them on digital platforms. Katt Williams for his rigour, meticulousness in building his skill in the craft of making people laugh, and discipline in researching, understanding and creating content specifically for his varying audiences; Shannon for all the reasons I’ve explained above, in building his personal brand.
I know it’s early, but with his heart, authenticity, self-confidence and determination, Shannon Sharpe is my brand to watch in 2024.
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