Play The Point - A Digital Media Podcast

Why does Team Whistle keep a "brand safe" content philosophy?Joe Caporoso, President of Team Whistle, joins the show.More big questions tackled this week:How did you lead your teams through two acquisitions in the last several years?What is the secret to Dude Perfect's ascension?Why is Team Whistle still bullish on Snapchat?How has the media landscape changed since Whistle's creation 10+ years ago?

How has Kevin Durant helped forge a new path for athletes in media?Nate Loucks, VP and General Manager of Boardroom, joins the show.More big questions tackled this week:How did the timing of KD's career impact his relationship with media?What will the relationship between athletes and media look like for the next generation of stars?Is CJ Stroud really as awesome behind the scenes as he seems to be on the football field?How is Boardroom thinking about content volume as they look to continue building their brand?

How did young people become so hooked on their phones? Sarah Gallagher Trombley, author of the 'Thoughts From a Digital Mom' newlsetter, joins the show.More big questions tackled this week:Should phones be banned in schools?What is the most important tip for parents trying to raise their kids around tech?How can social media platforms make their apps safer for kids?

Does thoughtful storytelling have a place in today's fast paced content world?Ben Liebmann, Executive Producer for Omnivore on Apple TV+, joins the show.More big questions tackled this week:Where is the future of streaming television going?What was the strategy for how chef Rene Redzepi would be deployed in Omnivore?Why was Omnivore not serialized like many shows in today's content era?Why has technology still not replicated the power of the shared experience?

Mike Su is our guest this week.  He is the co-founder of Cooler, a new platform for podcasts that is looking to evolve a 20+ year old format.The big questions we tackle this week:What is it like to start your own content platform?How could podcasts evolve?Is there a way to avoid some of the pitfalls other digital content platforms are facing today?Should you build audience or recruit creators when building a platform?

Nadav Ossendryver is our guest this week.  He is the founder of Latest Sightings, a wildlife content and community company.  Latest Sightings has 5M subscribers on Youtube and generates billions of views on wildlife content each year across platforms.The big questions we tackle this week:How have CAPs (Content Algorithm Platforms) changed wildlife content?Has the quality of UGC changed over time?What do you do when the audience is convinced a photo was made by AI when it wasn't?Why did Latest Sightings take off after they got sued?How does the LS team know if a clip will go viral or not?

Grady Rains is our guest this week.  He is a co-founder of Cheat Code, an agency that specializes in viral content.  He also spent time at the NFL and was also a Fortnite influencer.The big questions we tackle this week:Is it possible to know what will go viral in advance?What are the ingredients to a powerful meme?How has grinding on content algorithm platforms (CAPs) impacted Grady's editorial style?How do you combat algo burnout?

Xana O'Neill is our guest this week.  She is a co-founder of Forth, a new journalism-focused digital content platform, as well as the former head of news at Snapchat.The big questions we tackle this week:Why do so many people rely on social media for news?How did Forth create criteria to choose which people can create content on that platform?Can AI be a good journalist?Why are publishers making deals with OpenAI?How would you cover the first presidential debate given the current news content landscape?

Marc Kohn is our guest this week.  He is the Chief Content Officer at Overtime, the innovative sports media company that has created hit original series like Hello Newmans while also launching entire leagues like Overtime Elite (OTE) to showcase young athletes.The big questions we tackle this week:What was it like creating a brand new sports league from scratch?How do you balance being both the rights owner and the main publisher for OTE?Where do Overtime's leagues like OTE fit in an ever-changing sports landscape?How is the value of live sports evolving?Which platform stands to benefit the most in the event Tik Tok goes away?

Rachel Richardson is our guest this week.  She is the founder of Beginning, Middle and End and the creator/author of the Highly Flammable newsletter.  She has worked across media for many years including a long (and early) tenure at Snapchat. She is an expert in digital content and Gen Z.  The big questions we tackle this week:What does "built like a cockroach" mean?What is the key difference between Gen Z and Gen Alpha?How will AI impact the future of media?What was it like working at Snapchat as it started expanding into content?Are algorithmic content platforms good or bad for the world?

Brandon Harris is our guest this week.  He founded Playmaker, a sprawling social media-driven content company that now produces Shaq's podcast "The Big Podcast". The big questions we tackle this week:What are the secrets to the emergence of Shaq's podcast?Since Brandon has insider access to Shaq, does he think Inside The NBA will survive the changing NBA media rights picture?Why are more and more athletes abandoning cliches for hot takes?How did Playmaker get the @sports instagram handle?Which platform is Brandon's favorite between Instagram, Tik Tok, Youtube, Snap and X?

Scott Braun is our guest this week.  He is the host of Foul Territory, a baseball talk show that is thriving as a content entity separate from MLB.The big questions we tackle this week:How is it different covering a big story when working for a league vs being independent?What is the relationship like between leagues and independent media companies?Are there things you can't say on MLBN?How did Scott's experience working with Youtube shape his view of the future of baseball broadcasts?What should the final state of MLB rights look like once the dust settles?

Peter Conforti is our guest this week.  He is an early Snapchat employee who spent years working on their content team.  He now runs his own company called Good Content which helps people succeed on LinkedIn.The big questions we tackle this week:Will Snapchat combine Stories and Spotlight?What is it like inside a meeting about Snap's content algorithm?Do we need to fix the content landscape now that it is heavily reliant on algorithms?Why is Pete obsessed with LinkedIn right now?How has LinkedIn avoided the toxic climate that can be found on other social media platforms?

The first episode of Play The Point!Sam Betesh is our guest this week.  He has produced sports talk at the highest levels of media, including a long run producing The Herd with Colin Cowherd, and has a truckload of insights regarding how that type of content gets made.  Other questions that get at least partially answered:How do you deal with imposter syndrome when working with athletes/talent you used to look up to?What's the right approach when talent is angry with you?Is there really a difference between radio and podcasts?What will the future of sports talk content look like?Topic bar puns: do we need them or nah?