I don't view the rise of the athlete Substack as a completely new thing so much as a return to the era of the athlete blog. Ten years ago, blogspot was the platform of choice and there were thousands of ultrarunning blogs from elite and amateurs alike. Krupicka's was the most famous and is still brought up routinely, but there were many. As someone coming into the sport at that time, I read them ravenously. I'm thrilled about the return to longer-form writing and the move away from the IG caption. What I'll be interested to see is how or if athlete and influencer contracts keep up. Right now, many people are paid to make IG posts. How many athletes will get paid to write?
That’s a great question - the common assumption is that athletes will start these outlets to drum up more sponsorship revenue, but how many brands will pay extra for their writing? It’s a different sell that instagram visibility
….And long form video, short form video, podcasts… the content of newsletters might feel like a blog but the ecosystem we’re in is completely different. There’s no circling going on here :p
I don't view the rise of the athlete Substack as a completely new thing so much as a return to the era of the athlete blog. Ten years ago, blogspot was the platform of choice and there were thousands of ultrarunning blogs from elite and amateurs alike. Krupicka's was the most famous and is still brought up routinely, but there were many. As someone coming into the sport at that time, I read them ravenously. I'm thrilled about the return to longer-form writing and the move away from the IG caption. What I'll be interested to see is how or if athlete and influencer contracts keep up. Right now, many people are paid to make IG posts. How many athletes will get paid to write?
That’s a great question - the common assumption is that athletes will start these outlets to drum up more sponsorship revenue, but how many brands will pay extra for their writing? It’s a different sell that instagram visibility
Great insights, Matt!
I will be there on Wednesday if everything works out. Love to meet you.
I love Strava as a platform but on the business side of things they own multiple KOMs for pissing through money.
We're circling back to blogs with only saying the word once and not even mentioning Anton's name, haha.
….And long form video, short form video, podcasts… the content of newsletters might feel like a blog but the ecosystem we’re in is completely different. There’s no circling going on here :p