For Bill Simmons’s the Ringer, Podcasting Is the Main Event
Four years after his acrimonious split with ESPN, the sports entrepreneur is building a different kind of network
The sports and pop-culture outlet the Ringer is betting big on digital audio despite talk in the media business that podcasting is in a bubble, with cuts by industry competitors such as BuzzFeed and Panoply possibly signaling broader trouble for online publishers.
Ringer founder Bill Simmons, who launched the company three years ago after a 14-year run as one of ESPN’s most provocative commentators, isn’t buying those concerns: The Ringer’s network of 28 podcasts now garner about 35 million downloads a month.
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