Barstool Sports Touts 950K Views Per Day For Founder Dave Portnoy’s Day Trading Show, Launches Branded Content Division

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When COVID-19 shut down much of sports and pop culture media company Barstool Sports’ production in March, founder Dave Portnoy found a new full-time pursuit: day trading.

At its NewFronts presentation today, Barstool used Davey Day Trader (the collection of blogs and videos where Portnoy gives near-daily updates on how his $3 million investment is faring) as one example of how it can quickly grow new brands because the 17-year-old company has a “built-in audience.”

Davey Day Trader installments are currently netting more than 950K views per day, the company said. Another of Portnoy’s projects, One Bite Pizza Review–where, each weekday, he reviews a new pizza place based on one mouthful–gets 1.5 million views per episode across platforms, it added. (On YouTube, Pizza Review’s dedicated channel has 258K subscribers and brings in around 8 million views per month.)

It also laid out some other impressive stats: its written, video, and audio content reaches one in three millennials; it has the largest TikTok audience–8.3 million followers–of any publisher; and it operates one of the top five podcast networks in the country, with offerings like Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy and Big Cat’s Pardon My Take being No. 1 in their categories (female-led and sports, respectively).

“Our readers and our fans actually treat us like we’re a sports team,” Portnoy said during the presentation. “They root for us, they’re invested in us. That’s why when we get advertisers, they buy the products, because they want to see us succeed.”

@barstoolsportsThis video is cursed @stoolpresidente (ig: _selma1231)♬ Ameno hatsune miku – clod_boie

On the back of all these figures, Barstool–which was acquired by casino operator Penn National Gaming for $450 million in January–made its big reveal: It’s launching Barstool Creative, a new branded content division that’ll produce ads featuring Barstool talent.

“There’s a connection between our talent and our audience that is unmatched in digital media,” Deidre Lester, Barstool’s chief revenue officer, told viewers. “Today, we’re announcing a new creative services team that’ll allow you to tap into our talent, our personalities, and our creativity in ways that are bigger than ever before.”

She added that Barstool team members each “offer their own personality, interests, and sense of humor, and each has a built-in audience across multiple platforms that trusts and cares about what they have to say.”

The new division will produce TV ads, social ads, video assets, live events, and virtual events, Lester said.

Last but not least, Barstool spotlighted a handful of recently debuted and upcoming digital series, including Token CEO from its own CEO Erika Nardini, esports-focused Barstool Hooliganz, Barstool Rap Tournament, ESPN2 live show Stool Streams, and golfing series Fore Man Scramble. Programs renewed for return this fall include Barstool Outdoors, College Football Show, Barstool Sports Advisors, The Barstool Rundown, Chicks in the Office, Million Dollaz’ Worth of Game, Spittin’ Chiclets, and The Group Chat.

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